Travel offsets for Spring and Summer 2017

Different variations of the data depicted here have been making the rounds in the past week. Basically, it shows different ways our personal choices impact our carbon footprint.

I’m doing okay on high-impact choices. The biggest choice you can make by far is to have a one fewer child. I have none. I don’t live completely car free, but I’m mostly car free, putting about 2,000 miles per year on my 14 year-old Toyota Corolla. I take public transportation as much as I can, even when I’m traveling in new cities. I’ve moved my power (though not my heat and cooking) to renewable energy and I’ve eliminated beef from my diet (though not all meats).

On the other hand, I fly often enough and far enough to be making an impact on emissions. Since the last time I bought air travel offsets, I’ve made round-trip flights to London twice, Los Angeles via San Jose, Seattle and Reykjavik. That’s 3.47 metric tons of CO2 equivalents, according to this calculator.

Today, I bought 3.47 metric tons – 7,650 pounds! – of carbon offsets from Terrapass.