Greetings,

This semester I helped teach an undergraduate class entitled "How to Build a Habitable Planet".  We talked about astronomy and how that leads to planet building, evolution of the Earth, some basic geophysics, and evolution of life.  At the very end, we've been discussing the impact of humanity on the globe, especially since the industrial revolution, when the sudden influx of CO2 into the atmosphere has dramatically increased!  I want to know how much you pollute the enviornment!  In particular, I want an estimate of your daily CO2 emission.  Please go to:

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/co2-cal/co2-calculator.html

and let me know what it is!  You'll find that those of you who drive a lot, also pollute quite a lot.  Also, there are about 3.79 liters in a gallon.  Therefore where it says "Car's average kms/ltr" take how many kilometers per gallon your car gets (note: 1 mile = 1.61 km) and divide by 3.79.  As an example, if your car gets 20 miles/gallon, then you take 20 x 1.61 x 1/3.79 = 8.50 km/ltr.

Also, if you don't mind answering these questions:

a)Are you worried about the enviornmental impact caused by cars and other man-made industries (such as energy plants)?  If so, what are you willing to do about it?  Have you done anything enviornmentally friendly (do you have any solar heating, etc)?

b)Where do you think most of the energy that runs your car, workplace, and home comes from?  (please tell me what you THINK -do NOT look up the answer!)

c)Do you think there are long term consequences for our current rate of atmospheric pollution?

d)Where do you live (if you don't want to give me a city, feel free to give me a State or Country)?

Thanks
Let me know if you have any questions!  If you'd rather not post your answer, you can always send me an email. 

cheers,

-avatar!

Sorry, I'm a lazy, polluting American.  I don't do math unless Dr. Kawashima makes me. ;-)  If you want to do the math, I can tell you that my car gets 29 mpg city and 34 mpg highway and that I drive around 200 miles per week.  Of course, I also speed a lot, so you may have to reduce my effective mpg to compensate for that. :-)

I am worried, but I'm also lazy.  I recycle at home.

I'm going to guess "fossil fuels."

Yes.

USA East

.

Well, if we look at my habits right now, I get 0.2263 kgC/day.  However, this is without air conditioning or heat (it's springtime), so this is definitely a lower bound.  I'm surprised that computer usage was not on that list.

(a) I am slightly concerned, although nature pollutes as much as I do (forest fires, volvanic eruptions, etc.).  I ride the bus to work, but that's because I'm cheap.  In a month, I will be moving close enough to work that I'll be able to walk there.  If I ever get a home, my first order of business will to make sure it is as energy efficient as possible, again because I am cheap.  Double-pane windows, insulation up the yin-yang, maybe a geothermal heat pump...

(b) Ultimately, most of it comes from the sun, I think.

(c) Yes, but I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what they are.

(d) Minneapolis, MN, USA

Coincidentially, This month's issue of WIRED Magazine has a few tests about personal Carbon usage and it includes all your household usage too, electricity/computer, heating, cooling, etc..

There's a good dozen or so pages about various environmental impacts and such, so people should pick up the issue and read up there too.

Oh, and if anyone happens to have any links on how to build/convert houses into low impact green eco sanctuaries, please share any site info as that would be nice to know...

I'm really surprised computer usage and various computer peripherals weren't on here. Well, my household's CO2 emissions is 15.6832 kgC/day. Thinking about only my own usage (I rarely watch TV, for example), it goes down a bit to 15.6278 (hey, the fridge is always on, heh).

'Course, that number will be higher because I have my computer running 24/7 and my printer on Power Save mode when I'm not using it.

Yes, I'm worried about it. I'm willing to switch to hybrid cars, preferably one that doesn't require you to plug into an outlet to charge, or to a car that otherwise doesn't use gasoline or minimizes the use of fossil fuels.

As for environmentally friendly, I recycle my newspapers, cans, and allowed plastics and glass (some plastics and glass we can't turn in for recycling), though my fellow household members are less strict about it than I am and will often toss the aforementioned items, especially newspapers. We don't use solar heating, though I've been sort of looking into it for a couple years. We also have lots of plants and a rather substantial garden, if that counts for anything...

I try not to use electricity when I can help it (leaving the lights off if a room is bright enough for me to see what I'm doing) and try not to use so much water (turning off faucets; cutting the water flow to a minimum amount needed when washing dishes and clothes; saving household water when possible to water the plants with).

Where the energy comes from? From Hawaiian Electric Company? ^_~ Not sure exactly what you mean. Well, gasoline for my car, which means it's probably made from oil from the Middle East.

Yes.

Hawaii, USA.