My Carbon Footprint is Broken
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 มิ.ย. 2024
- Instead of going and calculating your carbon footprint, go figure out which candidate in your upcoming election you should vote for who will take serious action on climate, then find a local climate activism organization and join the movement (links below). After that, follow some more TH-cam channels about the climate crisis and download a book from your local library on the topic (links below). Lastly, calculate your carbon footprint and start reducing it by dealing with your biggest sources first (links below).
To be clear about system change, here is what I'm talking about:
1) We need a 'just transition', meaning one that supports people as we switch to a green economy. For example, working class oil employees are going to need green new jobs. This means some form of universal basic income, and affordable access to education. A 'just transition' also means taking huge strides for equality (essentially everything BLM is fighting for), as low-income families, black people, and indigenous people are hit hardest by the effects of climate change.
2) We need to keep oil in the ground. Full stop.
3) We need to build renewable infrastructure. This means wind and solar, but also more energy efficient buildings, and switching basically everything to electric. It also means decreasing energy demands by building more public services such as city buses and bike lanes, instead of car infrastructure.
4) We need to tax the rich and the corporations they own. This transition is going to be expensive, and the people that should pay for it are the people who have done the most harm and benefited the most from it.
TL;DR: We need a Green New Deal.
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Some climate activist groups that I think are doing great work:
Extinction Rebellion (global): rebellion.earth/join-us/
Sunrise Movement (USA): www.sunrisemovement.org/
Climate Convergence (Vancouver, where I'm at): www.climateconvergence.ca/
Follow me on social media:
/ kurtisbaute
/ kbaute
TH-cam channels about the environment to subscribe to:
Climate Adam: / climateadam
zentouro: / @zentouro
Hot Mess: / @hotmesspbs
Our Changing Climate: / @ourchangingclimate
Levi Hildebrand: / the100lh
Simon Clark: / simonoxfphys
Sarah Karver: / @sarahkarver
Here’s a list of books to read about climate change:
www.goodreads.com/review/list...
How to calculate yours: www.carbonfootprint.com/calcu...
How to shrink it: www.nytimes.com/guides/year-o...
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Resources:
The Sustainable Economist: www.sustainableeconomist.com/
Video Mistakes:
The kettled used 70Wh not 70kWh. I did the CO2 calculation right, I just wrote down the wrong number on the screen. Sorry!
Video Sources:
1. www.eia.gov/energyexplained/u...
2. www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.ph...
3. www.visualcapitalist.com/mapp...
4. www.cer-rec.gc.ca/nrg/ntgrtd/...
5. www.jstor.org/stable/26789251
6. blog.copower.me/news/your-por...
7. www.carbonfootprint.com/calcu...
8. / how-bad-are-bananas
9. www.sciencedirect.com/science...
10. link.springer.com/article/10....
11. ourworldindata.org/grapher/co...
12. www.ucsusa.org/resources/cool...
13. ourworldindata.org/grapher/co...)
14. shrinkthatfootprint.com/carbon...
15. www.researchgate.net/publicat...
16. www.researchgate.net/publicat...
17. www.theguardian.com/environme...
0:00 Housing
2:22 Investing
3:27 Transportation
4:15 Goods
4:55 Diet
6:18 Air travel
7:40 Compared to other countries
9:50 Compared to the super rich
10:56 System change - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Thanks Kurtis, that was awesome. could you point out the things in the system that should change? is it just our power sources or is there more to it?
1) We need a 'just transition', meaning one that supports people as we switch to a green economy. For example, working class oil employees are going to need green new jobs. This means some form of universal basic income, and affordable access to education. A 'just transition' also means taking huge strides for equality (essentially everything BLM is fighting for), as low-income families, black people, and indigenous people are hit hardest by the effects of climate change.
2) We need to keep oil in the ground. Full stop.
3) We need to build renewable infrastructure. This means wind and solar, but also more energy efficient buildings, and switching basically everything to electric. It also means decreasing energy demands by building more public services such as city buses and bike lanes, instead of car infrastructure.
4) We need to tax the rich and the corporations they own. This transition is going to be expensive, and the people that should pay for it are the people who have done the most harm and benefited the most from it.
TL;DR: We need a Green New Deal.
