A Dream Cruise is a Carbon Nightmare

Well... there goes that little dream. Sigh. It's always sad when you come up with a bright light bulb idea and it burns out so fast.

My partner and I had come up with this brilliant idea of taking a cruise vacation. It seemed to tick a lot of boxes... affordable, easy travel out of Vancouver, see new places, all inclusive and easy for partner who has trouble on long-haul flights. What's not to love!

Just pop over to Vancouver, board a cruise ship and see the world! Enjoy the delicious food, check out the entertainment and soak up some sun around the pool. No flight. No airports. Just kick back and relax.

Sounds dreamy, yes?

Well... no.

I discovered, much to my chagrin, that cruise ships are essentially massive carbon producing monsters. They have these massive engines that run 24/7, even when the ship is in port. These engines use heavy fuel oil, a tar-like substance which is incredibly toxic and a residual of the petroleum industry. Basically it's the crud nobody else wants and is incredibly dirty.

Even though a new cruise ship costs $1,000,000,000 (that's a billion)... they can't afford to spend a piddly $1,000,000 (that's a million) to install emission abatement systems.

They've done tests on cruise ships and the emissions that the passengers breathe are 20 times worse than the pollution on a main road... in Beijing.

Soooo... what is the carbon footprint of a cruise ship? Well... brace yourself. They produce the same particulate emissions as 1,000,000 (a million) cars. Every. Single. Day.

Some cruise ships emit up to 150 tonnes of carbon. Every. Single. Day.

And no... even though the cruise ship companies claim they are clean & green... it's not true. At least not for the majority of them. Check out the Cruise Ship Report card by Friends of the Earth.

Oh... and if that's not enough... some cruise ship companies have been caught dumping dumping trash, raw sewage, and fuel into the ocean. Looking at your Carnival and Royal Caribbean. 

Cruise Ship Rankings for
Environmental Protection Measures
by NABU

My head is hurting. I did find a carbon footprint calculator for a cruise and... for a 5 day cruise with 2 days in port... it was 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per person. That's a lot of carbon... for 5 days. Our little car uses emits just under 5 tonnes of CO2 per year.

And then that got me thinking... what about our ferries??? They run off of diesel... I think. Well... ferries generally aren't as bad, mostly because of the short distances... and they're not dumping sewage and stuff into the ocean... And they are waaaaayyyy better than short haul flight! Here's a breakdown of CO2 emissions per km.

In case you're squinting... top of the list is Cruise, then short haul flights (less than 600 km), then flights more than 3700 km, car, flight (600-3700 km), ferry by car, motorbike, Ferry with car (4p), Car with 4 people, Train local, Touring car, Ferry (foot passenger), International Eurostar Train.

Right then... may have to rethink the cruise vacation idea. At least for a while. Some cruise companies are starting to make changes. And Hurtigruten, a Norwegian line, is miles ahead of the others. But we'd need to fly to Norway to take a cruise from them... which spews CO2 hither and yon.

Hydrogen fuel seems to be the wave of the future... maybe. Although, right now... hydrogen fuel cells in a cruise ship are used for in-port power and slow steaming. Other than that, they're still running off petroleum sludge.

I'm hoping that there will be some major progress by 2030 but... in the meantime... should we avoid cruise ships? I'm not here to say yay or nay. But if we do take a cruise... don't bring disposable garbage onboard, turn off your lights when you leave the cabin and limit the amount of grey water you produce (short or less frequent showers).

On a happier note... the Vancouver cruise ship terminal does have shore power so cruise ships can plug in and turn off their diesel power. That's 50 less tonnes of CO2 emissions per port call. Yay. Small steps...

More Reading

CBC - As it Happens - Cruise Ship Emissions are the Same as 1 Million Cars

Popular Science - Care about the Planet? Skip the Cruise, for Now.

Friends of the Earth - Cruise Ships' Environmental Impact

Friends of the Earth - Cruise Ship Report Card

My Climate - Carbon Footprint Calculator for a Cruise Ship

NABU - German Research Group - 2022 Cruise Ship Rankings

BC Ferries - Clean Futures Plan 2022

Ferry GoGo - Ferry Emissions - is UK site but probably ballpark for our ferries

Would You Eat Cultivated Meat?

