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THE Carbon Footprint Thread (merged)

How to save energy through both societal and individual actions.

Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby shortonoil » Wed 16 May 2007, 12:16:11

MrMambo said:

Maybe the communist dictator fidel Castro will go down in history as a more people-friendly and earth-friendly leader than all other democratically elected leaders in the the western world, through the last 50-years.


How likely will it be that this history will be recorded with carvings inside of a cave? How likely is it, that the creature that deciphers it, will not be human?

If we can preserve anything for future generations, knowledge should be the first thing on our list.
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby Leanan » Wed 16 May 2007, 12:25:12

The scary thing is that Cuba is barely within the "sustainable" box. And that box assumes "no land set aside for wildlife."
"The problems of today will not be solved by the same thinking that produced the problems in the first place." - Albert Einstein
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Wed 16 May 2007, 14:52:03

Great article!! Thanks, Leanan!!

I find the site www.radicalleft.org is a good one for these types of critiques, they're Marxists, and have some quirks about sex education and a couple of odd things, but they have good articles every day about what a scam our economic system is.
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby strider3700 » Wed 16 May 2007, 14:53:16

hmmm a die off 6 times as bad as currently happening in Iraq needed on a world wide scale. I suppose I should ask Jack just how much ammo is enough. I'm nowhere near doomer enough.

He made an excellent point that it's really hard to deal with that many corpses in only a 75 year time span.
shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby Leanan » Wed 16 May 2007, 15:15:17

He made an excellent point that it's really hard to deal with that many corpses in only a 75 year time span.


Soylent Green. :twisted:
"The problems of today will not be solved by the same thinking that produced the problems in the first place." - Albert Einstein
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby strider3700 » Wed 16 May 2007, 16:28:23

Heh 5 billion humans. That is a crap load of calories. We're not likely to use them though
shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby killJOY » Wed 16 May 2007, 16:33:36

I know what you mean by "great" article but it's actually awful.


the rest is silence
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby SevenTen » Thu 17 May 2007, 01:32:20

strider3700 wrote:He made an excellent point that it's really hard to deal with that many corpses in only a 75 year time span.

It sounds like if the die-off gets any kind of momentum, the increase in dead bodies increases the spread of disease, which further hampers the ability to dispose of dead bodies, increasing disease ...

Could be a fast catabolic collapse. :x
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby Newsseeker » Thu 17 May 2007, 08:09:00

Cuba is a sh*thole and I wouldn't want to emulate it. At one point the population was almost starving to death. Not nice.
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby manu » Thu 17 May 2007, 08:14:38

Most of the cities will be nuked, so mostly just radioactive ash.
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Re: Eco. Footprint Energy Consumption & the Looming Coll

Unread postby Leanan » Thu 17 May 2007, 12:31:19

Newsseeker wrote:Cuba is a sh*thole and I wouldn't want to emulate it. At one point the population was almost starving to death. Not nice.


Yeah, but as some at TOD pointed out, I'd rather live in Havana than Baghdad.
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby savethehumans » Mon 09 Jul 2007, 01:57:15

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 11

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.5 PLANETS.


:(
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby xarkz » Sun 29 Jul 2007, 19:08:41

TOTAL FOOTPRINT: 8.5

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.7 PLANETS.

hmm much more than I thought. :(
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby Tanada » Thu 16 Aug 2007, 06:56:12

Thought provoking article about our ecological footprint as a civilization.

LINK

Economically, ecosystem services provide us with assets that we would otherwise have to produce ourselves. The simplest example is water treatment, which is done for free by our aquifers. It's possible to directly measure the equivalent cost of a water treatment plant for a given set of wetlands or aquifer, which means you can exactly quantify the value of many ecosystem services. Pollination is another hugely important ecosystem service, which is provided largely for free by bees.
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Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby dohboi » Thu 30 Aug 2007, 14:24:54

So, this year I have been trying to get close to the "one world" goal. The main changes I've made are in diet and travel. I have gone pretty much vegetarian. This wasn't too hard as I was close to this already. Vegan has been harder to reach. I pretty much gave up an going without eggs. When I have succeeded in greatly reducing my dairy intake, I have noticed improvements in health, but not enough to keep me at it.

I was pretty successful at keeping my car use below 10 miles a week, but came under enormous pressure form relatives to go to a family reunion some 600 miles away.

I am also getting increasing pressure from loved ones to jump in planes for visits, which would really blow any chance of getting close to "one world."

If there's a lesson here, it's that you need to bring your support circle in on your effort. This is much harder than you might think, as even relatively enlightened Americans feel quite offended at the idea that air travel, for example, is something they may have to reconsider if they want to live in a sustainable world.

I would be very interested in the problems and successes others have had in trying to reduce their impact and to power down.
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby drew » Thu 30 Aug 2007, 15:48:12

CATEGORY GLOBAL HECTARES

FOOD 3.1

MOBILITY 0.5

SHELTER 1.1

GOODS/SERVICES 1.2

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 5.9

Damn, I like meat and dairy way too much!

I do, seriously.

Still I don't feel too bad compared to my average fellow Canadian who nails it with 8.8 global hectares!!


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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby turmoil » Thu 30 Aug 2007, 19:22:53

dohboi wrote:This is much harder than you might think, as even relatively enlightened Americans feel quite offended at the idea that air travel, for example, is something they may have to reconsider if they want to live in a sustainable world.

dohboi, this is exactly what I find so troubling. Energy use is cultural at this point. For over 100 years per capita energy use of the now "developed" nations has been growing out of control, but only because the energy comes out of ground on its own (with some help from water and gas injection). The paradigm shift will come though. We are moving from an era of increasing energy use to one of decreasing, and it will affect the culture of energy use. It just won't be tasteful to expect your 3rd cousin to fly 1000 miles to be at your mothers funeral (I'm exaggerating, but the point is made I think).

Therefore, I think your goal will be easier to reach when the declining energy era requires everyone to view their own energy use differently. We Americans have the furthest to fall and it's not going to be easy. For now, I would give PO/GW/Sustainable World information as gifts to try and create the support circle, which as you mentioned is hard to develop but vital to one's effort.

Stay with it. It's a good fight.
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby dohboi » Sat 01 Sep 2007, 14:45:38

turmoil wrote:
" It just won't be tasteful to expect your 3rd cousin to fly 1000 miles to be at your mothers funeral (I'm exaggerating, but the point is made I think). "

The point is very well made. In fact I don't find it tasteful now, but I think it will take a lot of education to get that point through. Even as peak oil really starts hitting and prices go way up, I doubt that most people will see it as anything other than a financial issue whether or not to take a trip. Even with record extreme droughts and flooding that is way off the charts in the same state (Minnesota), few if any are connecting this to global warming or seeing it as a reason to radically or even incrementally change their behavior. As you say, it is now cultural in the US to expect cheap fossil-fuel-powered travel, and to discount or completely overlook the costs to the world's future.

Thanks for the support and ideas. I'm a bit hesitant about sending out heavy books on these subjects, but I guess I shouldn't be.
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby carcara » Thu 13 Sep 2007, 07:00:50

FOOD 0.9

MOBILITY 0.5

SHELTER 0.4

GOODS/SERVICES 0.8

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 2.6


I don't think the quiz is too accurate because of the only few and too round questions. Still it gives a hint of how much we have to give up after economical collapse. Mostly worried about food myself..
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Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz

Unread postby holmes » Tue 09 Oct 2007, 15:07:24

I am down to 7 to 8 hectares now.
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