Last night I went and tried to calculate out footprint. There are a few of these online, none that I love, that ask you a few questions and then tell you how much CO2 you are producing.
I did my best to answer these questions, and I have to admit I fudged some it. I don't know how they can tell how much harm I am doing to the earth based on how much I spend on personal care products. But what was clear was that the transportation part brought my grade down.
Or up.
It's not so much the driving. Even though I have a mini-van and my husband drives a gas guzzler, we don't drive long distances much. No long commutes to schools or offices. Almost everything is in town, and my husband works from home most of the time. We do take driving trips a few times a year. But what really, really got us were the flights.
I have no idea how the fuel consumption works itself out. Doesn't the plane fly with or without us? And if the plane is full, isn't that better than if the plane is empty?
In any case, I reassured myself by the fact that I do not fly half as much as I used to. Our trips overseas are not as frequent as I would like.
And there isn't really anything I can do about the car, either. I do not live in a city, and there is almost nothing in "walking distance" unless you count a gas station. The only other places I go involve at least one child, but sometimes three, and we can't all fit on a bike. And there's no way I can carry all these groceries. Not to mention the fact that this is New England, and half the year is ice and snow, making walking nearly impossible.
What to do?
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