What the heck is cultivated meat?! The Future Food? Imagine meat that has no pathogens - no salmonella, no e coli. Imagine meat that is grown without animals existing in obscenely cruel conditions. Imagine a meat that has a lower carbon footprint. Imagine a meat with no growth hormones.

Churchill imagined it in 1931...

Fifty years hence, we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken
in order to eat the breast or wing,
by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

Far-sighted man was Churchill. He just had the timing wrong...

Cultivated meat is also known as cultured meat, cell-based meat, artificial meat, and designer meat. It's here. Whether it catches on is the next question. 

Cultivated meat, is meat that is grown in a laboratory... well... actually... more like a brewery. Animal cells (let's say chicken) are taken and grown with amino acids in massive bioreactors (like a brewery vat). When the meat is ready, it comes out looking like minced meat and is then shaped and formed into chunks of "meat". The cells that are used can be from any part of the animal, even feathers.

But... I can hear you now... does it taste and feel like meat? Or is it going to taste like one of those regurgitated McNuggets? Generally... taste testers admit that it does taste and feel like real meat. The meat balls can be a bit "denser" than regular meat balls. But the flavour is bang on - "full and savoury".

There are huge environmental benefits to this form of ethical meat. But there are some caveats. These processing plants... or meat breweries... use a large amount of energy. As long as they are using renewable energy sources - hydroelectric or solar or wind - then the carbon footprint is much lower than your massive chicken factory/barn. But... if they are using fossil-fuel generated electricity... they have a bigger carbon footprint than traditional meat.

And right now... the serum in which the cells are grown is FBS - Fetal Bovine Serum. And yes, a calf fetus gave up its nascent life to contribute its life blood to "slaughter-free" cultivated meat. Bit of an oxymoron there.

Will this actually become a mainstream "thing". And how much does it cost?

The FDA just approved (23 June 2023) the sale of cultivated meat in the USA (CNN article). So it is here. And if you live in the states, you could potentially find "lab grown" meat on your alternative grocery store shelves.

As for the costs... the first lab grown steak cost $300,000 to make. But costs have come down since then. The first of anything is always going to be expensive. After that, economies of scale "should" bring prices down. Remember... the first computer cost $$$$$ and now... few hundred bucks.

But there are some serious questions about how cultivated meat can be scaled to be affordable. Right now... a kilogram of lab grown meat costs about $20,000. That would make for an expensive burger. And trying to get it down to the range of $17/lb or $40/kg... well... there's the kicker.

There would need to be some huge technological advancements and a shift in resources for this to be viable on the large scale. But maybe... as climate change pushes us forwards... we'll make those choices. Or maybe cultivated meat will just be a exclusive experience for the uber-rich.

Remember Thomas Watson, the president of IBM? In 1943, he famously said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

So... who knows what the future brings. I'd like to remain on the optimistic side. Cultivated meat would solve so many issues... as long as it doesn't create more problems.

And then there is the burning question... would YOU eat cultivated meat? Would consumers actually want this stuff? I know I would eat it. In moderation of course. 

More Reading

The Counter - Article about the huge problems facing cultivated meat - 9 Sept 2021
The Scientist - Removing the Animals from lab-grown Meat - 9 May 2023

Carbon Rationing in the Future?

The Future?

Last month, I wrote a post about our carbon footprint and how we need to do better. All of us. And I raised the possibility of one solution being carbon rationing. It seems a radical concept, but is it?

Right now, we have carbon taxes, a controversial subject that affects some of us more than others. In BC, our gasoline prices are quite high because we have a high carbon tax. In Alberta, gasoline prices are much lower because they don't have a significant carbon tax. A carbon tax is also not ideal because it disproportionately affects the poor more than the wealthy. When you have money to burn... a carbon tax on gasoline doesn't impact you as much as it would someone who is on a tight budget.

Carbon rationing on the other hand would affect everyone the same. And no, there would be no carbon trading allowed. Because carbon trading, again, affects the poor more than the wealthy.

