Carbon Footprint

How often do youtravel by plane?How much electricity do you use?

These days everyoneis worried about the size of their carbon footprint.In order to reduce globalwarming we need to make our carbon footprints smaller. But how much CO 2

are we responsiblefor?

A new book might beable to help.The Carbon Footprint of Everything looks at the different thingswe do and buy,and calculates the amount of CO 2 all of the following

createD.theingredients, the electricity used in the brewery，the equipment,the travel and commuting of the beer,andthe packaging. It's amazing how many different things

need to be includedin each calculation.And it's frightening how much carbon dioxide everythingproduces.

But all of this canhelp us decide which beer to drink.From Berners-Lee's calculations,it's clearthat a pint(568ml)of locally-brewed beer has a smaller carbon footprint than a

bottle of importedbeer. This is because the imported beer has been transported from far away,andit uses more packaging. The local beer only produces 300g of CO 2 ,but the

imported beerproduces 900g! So, one pint of local beer is better for the environment thanthree cans of cheap foreign lager from the supermarket.

Berners-Lee has evencalculated the carbon footprint of cycling to work.Nothing is moreenvironmentally-friendly than riding a bike,surely?Well,it depends on whatyou've

had to eat before.To ride a bike we need energy and for energy we need food.So if we eat a bananaand then ride a kilometer and a half,our footprint is 65g of

CO 2 .However,if weeat bacon before the bike ride,it's 200g. In fact,bananas are good in generalbecause they don't need packaging,they can be transported by boat and they

grow in naturalsunlight.

So,does this meanthat cycling is bad for the environment?Absolutely not,for a start,if youcycle,you don't use your car,and the fewer cars on the road,the fewer traffic

jams.And cars intraffic jams produce three times more CO 2 than cars traveling at speed.Cyclingalso makes you healthy and less likely to go to a hospital. And hospitals have

very big carbonfootprints!

So maybe it's timefor us all to start making some changes.Pass me a banana and a pint of localbeer,please.According toBerners-Lee,which of the following produces the most carbon dioxide?

A.A pint of localbeer we drink.

B.A pint of importedbeer we drink.

C.A banana we eatbefore a bike ride.

D.The bacon we eatbefore a bike ride.