Serving God in the heart of our community since 1881

St Andrew's Church, Taunton

Global Warming – What is my carbon footprint?

Part 5 in the series by Janet Fulljames of St. Andrew's Church Taunton 13 May 2007.

This month I begin to consider what each of us individually or as households might do to help to slow down global warming. This means doing what we can to reduce the amount of carbon we use that then ends up in the atmosphere. In order to do this effectively, knowing what carbon we individually produce is important. The carbon we personally help to produce is sometimes referred to as a carbon footprint, sometimes as a carbon elephant!

The units of carbon dioxide we use can be divided in 2 ways. Our “primary footprint” measures energy we use personally, for example the domestic energy we consume, or travel we undertake, particularly by car or aeroplane. Energy is on average 27% of a typical person’s footprint, travel about 19%. We also have a “secondary footprint”, this measures the amount we contribute to carbon emissions indirectly by buying goods and services, for example recreation and leisure is about 14% of a carbon footprint, car manufacture contributes 7%, and clothing 4%.

One way of calculating your personal footprint is to use a web site which will do the calculation for you. www.carbonfootprint.com is one site that will do this for energy use and travel. Remember these 2 areas only cover 46% of a typical person’s footprint, this is not yet an exact science! We need to remind ourselves that reducing energy use, using alternative renewable energy sources, travelling less, and buying products that have travelled less, these are the best ways we can personally reduce our carbon footprints.  If everybody in the world consumed as much as the average person in Britain does we would need three planets to live on!

Avoiding all carbon emissions at present is impossible for most of us, so carbon offsetting has been developed as a way of compensating for the emissions we produce with an equivalent carbon saving. To do this the amount of carbon footprint for a particular action is calculated, perhaps for a business trip or a holiday flight. Carbon offset credits can then be purchased, this might be buying trees or helping the development of clean technologies. The extra cost of a flight to Greece would be about £4 if offset credits were purchased. Many web sites are claiming to operate carbon credit schemes, but only 4 organizations at present meet the government approved gold standard. www.cdmgoldstandard.org  One of these is www.carbon-offsets.com another www.ebico.co.uk  Some airlines are operating their own offset credit service, customers can make enquiries when booking a flight.

Some people are critical of the promotion of carbon offsetting as they claim it can lead people to think they can be carbon neutral by “buying” their way out of the production of carbon emissions. Such people emphasize that the only way to be carbon neutral is simply not to produce carbon emissions in the first place. Even if we could completely eliminate our primary carbon footprint, it is very difficult to see how we can quickly or easily get rid of the secondary footprint, to do this will require the development of new technologies and action at national and international levels. 

Our lifestyles in the developed nations will need to change if we are to radically reduce the impact we have on our environment. As our climate changes those who will be most seriously affected will be the poor, particularly in the developing world. Droughts and floods will cause loss of life and livelihood to millions, many will become refugees. God calls us to love our neighbours, particularly the weak and vulnerable. (Matthew 22:34-40). Paul reminded the people of Corinth of the example of Christ. “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2Cor 8:9). He urges the Christians of Corinth to be generous in supporting those in need, and to be willing to make real sacrifices for their sake. We will need to make sacrifices for the sake of our brothers and sisters around the world, so that they can live.

Janet Fulljames. 

 

	Global warming: should Christians care? To read the first piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: is there anything we can do? To read the second piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what is the church doing? To read the third piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what can we as a congregation do? To read the fourth piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what is my carbon footprint? To read the fifth piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what can I do to save energy in the home? To read the sixth piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what can I do about shopping? To read the seventh piece in this series please click here.
	Global warming: what can I do to reduce emissions from transport? To read the eight part in this series please click here.
	Global warming: "reduce, repair, recycle and reuse!" To read the ninth part in this series please click here
	Global warming: what next? To read the tenth part in this series please click here

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