UK WW2 Ration Book

When I tossed the idea of carbon rationing out there... I was basing that more on my knowledge of rationing in the UK during the Second World War. People received a ration book and you had a set amount of sugar, meat, milk, clothing, etc that you could purchase. It was a pretty basic system with a paper ration book and little detachable squares that you would hand to the merchant as you purchased your ration of sugar. German had the same thing.

This system was accepted by most of the populace because it affected everyone equally. Everyone, rich or poor, was in the same boat. You didn't get a bigger ration if you were wealthy. You got the same ration of meat as the next person. 

I did a bit more research into this idea and... it's a thing. It's actually been trialed in Finland and Australia! Imagine opening an app on your phone each morning and checking your carbon footprint. And seeing how each and every trip in your car impacts your carbon budget. And no... there is no "carbon credit card" where you buy now and pay later. Although maybe there will be "lay away"... where you save your carbon allowance for a big trip? Interesting ideas...

The idea of carbon rationing has been around for a while. In 2006, David Miliband, then UK Environment Secretary, suggested it as a way to engage the average person in addressing climate change. But a subsequent investigation by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reported that a scheme to track everyone’s carbon use was too costly, unproven and lacked public support. DEFRA concluded that carbon rationing was “an idea currently ahead of its time”. 

That was almost 20 years ago... perhaps it's time has come? Or maybe it's a carbon tracking scheme.... where you track how much carbon you are emitting. Because, honestly... we really have no idea how much carbon a trip to the grocery store "costs". But what if we did? What if we could then make smarter choices?

Carbon rationing would be a pretty draconian measure... but those times might come. And with technology's leaps and bounds... it might be a lot easier to track than a paper booklet. What if, on your store receipt... you could see the carbon cost of that whole chicken that you bought from the grocery store? What if it was all tracked automatically? I know, I know... Big Brother is watching. I hate to tell you this... but they are already watching.

What if carbon rationing is the only way that we can save our children and grandchildren from a desolate future of runaway climate change? Would you make that sacrifice for your children? Our grandparents made that sacrifice during the Second World War. What makes us think that we are exempt or immune from something similar? To save the planet. And our future.

Because right now... we are all in a HUGE carbon debt. All of us. And there is no way to declare carbon bankruptcy. The consequences aren't simply... oops... you lose your house and now you get no credit cards for 7 years. Our carbon debt has global implications.

Move aside Bitcoin... maybe the future is Carboncoin. And if it is... we should all start practicing how to track our spending and balance our budget with our own personal finances... It's somewhere to start.

More Reading

BBC - Can rationing carbon help fight climate change? - 2020
New Republic - The Climate Case for Carbon Rationing - 2023
Nature - Personal Carbon Allowances Revisited - 2021
Resilience - The Best Climate Policy You’ve Probably Never Heard Of - 2022
Globe & Mail - The Climate Crisis is like a world war - so let's talk about rationing - 2019

Should I Get an E-Bike?

"Should I get an e-bike?"

This question has been bopping around my head for several years now. Everyday, I watch a neighbour power up our hill, pedaling slowly on his e-bike. I know it's an e-bike because I've pedaled up this same hill and wheezed and plodded and ground along in first gear. Pedaling up the hill is not as easy as the e-bike makes it look.

I have a regular bike. Which, as of this writing... I still haven't taken down to the bike shop to get its tune-up. By this time of year... I would have done that already. But it always seem a less important task than everything else on my list.

And I wonder... if I had an e-bike... would I take it out more? Would I pedal off to Starbucks in the mornings instead of taking the car? How much would that affect our carbon footprint? Would I ride it enough to justify the costs? What if it got stolen?

All of this soul-searching has been triggered by a radio ad which said that the provincial government was offering up to a $1400 rebate on e-bikes that cost at least $2000. Ooohhh... that is almost too good to pass up. The rebate scales down based on your net income but... still...

In previous years, you could only get an e-bike rebate if you brought in your car through the scrap-it program. That seems to be gone... and now you can just get an e-bike rebate without turfing your car. So it is appealing. 

Pros

I think of all the benefits...

• I could go farther than I can on a regular bike
• The hills won't affect me like they do on a regular bike
• It will get me out and about more (theoretically)
• I could even pop down to the grocery store for odds and ends without feeling guilty about using the car
• I could even ride it in the spring and fall when it's inclement weather (neighbour dude does...)
• Good for my health!