1- He mensioned flying. That's one. I've never been in a plane in my life.
2- I think work where you live. No transport or bicycle. That's wat I do.
2b- Live small like him. My house is 100 m3.
3- Eat no meat? Whell ehhh...I've got my own stock shared with nabours.Making meat cost ea great amound of energie and water. Most of our land in the Netherlands (40%) is lfor growing grass en food for animals to eat.
4- by nothing online. Specialy from far away. (China) Better, by notting. Make it yourself. Or like him Quality stuff. And repair things in stead of trow it away.
5- Question of my own....stop using internet and smartphones? Data centre cost a lot of energy in power en cooling.
Sadly the biggest footprint is not made BY us but FOR us. CO2 is mostly not produced at home but elsewhere. Producing your cloths, getting goods we use. Food. Transportation of all this. Even the proces of recycling. Better is to repair or reuse. Even my bike has more CO2 footprint than a car in the proces of making at the first place en later on at the end of his life (in my case 200.000 km. I cycle 12.000 km per year) This is my 3th recumbent velomobile. In use it's OK in CO2 footprint, except that I'm not a vegetarian. That is responceble for the most of my CO2 footprint. You can recycle or reuse parts of a car for 90%. My bike is carbon en aluminium. That's lost at the end of his life. Useless waest. There goes the myth of low CO2 transportation.
CO2 footprint is so complicate that there is no answer I think. Unless we go back living in a cave and live of the land. What nature has to offer. Believe me. I've tryed. It's imposseble. Even if you live like somebody in India. Hardly no posesions. And just enough to eat that you stay alive. Even then is your footprint still too big with 5 bilion people on earth.
I think the only theoretical solution is just take enough from nature than it can repair. Nature is selfhealing. So we can use resorces of nature. That's not the problem. But we always want more then there is avaleble for us. I doubt we can ever reach that level. We have never been able to do so. Mankind is always poluting and distroiing nature.
(sorry for my bad english. I hope it's reable en understandeble.)
@@brandweerquest I think the point was change needs to be informed by the government not us because it's impossible
@@brandweerquest Edit: I didn't read your second comment and this is a reply to the first comment, but I'll still leave it here for others to read.
Your personal lifestyle changes are fine but not everyone can live the life you live.
For example, I'm very sure someone who lives in a village in India, has nothing but a bicycle and uses almost no electronic gadgets, and who does not eat meat at all, will have maybe less than half of the carbon footprint that even you with your sustainable lifestyle have.
To bring the entire civilization into line with lower carbon output, companies can change many things and so can our governments. E.g. if we vote for politicians who seek international peace we can reduce carbon footprint from military uses, since we won't have to run military equipment and infrastructure much in that condition. The military of any country has a huge carbon output proportional to it's size. Warships, fighter jets, cargo transports, high power radars, remote military installations, etc. are not designed for carbon output in mind.
And that is just one area. Imagine a top down reorganization of society that ensures everyone can reduce their carbon footprint. That is what is needed.
I was not expecting that twist ending. Imma share this everywhere I can.
Especially share to the rich?
Its quite insane to me, if somebody came and dumped trash everywhere people would be quite mad at that person and hold them accountable to pay for somebody to clean it up. But if its gas, that slowly kills the entire planet nobody has to pay for cleaning it up.
we used to be part of a compost-able culture where our ecological niche allowed us to be carbon negative
Privatized profit, socialized losses.
As long as corporations are allowed to abandon their liabilities upon the taxpayer and planet, the greed from the gains will not change their behavior.
The economic term is *Externality* as in "I pollute, you pay"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality
@@monkeymanwasd1239 I guess that's why we killed the megafauna?
@@a.randomjack6661 apparently a lot of that was due to climate change induced flooding making many areas uninhabitable for them.
ok, paris hilton's flights exploded my mind !
her family looks to be doing a lot for the enviroment nowadays.
@@monkeymanwasd1239 That statistic about Paris Hilton is from last year.
@@ScopeofScience .... and flights only. Don't even think of the rest.
Thank you!
I explain this to people all the time, like when Australia was in the completely avoidable drought recently, everyone was getting all panicky about water usage without realising that shortening the showers of everyone in the country wouldn't put a dent in statistics because of the corrupt cotton farming industry. Stop focusing on the individual and start focusing on making real systematic change.
