Archive for June, 2006

At the end of his movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore challenges the audience to find ways to reduce the size of their Carbon Footprint. When we returned home following the movie, my partner and I immediately set to work at the task.

We started by looking at the household basics.  We recycle, use energy efficient light bulbs, and carpool whenever possible.  What about fuel efficient cars?   Although we both drive fuel efficient vehicles, both get between 33-36 MPG, any car’s impact is not just how much gasoline it burns, but how much Green House Gas (GHG) it spits into the atmosphere in the process.

We did a search on Answers to find how much GHG his car produces, and found a great link to the official government site that keeps those statistics.  That’s when the bomb went off. His 1995 Nissan puts 5.7 tons of GHG into the atmosphere every year.  Needless to say, we were both stunned. His car weighs just over one ton, so it’s tough to imagine how much volume 5.7 tons of gas encompasses.   Curiosity quickly got the best of us, and we looked up the Toyota Prius, which clocks in at 3.4 tons.  We wondered whether switching cars was the best thing we could do, and whether it would be enough.  Today, Al Gore asks a very similar question: “What do you think it will take to reverse the effects of global climate change?”

It will be very interesting to hear what the Answers community thinks, but I know we have our answer.  If the two of us can reduce greenhouse gasses by over two tons a year, just by our choice of car, imagine what would happen if others took up the challenge as well.  If we took the 137 million cars in the U.S. as a baseline, then action by just 10% of us could save nearly 340 million tons of GHG over the next 10 years.  It won’t reverse climate change, but it’s a 340 million ton start.

Mike