Cons

And the negatives...

• How do you maintain an ebike? I have no idea...
• What if the bike seat is just as uncomfortable as my regular bike?
• Where to park it? The garden shed?
• How to charge it? Run an extension cord from the house to the shed?
• How to protect it? Will it be thievable?

I see that the negatives are mostly a list of questions. With a fair degree of uncertainty. That is what holds me back - all of these unknowns. I could find the answers to these questions fairly easily. Friends of ours on Gabriola Island have e-bikes and love them... They will have answers to a lot of these questions.

Regular Bike?

Or... do I just stick with my regular bike? Just bite the bullet and get it tuned up and get a saddle fitting? Presuming that the bike shop does that. Or just do little mini-bike rides until sore bum bones get used to the bike saddle.

Ack. Sometimes I wonder at my indecision. It's annoying! Just choose! Make a damn decision and go for it!

And just an FYI... e-bikes in the local shops are running at around $5000. Eek!!!

Ok... enough wiffle-waffling... I am going to take my regular bike down to the bike shop this afternoon. They are open until 6 pm... so I can walk it down in 30 min and walk back without it. I don't know if it fits into the back of the car but... whatever. I can walk down.

While I'm there, I'll see about the bike saddle and whether they do saddle fittings and figure out if my saddle works for me or if I should buy a new one. Heck... they might look at my bike which is... ooohhh... 30 years old... and decide it really needs to be replaced. WTH... will handle that when it comes to that moment. 

Do you have an e-bike?? How does it work for you???

Our Carbon Footprint Could be Better... Needs to be Better!

After calculating our carbon footprint last week... I was pretty satisfied with it. 12 tonnes of CO2 per year per person isn't bad! It's certainly better than folks in Alberta who rely on coal powered electricity power plants. Right? Right.

Global Neighbours

Well... turns out, we're not the only ones on the planet. And our carbon footprint in Canada is not great. In fact, it's worse than pretty much any European country. I know why too... distance. We fly more. We drive more. We don't have super-fast trains that connect cities. Our wide-open skies and huge distances mean we do a LOT of travelling and... that's where we are racking up a lot of our CO2 emissions. Not to mention all of our food has to travel long distances, etc, etc. And let's not mention holidays... if we want to flit off to a Mexican vacation, we are talking thousands of kilometres of flight distance... whereas in Europe... those distances are often smaller... just flit down to Greece or Spain or Italy for a winter vacay.

Yeah... except... China has an average carbon footprint of 5 tonnes... and they are a big country too... We are in trouble.

Climate change isn't going to cut us any slack. A recent study confirmed that by 2050, Canadians are going to have to cut their emissions an average of 95%. Eerk... that would mean... an average of 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per year... Ummm... where's my chart??

Basically... we could heat our home, handle garbage and recycling and drive a tiny bit in our gasoline powered car, and eat a vegan diet... Remember... in my previous blog, this carbon footprint didn't include diet at all! 

Yep, it's official... we are in trouble.

2035 and 2050 Targets

Here's what it looks like... There we are at the top of the pack... and there's Brazil and India near the bottom. And we can see our targets as well. The 2035 target is 2.5 tonnes/person/year. But by 2050, we need to get that down to 0.7 tonnes/person/year.

Hot & Cool report on climate change - 1.5-Degree Lifestyles Report | Hot or Cool

Seriously... it seems impossible to go from 12 tonnes/year to 2.5 tonnes/year! And then down to 0.7? HOW???

Reducing Carbon Footprints

The Hot or Cool report offers the most bang for your buck suggestions. And for Canada, a high-income country... we are looking at the following...