Thanks you really changed my perspective on this topic
Glad it was helpful!
First. Thank you.
Second. Bar graph, not circles.
Comparing volume with more than one dimension of change is deceptive.
Use bar graphs and show Hilton's bar go off the table, across the room and further.
Honestly, I got most of the way through making this video when I realized it should be bar graphs, and I just didn't want to restart. You're absolutely right.
True, Tom Scott just did a video comparing the two types of graphs showing the difference between a million and a billion dollars by taking a road-trip in a car. A million dollar stack takes a half minute to *walk,* a billion took well over an hour to *drive.* It was an eye-opener.
Lol
Yes you are right bcz circle is area based and its not a big visible change
Love how you provide all your sources! Wish more science-education channels did this.
Actually a lot of channel do that, just check the description or the video itself
"brag about my tiny..." *looks down*
Edit: great video btw!
😉
@@ScopeofScience It's not the size of your carbon footprint that counts, it's what you do with it.😉
My jaw hit the floor when you said the giant circle was Paris Hilton’s flight carbon footprint. I thought it was gonna be a group of people or something.
I'd have made a circle representing the group footprint for the 10 richest North Americans, but I'm quite sure it wouldn't fit in my entire apartment.
@@ScopeofScience Taking their investment footprint into account, it would probably cover a sizable chunk of Vancouver.
Assuming the average you quoted would be applicable (800kg of CO2eq for every $10k), a total of $1T dollars in investments, and that the Paris Hilton circle is 1 meter in diameter, the circle would have to be over 800 times the size of your apartment (in terms of area; 800ft across is still huge, but doesn't sound as impressive lol)
At 5:28 you said 70 kWh when I think you meant to say 70 Wh. Not a huge error and your CO2 calculation seemed like it was based off of 70 Wh but thought i'd just give you a heads up. Overall great video. Thanks for bringing some new information to my attention.
Yeah, that was definitely a typo. Woops! Thanks for pointing it out.
Considering a wall socket can normally only provide ~2.4kW (or ~1.1kW I guess in North America) that would be a very slow kettle!
5 years ago I sold the big house, gave away my car and 90% of my things and bought a one bedroom co-op in NYC. I've needed to rent a car ONCE in 5 years. Otherwise I walk and bike and subway when needed. Lost 13kg. Small living is the key, preferably where you can walk to shop/play.
You are awesome.
@@ScopeofScience So far I haven't run the AC yet either, just fans. Part of living is adapting so I try to go a long as I can before needing to fire up the AC -- when it gets to over 30C overnight and 90% humidity, I can't sleep. So far, so good this month...
@@lohphat try a dehumidifier its more efficient.
monkeymanwasd123 The downside is that you have to close up all the windows. It gets too stuffy too quickly in a small place. I have a natural breeze so the generic ceiling fans and cross ventilation do a pretty good job. So far it’s not gotten too hot overnight. Last year we had 32C midnight temps. Oof.
@@lohphat hm, maybe passive ventilation, surrounding your house in vegetation, or moving somewhere more suitable would help more.
I focus on myself because my voice doesn't matter. I live in a region (Alberta) that focuses so badly on oil my votes/letters etc all get ignored. :( (yes we voted Ndp once... It swung so hard the other way in the next election our net changes were negative)
If you read this thanks for letting me vent.
Hey, I hear you. Grew up in a conservative region of Ontario before I moved to Vancouver. We need proportional representation so badly in Canada. Something to fight for. Hell, now in Alberta you can't even protest the oil industry without risking jail time... I feel for you Christopher.
I will say though, that the biggest thing you can do might just be talking with people. We don't need to convince climate deniers to become green party voters, but we need the active opposition to become passive opposition, and we need people who are currently in the passive opposition group to become neutral on the topic. That is critically important work, and someone has to do it. Those are hard conversations, and they require a lot of patience. If you're up for it - I wish you the best of luck!
@@ScopeofScience Wait, jail time? What happened?
