Okay, okay. I know that it has been way over a year since I started Kyle’s Carbon Accounting Method.
The idea of counting up everything for the second 6 months just Was Not At All Appealing, so it has taken until now to do it.
Right, so on with the detail.
Family 12 monthly income: 4 800 carbons
Total 6 monthly spending: 19 600 carbons (July – Dec)
Total 6 monthly spending: 5 200 carbons (Jan – Jun)
Balance: -20 000 carbons
Per person balance: -5 000 carbons
Well, that’s pretty ordinary.
So, what does that mean in terms of Western averages. According to Kyle’s figures, the Western average per month is -900 carbons, which would mean that our figure of -5000 carbons for 12 months is a fair whack better than the western average of -10800 carbons. Of course, since the global average for 12 months is about 2400 carbons, then we are significantly “worse”.
Now, those figures are interesting psychologically – we are double the global average, and the western average is double us.
So, if we want to Really Feel Good about how Wonderful We Are, then all we have to do is say: Hey, we consumed half the carbon of next family. Of course, if we wanted to be realistic, then we would say something like: Hey, we consumed twice as much as the average global citizen, which really means that we consumed about 4 times the amount that there is for us.
If we took out the renovations to the house (which I always feel compelled to do, since it doesn’t happen every year – although it is into its 3rd year now…as my wife keeps reminding me!), then the figures would be:
Family annual income: 4 800 carbons
Total annual monthly spending: 9 500 carbons
Balance: -4 700 carbons
Per person balance: -1 175 carbons
This comes down to -98 carbons per person per month, which is slightly “better” than the world average of -212 carbons month.
So, what does that all mean?
1 response so far ↓
1 Kiashu // Oct 4, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m a bit over it, too, mate.
But it served its purpose. It made you aware of your household’s impact on the world, and gave you an idea of the sorts of things that make it bigger or smaller. If you wanted to reduce further you’d know how. And if you wanted to live closer to the Western average you’d be aware of the impacts – which makes you less likely to want to live like that.
Awareness is the first step to action.
For our part, we had a household spending of -¢ 10,052, with a per person monthly income declining from +¢300 to +¢250 over the year. We planted six trees, and guerilla planted 39 trees. We thus ended up with a balance of +¢880.
Our per person monthly spending was -¢319. This is one-third the Western average, basically bang-on the world average, and three times the safe level.
44% or -¢4,450 of the spending was on transport. One-third of this was due to the 542lt of petrol we bought, but half of it was due to interstate flights. Subtracting those leaves only -¢523 on transport. So if we got rid of the car and interstate flights we’d be down under -¢200 per person, two-thirds the world average and twice what we need to be.
Unfortunately, not all the household decisions are up to me
So I have to content myself with being only as polluting as the average global citizen.
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