Biggest Reduction - 0.5 to 1.5 Tonnes/year per option

• shift from gas-guzzlers to fuel-efficient vehicle
• shift from gasoline car to electric car
• car-free private travel (a vacay with no car??)
• reducing  international flights
• shift from meat-based diet to vegan or vegetarian diet
• shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy

Medium Reduction - 0.25 to 0.5 Tonnes/year per option

• living closer to the workplace
• car-free commuting with electric bikes, ride sharing
• smaller living space
• hybrid car
• car-free commuting with public transportation
• closer weekend leisure
• efficiency improvement of home appliances

Small Reduction - less than 0.25 tonnes/year per option

• food production efficiency improvement
• alternative dairy products
• renting a guest room
• telework
• efficiency improvement of buildings, heat pump or air conditioner for temperature control
• reduction of sweets and alcohol
• reduction of domestic flights
• household food loss reduction
• saving hot water
• lowering temperature at home
• supply side food loss reduction,

The Bottom Line

My sense is that a lot of us are focused on the Small Reduction section. We are trying to save hot water by showering less. We are lowering the thermostat and wearing sweaters. We are composting and trying to reduce food waste. We are installing a heat pump. But while all of these things are good... they aren't making a big difference.

For the biggest difference... we are going to have to address things like our car-culture... gasoline cars in particular. And our preference for individual transport over communal transport.

We are going to have to address our fixation with fossil fuels... whether it's natural gas for heating homes or coal-powered electrical generating plants. Those don't work anymore.

We are going to have to look at our addiction to air travel. In France and Austria, they have banned short-haul domestic flights under 2 hours. You'll need to take a train instead. And that works for them because they have the rail system to support that. Here... our rail system is pathetic. And we like our warm-weather winter vacations too... and flitting off to Arizona for the entire winter. Those things might be a relic of the past in a few years.

Carbon Budget

I wonder what would happen if we had a carbon budget for the year. And no... you can't borrow or trade carbon like you would money. This is a budget that can't be altered. You only have so much carbon money to spend. Once it's gone... that's it.

Of course we'd buy our heating and electricity first... and then want?

Things like garbage and recycling... but then travel? Transport? Diet?

We made the switch to a primarily vegan/vegetarian diet three years ago. Beans... tofu... tempeh... and a bit of salmon here and there for the Omega-3s. It works. It's actually quite yummy. Do we miss milk? Nope. Do we miss cheese? Sometimes. We do dabble in yogurt and butter but minimally. But if we had a carbon budget... and had to cut something... yogurt and butter would be the first to go. But what about eating local? What if we ate some local bison? Makes no difference. Meat whether it is next door, or across the country still has a high carbon footprint.

I'd probably be cutting my daily drives to Starbucks. In favour of walking or biking to another coffee shop. I'd make sure that all of my errands are tied together like a daisy chain. They generally are... but sometimes we make that run to the grocery store for a packet of basil because we need it for the recipe we are cooking. Maybe that's a place to start... track our annual kilometres and make an effort to reduce our daily car use.

As for travel... when my mother immigrated to Canada in the mid-1950s... there were no international flights. Heck there weren't even domestic flights. She took a passenger ship from Bremen to Quebec City. She then boarded a train that travelled all the way across Canada. Took days and days. She remembers a time when there were no cheap and easy flights. They are a luxury. And one that we can ill afford the way it stands.

It's enough to make one's head ache. And yet... it's all pretty obvious.

• Buy local - farmer's markets
• Buy seasonal - don't buy raspberries in January
• Eat more vegetables - including dried legumes... best bang for your buck
• Eat less meat - beef is bad... fish is better
• Walk or Bike more - time for an e-bike?
• Drive less - plan your errands... vacation locally

Right now... we still have some free will and choice in all of this. We can choose to do better. There may come a day when we don't get that choice. When it's gotten so desperate that we have carbon rationing... or a ban on international flights or... who knows. I can't see the future but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the writing on the wall. 

Our Carbon Footprint Could be Worse

I got sucked down the carbon footprint site the other day and it was a fascinating journey!

I had been taking an Instagram course for our short-term rental, and the instructor had a post about how to calculate your carbon footprint. He was in the UK... so the site he used wasn't ideal for us.

 But no worries... I found a Canadian one - Carbonzero Calculator

Carbon Categories

There are all sorts of categories...

• Utilities
• Vehicles
• Flights
• Transit
• Fuel
• Shipping
• Waste

There is a whole section on calculator methodology and I leave that to you to read... As a caveat, I'm not sure how to calculate Shipping so that category is going to be empty for us. I presume that would be for people who do a LOT of shopping on Amazon and Wayfair... which is not us... so going to leave that for now...

We also don't use Transit so that is going to be blank for us...