Your voice does matter, but alas you are right it is an incredible hard struggle. As Kurtis already touches upon is talk with people. Keep spreading knowledge (make sure to verify you sources though, there are already way too many bad sources out there). For instance share when a reliable news paper has an article about climate damage. Basically keep it up. You might not feel or notice it, but that will slowly move people bit by bit :) So your voice matters, and probably a lot more than it feels like
some times you have to use force to get your point across. there are plenty of examples of this.
@@Jonathanatus Our premiere either passed or is going to pass, can't remember which, a law which enables the arrest of protesters for "interference with vital infrastructure". I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that guideline is so vague that anyone protesting could be arrested for anything from blocking pipelines to blocking traffic, and it, at minimum could land you a fine over $1000, or 6 months in jail
Man, I thought the origins of the carbon footprint campaign would be the big shocking fact to end the video, but the comparison to the rich was the clincher. Nice work Kurtis
Kurtis Baute said eat the rich :)
For real though I am so happy to see this, I remember I commented on your livestream you did about whether you would do something about the disparity of the wealthy and corporate levels of CO2 emission. Also I really like the bait and switch of the "here's my individual carbon footprint and its bad becau-.... SIKE! look at how this compares to the extremely wealthy", I really hope there is more of this kind of ilk of video to come.
Count on it, comrade
eat the rich suuuure
@@monkeymanwasd1239 not eat the rich or anything, just check if they are made of cake. The French even made a device to do exactly that...
Very useful perspective, great video Kurtis!
Well...damn. *lol* I always have to sit with my thoughts a bit after watching your videos, they are that impactful. Thank you!
Thank you! When it comes to climate it is hard mental and emotional work, and I thank you for putting in the time.
looks like a bunch of negativity and basic solutions that get in the way of reading more useful information to me. i want to bash my head through a wall when i dont see him mentioning more efficient solutions
@@monkeymanwasd1239 I understand it as there is no more efficient solution than voting. We, the small single consumers, cannot do anything in our homes to make a meaningful impact other than to tell the entities with all the money that we demand significant and immediate change. Also, that we will not fall for lip service green washing.
I also find some comfort in knowing that even though my footprint is much larger than I would like, even the small things count.
This video is a great reminder to know who and what I am voting for (with actual votes and my money) is what makes the biggest impact.
@@adriennebradywalker680 voting wont do much until a large number of folks can show politicians that we are making a holistic move towards a regenerative future. try looking into regeneritive agriculture and buisnesses voting does very little we are far better off voting with 70% of our income
@@monkeymanwasd1239 That is exactly why I defined voting as actual votes in elections, as well voting with our dollars. I.e. investing in practices that will promote change.
However, saying we need to spend 70% of our income to be heard definitely makes me feel some type of negative way. That number is wholly unrealistic, and feels to me that it comes from a place of unrecognized privilege (I am a middle class white chick, I am learning to understand my privilege). I am not going to get into how problematic I perceive that statement as I acknowledge I am having an emotional reaction.
Reminds me of Shell with their series about 2 teams battling to travel the earth by the smallest about of co2. It's so infuriating
Well that's the best climate change video I've ever seen.
Great video, very informative and interesting. I think one of the issues with the low-waste and sustainable living communities online is that they focus far too much on what an individual does or doesn't purchase and miss out the parts about how the system as a whole needs to be changed. I could be the best vegan zero-waster in the world but it won't make a difference unless society/government/industry etc. make big changes.
I started going down the zero-waste track last year and then I realized... ITS A TRAP!
@@ScopeofScience "Our Planet can't repel greenhouse emissions of that magnitude!" - Admiral Ackbar, in our current situation.
It will make a difference though
Kurtis you are amazing, but it's also sad reflecting on that fact. You should be the norm, not the one in a million.
But electric cars are more efficient in transforming that energy into movement, even if the electricity is generated by the power plants
Finally someone who knows what they're talking about in the comments.
Thats true, it's better than a combustion engine vehicle (but still not great). My point still stands. If we're relying on free market ideas, not everyone who is buying a car can afford an electric car, and charging stations are not available everywhere. We need system change.
We still need to green up the worlds energy with more renewables.
Also an electric car is the only kind of car which can become carbon neutral years after you bought it - because the generated electricity it consumes can come from a new greener source without needing to change the car. Electric cars are just better
@@AngusPearson nobody is saying that am electric car isn't better... But what Kurtis is saying in this video, and what is the general truth, is that power generation needs to change to greener sources in order to have the required impact and that requires systemic change, with government's pushing for renewable energy with increased urgency and other changes like taxation of the rich people and large corporations to fund the switch that will save our planet.
