Does anyone really understand what a carbon footprint is?

Question

I've spent the last three days reading the literature on "carbon footprints". It all seems convoluted, vague, and contradictory. The carbon footprint calculators seem to be very subjective. I am beginning to think that the concept is more politics than science. How does a carbon footprint factor in natural processes that apparently account for over 99% of greenhouse gases?

Answer 1

We had a guy clean our chimney one year. When he got done he walked across our good carpet. He left a whole series of carbon footprints.

Answer 2

the natural processes that emit 97% of CO2 emmisions have adjusted slowly over thousands, millions, or billions of years to reach equilibriums

- when the process is rapidly upset it results in mass extinction. Nature has adjusted to uptake virtually the same amount it gives off - therefore going 3% over nature every year, day, hour, and second leads to a buildup in the atmosphere - this is understood as scientific fact and is not part of the scientific debate on global warming.

carbon footprints are just a rough estimate

Answer 3

It doesn't account for natural processes because the natural carbon cycle does not contribute to global warming.  It's balanced, absorbing as much (actually slightly more) carbon as it emits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycl...

Global warming is caused by releasing carbon which has been trapped in fossil fuels for millions of years (or by cutting down CO2-absorbing trees, etc.).

So a carbon footprint just tells you how much CO2 is emitted when you do an action which burns fossil fuels.  Usually carbon calculators just give you a rough ballpark figure, but they can be very precise if given specific information (for example, a Prius emits 104 g/km of CO2).

Answer 4

This seems to be a cofusing issue even to those who work with it. esentially, your carbon footprint is the amount of impact your carbon usage has on the environment. It is real, it is science, but it is being mishandled, misused, missapplied,and more.

Here is an example that i used on another post earlier. If you have an all electric home you are contributing to the carbon content of the atmosphere by using electricty from power plants that are being fueled by gas or coal as well as by driving your car which burns gasoline which needs electricty to be produced. your carbon footprint is pretty large.

If you have a gas fired home, however, your carbon footprint will be much greater because you're still using electricity, but you've added furnace, range, and water heater to your carbon footprint.

Now here's the good part. by adding solar electricity to the all electric home you use less electricity, but you still drive the car so the impact on your carbon footprint is minimized. If you add solar electricity to a gas fired home you now have the option of eliminating the use of natural gas by changing the furnace, range, and water heater to electric ones. Now you have dramaticly reduced you carbon footprint even though you still have the car.

My contention is that if someone did that they shoul recieve carbon offset coupons that could be used like cash at bussinesses who need to offset their carbon uses. What is happening instead is that people are buying false "carbon offsetts" , like planting a tree, That do nothing to reduce carbon emmissions at all.

Try to calculate the size of your carbon footprint if you want. But you need to face it full-on if you truely want to reduce it.

I hope this wasn't too much af a rant.

Answer 5

Each calculator I've tried has come up with different results. Of course, it's all down to what it taken inot account and what the source of the information for the carbon emissions are. Also whether the "carbon cost" of manufacturer of an item is taken into account i.e. if your car emits no CO2 but used 10x more in the production of the battery, for example, is this taken to account, and is it spread over the estimated life of the vehicle or loaded up front?

I agree, can be very confusing. As Dana1981 says, the carbon footprint calculators are about how much YOU cause by your actions, excluding the natural processes that occur with or without you.

Answer 6

A carbon footprint, is the amount of ransom that a government can demand you pay to live.  In china it 0, in the EU its.05 cents, in the US, it will be all you make, all you have saved, and all your children would have every had a shot at getting.

Answer 7

You're absolutely right.  The whole concept of carbon footprints is nothing more than a thinly veiled political agenda.  It's just an excuse for the government and radical environmentalists to control your actions and tax you more heavily more than they already are.  And isn't it funny how those who are advocating the concept of footprints and carbon credits seem to be those who would be hurt the least by them?  And those who are supporting them are those who already pollute exponentially more than the average American (Al Gore)?  I'm so sick of it!  I refuse to be controlled any more.  I will continue to go about my life the way I want to live it, and if that means going against this nonsensical and ridiculous concept, I say so be it.

Answer 8

It is simply a measure of how much you will be taxed, that's all.