This video really put things into perspective, both the good and the bad... Keep up the good work Kurtis!
I fucking admire how much effort you put into helping the earth, all of your videos inspire me to make a proper change in my life too, as much as I can
You deserve and need to get more subscribers and your videos need to be spread so everyone can see your videos and messages they give
Is the "average American" size including the super rich that are skewing the average? Would be curious to see how much it would change if we factored them out.
the eat the rich bit doesnt factor in all the people invested in their businesses their offset activitys and such. mr. baute is just making enemys with this point.
@@monkeymanwasd1239 but all that investment only truly provides a profit for 1 person, everyone else is just working to earn a living. If rich people cared, they would invest in sustainable resources...
@James Joseph dude i can live off 7k a year so the financial side of the topic is something i hold normal folks responsible for. investing in sustainable resources is not needed if you buy your food from a REGENERATIVE farm or or livestock producer.
If you are from a western country you are probably already part of the richest 10% of the world
This was the first of your videos I've seen and you've earned a sub. That was absolutely fantastic, and I look forward to more
Thanks for doing this, I'm always so annoyed by people who say you have to reduce your own carbon footprint.
That last few minutes is my biggest problem I had with your previous videos on the carbon footprint, I'm so glad you addressed it!
Yeah, I've learned a lot about climate solutions since (and largely because of) the whole #KurtisInAJar project. We gotta get to work!
What an excellent video Kurtis, thank you.
Back in the mid noughties, a bunch of us were involved in promoting the idea of Carbon Rationing, Members of my Carbon Rationing Action Group regularly calculated our carbon footprints and one day someone told me about a competition that Oxfam were holding to find the person with the lowest footprint in the UK. I entered my data, and forgot about it. Months later, in 2008 Oxfam rang and asked to check if I'd got my data right, as it had come out to 0.5 tonnes compared to a UK average of 6 (using ActOnCO2). I had submitted my household footprint divided by 4. They told me I had to do my own, and went through the calculator with me. When my wife's toaster habit and kids computer stuff was ignored, my footprint was 0.45 tonnes, less than a twelfth of the UK average. The person who came second was 0.9 tonnes, the next was 1.2 tonnes. The three of us got a day visiting Parliament and meeting MPs and the like, sharing our knowledge. Very interesting.
I stopped flying in 1997. However one of my lovers came over from the states to see me in 2007 and I volunteered to 'take care' of her carbon footprint for one of her flights, Manchester back to Atlanta. That ONE flight accounted for over 90% of my emissions that year! That was one of the reasons I said I couldn't see her again, her travelling to see me made me feel so guilty!
I've been campaigning for system change AS WELL as individual accountability, but now I'm kinda in the Deep Adaptation and NTHE camp. Spreading as much love, knowing I'm going to die. Keep going Kurtis, I respect your hope for a better future, despite my not having any left.
Subscribed as soon as I saw that you cited your sources and noted within the video itself. That is something we need to make standard for all of TH-cam videos making factual assertions.
I'm so glad i had subscribed to this channel. cause this kind of video is really informative.
it is often so hard to put things in context- correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing that most people with reusable bags would be better off just using disposable plastic bags, as the emissions from making and transporting a single cloth bag is so great that you would need to use it thousands of times to make it better for the climate than plastic bags dumped in a landfill.
Honestly I’m so glad you made this video so many people will make changes especially as it was in my recommended
It's a great video, showing both the impact an importance of individual change, and how utterly insufficient it is by itself.
Kurtis, thank you so much for putting this video together. Really inspiring content, and a powerful message. Like you i've striven to reduce my carbon footprint but come to the point that the only way to really fix things is through system change. Please Please Please make more content like this! Thank you!
Amazing video, love that you pulled in the fossil fuel advertising ploy. It's so clear what we have to do, let's go! Collective action for collective change. (:
I was in a sustainability meeting at work the other day and this guy from University College London casually mentioned the carbon footprint for using our phones but he didn't just lay it out as the production of the phone or the electricity usage, he mentioned the emissions output by the servers and companies that run the websites we often go on and I could not stop thinking about that it was really interesting to think of this whole huge factory most of us hadn't given a second thought to. Imagine all of us not using facebook and the carbon emissions saved from all of those servers not being used for it. Definitely food for thought
These videos are always great. Please post more.
This was a very nice video, and kudos for including the ending segments that start to transcend individualistic analysis!
However, I think for the whole video and this project to become consistent, you would need to develope your analysis/calculations so as to become compatible with your finishing remarks on considering systems instead of individuals. This would mean taking into account and pointing out that what you quantify here is your footprint as an invididual; i.e. abstracted out of the context of systems/economies that are in place and pre-condition your individual life: Technically, the individual life is only possible within certain broader systems, and thus one should look at the footprint of those systems and add a part of that to the individual footprint...
Now, you may counter that this is impossible/impractical to calculate, with which I agree. But this doesn't make it false. And indeed, taking this side of things into account, e.g. that you live within a system that is defended globally by force of the US military, then... while hard to quantify, things do look very different...
And maybe this shows part of the real difficulty of truly becoming critical of systems instead of just looking at individuals: doing so in an internally consistent way forces one to start questioning how much power one actually has over the [environmental] consequences of ones own life - and thus doubt the value of ones efforts. (but at the same time i'm not saying, cynically, that trying to live environmentally is just pointless, naive virtue-signalling and that you should give up. I commend you for your efforts and I do want more people to care and to try to shape their lives in such a way! )
Thanks Kurtis! This video deserves way more viewers.
Another amazing video. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL, DUDE!!!!
The carbon footprint in india is low because of huge population and low income.....
Edit i am an indian
@@R3l3ntl3sss wow, from valid points to racism in one sentence. I'm genuinely impressed.
@@jaspertkoop What'd he say? His Comment got nuked.
..and vegeterian diet
@@indeecjo animals are great for creating an initial humus layer to allow greater water holding infiltration and the creation of easily carbon negative systems and for enhancing the carbon absorption rate of poorly managed wood lots and woodlands
Rich countries like mine ought to provide financial support to developing nations in order to help them make a transition into a renewable future. We caused climate change. We got rich off of it. Other nations are suffering because of us, and now we're telling them they can't have our carbon-rich lifestyles. We need to do better.
Thank you so much for making this video! :))))
This was fascinating to watch. Thank you!
Love the future video ideas and the final take of the video.
Paris Hilton's flight footprint snatched my soul.
Thank you for coming to the right conclusion, but I really wish it was a full video just about why collective action is so vital. I worry that the people who need to hear this aren't the same people who watch all the way to the end of climate videos :/
I plan to make that video as well, don't worry. I also expect that way fewer people will be suggested it or click on it, so... well, here's to trying.
I adore all of your content, its so easy to listen and learn from you.
This was fantastic - will be sharing this around a lot. Framing the problem correctly is half the battle. Finding out that framing the problem as individual carbon footprint is touted by fossil fuel energy companies is simultaneously surprising and not.
This was a really good watch, thanks!
Alarming and informative! Always love the videos, keep em up. I have so much more to learn! haha
One of your best videos yet, thank you!
Another super interesting video. Carbon footprint is tricky and you gave it a good run for its money. Keep it up!
Dude this video is incredibly well made. The message hit me pretty hard.
Incredibly well presented! I love this Video.
As a side note between creators: there is a technique called "motion tracking" which allows you to lock certain layers, like f. E. The numbers on the carbon footprints, into place, to stop them from moving around if the camera is moving to. You may look, if you editing software is capable of doing that.
But nice work, I will share this everywhere👍
Thanks Kurtis, absolutely brilliant video, timely and crucial too.
Imma gonna get ma pitchfork, man I didn't even knew who Paris Hilton was before this video.
A real eye opener, It's a shame how little our individual changes really make a difference, and brings to light just why it does feel so futile!
Of course we shouldn't try any less to do so, but it does bring the focus to the real underlying issue.
awesome video! thank you for making it and for encouraging other people to change and make changes!
Wow it is scary how good your carbon foot print is!
In my country (Ireland)
Our electricity is from coal,
There are two of us in our household and we both have cars, for my job I do a huge amount of miles, about 30k a year
We live in a big cold victorian house that is very inefficient
This is a really interesting video.
I try to keep the lights off in my apartment as much as possible. I was doing it to save money, but it's interesting to look at it from a carbon footprint point of view.
I also work from home in IT... So my electricity use can only be so low... But still, it's interesting to think about the resources we use and how they effect the environment.
I'd like to bring up my favourite word for 2020 at this time, 'flygskam' from the Swedish for 'flight shame' I believe. Kind of blown away by the carbon footprint for flying alongside everything else
Great vid, subbed!
Thank you Kurtis. It was awesome. You forgot to include your respiration though!
What a fantastic video! I always wondered at school why they taught us sustainable living, when it is actually industry that contributes most to emissions. BTW, do you have any advice on a sustainable non-plant based diet (with some animal protein, that is)? I have β-thalassemia minor and so am required to eat more meat than the average person (mostly for iron); a plant-based iron source, while great for most people, wouldn't work much on me...
Great video, it's a very good exercice, everyone should do it ! Both to see where we can reduce and that it cannot be the only thing to do.
It takes 70 Wh of electricity to boil the wateer, not 70 kWh ! ^^ (but the calculation is right)
Source 4 in the description is referenced 5 in the video (investments)
You have to be careful when counting investments in your carbon footprint, you might end up counting things twice. If you invest in oil company, you have counted their scope 1 and 2 (direct emissions and energy use emissions). Then the oil they make is used in a truck to transport your oats and everything (if it's not in their scope 1 and 2, it will be in the transport company that also required investments)
Am I missing something ?
How should we count emission, 1/3 the investor, 1/3 the company, 1/3 the consumer ?
Hello Kurtis. Good to see you!
Thank you for this.
Thank you for being how you are, good job!
Can you be a lead example to how we can take action? as a highschool student I don't know how much "real action" I can take except sharing links, talking to people and making posters.
I just read the book Youth To Power, and it's an excellent short read that answers exactly this question. There is so much you can do: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jamie-margolin/youth-to-power/9780738246666/
"weird and awesome" I adore that expression so much! not but, but and!! :)
I use electric for all my space and water heating, which would be expensive if it wasn't on-demand only - no standby. In the UK, it's fairly easy to subscribe to green energy deals to offset.
I can improve the draught-sealing and the insulation in my property, but if I do that, will need to add improved venting too, so that will probably balance out the benefit.
I cycle and use the train to visit my brother and sister-in-law, which is a round trip of about 500 miles. Once a week, I go out in my parent's car for leisure (excluding Covid-restricted meeting), but other than that, cycle everywhere.
My main kettle is a Brita that can only boil a max of 2 cups.
My secondary kettle is a standard model I use for showers, and my shower is a rechargeable battery-powered camp shower that I've rigged to be recirculating to use less water and energy. There is also a shower at work for when I've cycled in (strictly speaking, it's a Disabled shower, but it has low demand on my shift).
I use a local laundry, which didn't have a tab on the calculator. I have a design in mind to build a solar laundry dryer, which is essentially a lean-to porch with a solar air furnace as a roof, and convecting air into a ground heat sink like crushed glass or something similar.
I'm vegetarian, so can cut down more by excluding dairy products.
A video about your sustainable building would be so interesting!
thank you for this. Just shared it on my socials. :)
Well thank YOU
I am a 16 yr old living in a conservative region of Ontario. I have found that the best way to get change is to talk. Make sure people are aware that by voting conservative, they’re voting consequence. Not sure yet, but I might run for office as an NDP/Green/independent once I can.
"system change not climate change"
"my investments"
"vote"
... wait what
If I could I would put 500 likes.. And man you need to improve in making people staying till the end of the video because the end was great..
Just an FYI when considering the Indian average footprint per person, keep in mind that age cohorts make a big difference as well. 41% of India's population is under 18 and children have much less of a carbon footprint. Children travel less often, especially for flying, they eat less and always share living space. In the next decade I expect India's footprint to become more like China's.
5:26 there's no way that's 70 KILOWATT HOURS. The meter says 0.07 KWh which is 70 Wh. You probably meant to say watt hours. You'd have to run your kettle at full power for more than 2 days to draw that kind of power.
@kutis : this is exciting, could you share how did you come to the conclusion of this calculation? Are you using empirical correlations or using some other calculations? we been working on calculating carbon footprint of handmade products, happy to collaborate.
Holy shit. I’ve been saying for a while now that we need to focus on systemic change, but I didn’t realize just how essential that is. Like I was just in the mindset of “there’s no way we can convince enough individual people to live sustainably enough for the economy to change on it’s own,” but this is just insane. Is it alright if I use some screenshots from your video as helpful graphics in attempting to sway peoples’ opinions?
Thanks for making this
Very inspiring!
Edit: and I appreciate the push for systematic change in the end. I had just one question: You mentioned voting may be the single most important thing one can do. How do you think it compares to other democratic actions, such as protesting or petitioning?
I think we need to do all three as hard as possible. Not just voting, but helping green politicians win seats, and pressuring less green politicians to focus more on climate. Also, we need to mount and support more lawsuits against the oil and gas industry. More and more I am feeling like the only way we'll see the change we need is through an unprecedented level of non-violent civil disobedience (see Extinction Rebellion). Am working on content about this!
Kurtis Baute I agree! I‘ll see to it that I‘ll catch those videos too!
Very illustrative video! Your analysis really shows how fundamental structural reform is to have a shot at stopping/slowing climate change.
On the reverse side of emissions, it's very humbling when you start thinking about techniques to draw carbon out of the atmosphere. I personally am a fan of making biochar for my garden, but I'm struck every time I'm done with a batch by just how little I am able to produce at a time compared to the tons of co2 I know I'm emitting. Still, I think it's a useful technique if only for the garden benefits and direct visualization of carbon
i want billboards plastered everywhere which explain concisely that putting pressure on the individual to improve is doomed to fail, and that we instead need to change the system as a whole.
its in the same vein as "Reduce, re-use, recycle", recycle is the last on that list because its the least effective, but also the one most talked about and pushed for.
You can go and put some up! I mean it. I literally did that last week (and you just reminded me to post a picture from it) - instagram.com/p/CCmGlfzFTLN/
I agree so much, thank you for saying this. I’ve been saying for a while now that trying to save the earth by driving an electric car is like trying to do it by holding in your fart, or trying to lose weight by cutting your nails. It’s much more effective to start with the big things first.
I had no idea the carbon footprint was misdirection. But it makes sense. Systems need to change.
Was deffinetly expecting the video to prove me wrong and say that my carbon footprint mattered, what a twist holy fuck
Thank you. Really. This video motivated me to vote next time I have the occasion to, which I never did since I have the right to do so.
Very thought provoking. Nice video!
i think we need to be clear on the exact things that have to happen, because as was evident in last year's climate marches we can't count on politicians to do their research. they ended up complaining about clarity and promising to ''improve public tansport'' over here, which doesnt really do anything for the cause
Great vid and really interesting keep going 👍🏻
Comparing the American footprint to the Global Target footprint, I'm now convinced we're lost
fucking love the ending, caught me off guard. Great stuff
I also just learned that (at least here in Europe) the industriy has to buy the rights to emit greenhouse gases - but the price per tonne is sooooooo low that it makes no sense at least in my head. Listen to this: the goal per person and year is to emit 1.5 tonne at the most, but the price for a company to emit that same amount is only about 35 dollars. Which makes it easy for businesses to buy the rights to emit as much as they like really. If I understood it correctly.
Funny thing, I managed to read her name on the thumbnail, even pixelated.
I found your video extremely didactic and easy to understand and I would like, if you are ok with it, to use the narrative so I can spread the message in Spanish. I found that among what you said in your video, the number one reason still nowadays is that people still don't really know what carbon footprint is and that everything we do emits greenhouse gasses. Your video is eye opening and I think it may have a lot of impact if it is shared in other languages :)
I like it...rearranging the chairs on the Titanic, also you should get into politics you have a direct simple calming way of communicating useful information.
Sounds like such a fun way to live. Can’t eat food I like, can’t visit places I enjoy going to, can barely even participate in one of my main hobbies.
I do what I can by buying my steaks from the local butchers, but I can’t stop doing everything I enjoy.
Our options are: change or die horribly.