Carbon Footprint - Utilities

The first step is to calculate Utilities - which includes Heating and Electricity. Given that we have electric heating with the heat pump - we only had one category here... 

The calculator asked us for total kwh and I got that off of our BC Hydro Account - May 1 to May 1. It also asked what province we are in... which is British Columbia.

So, 0.14 tonnes... that seems ridiculously low? Is it because of our hydro-electric power gird?? Let's check Alberta with it's coal-powered electricity generators...

Oookaaayyyy... well... that answered that question. Don't move back to Alberta. Ever. 

Carbon Footprint - Vehicles & Fuel

Let's go through Vehicles. We have a little 2011 Kia Soul that we drive about 10,000 km a year - mix of highway and city driving. And... we get 0 tonnes? That's weird... but I did a little test and chose a 2022 Ford F-150 pick-up truck... same distance, same type of driving and it's pushing 3 tonnes... so this must have to do with the age and type of vehicle...

I chose a 2022 Toyota 4 Runner and a 2010 Toyota 4 Runner as well - the 2010 had 0 emissions and the 2022 had over 3 tonnes.... so it must be an age thing.

As for fuel... this is where it gets scarier! I calculated that I generally put 40 litres of fuel into our little Soul once a week, so 2000 litres of fuel a year, give or take...

Yikes!!! That's almost 5 tonnes of carbon emissions... this is where the rubber hits the road. Drive less... better fuel efficiency... hybrid... electric vehicles... bike more... all definitely options.

Carbon Footprint - Waste & Recycling

This section wanted to know the weight of our waste and recycling... I went to our city's website and pulled up the average weights for a household in our city. I tend to think we throw out less garbage than the average household but... let's run with that... So 200 kg of garbage per year and 150 kg of recyclables (mixed).

Well, that's not too bad either.

Basic Carbon Footprint - no Flights

Right then... so our total greenhouse gas emissions for the year are pushing 5 tonnes. Which isn't bad. You can see that gasoline is the biggest generator of CO2. If we had an electric car... we'd be smiling... although then our vehicle emissions (probably from making it) would be higher than 0.

Carbon Offsets

After calculating your carbon footprint... you can then choose to purchase carbon offsets. On this site, they run about $30 per tonne... so we would be spending $150/year on offsets. There are other sites which have cheaper offsets. And since all of the projects on CarbonZero seem to be "completed"... I'm not sure of the benefits of purchasing an offset here. The Gold Standards website on the other hand is highly recommended by the Suzuki Foundation... and there are tonne of offset projects here - some at $15/tonne, and some higher. The Gold Standards site recommends that, if you don't know your carbon footprint, you choose an average for your country. For Canada, this would be 2 tonnes/month. Ergh...

But then... I haven't added flights into the mix... so let's do that!

Carbon Footprint - Flights

This is the scary part I think... so let's just bite the bullet and do it. The site makes it easy... all you need to enter is your starting airport, destination airport, class and whether it's round trip or economy... Here we go...

Now... here's the weird thing... distance wise, Cancun is 4500 km while Mom is 700 km (one way). So it's a bit odd that Mom's flights are more tonnes than Cancun... but maybe it has to do with the size of the planes... bigger planes mean the carbon footprint is spread out over more people. Maybe...

But... these flights have turned into scarey-ville!

Carbon Footprint - with Flights

It's the gasoline. It's the flights. If we didn't drive or fly, our carbon footprint would be miniscule. But we do... so it's not.

Now... divide this by two as well... some for me... some for my partner. And still... 12 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year... that's a bit dismaying. And yes... we could just buy some carbon offsets but... ideally... we would move in the direction of less gasoline and less flights. It's those vacation and family flights that are the kicker.

Oh, and this calculator doesn't even include diet in there! A meat-eater diet has twice as much carbon footprint as a vegan... 

Another Carbon Footprint Site

That's where the Carbon Footprint Calculator comes in handy - it has a bunch of different secondary categories that can make a difference. Although it doesn't include the Waste/Recycling category. But then... when I do that one... I get this. 

I'm not sure about all of this... The car bit includes gas and yet... it is way less than the CarbonZero calculation. And the flights are much less as well. The Mom flight is 0.21 tonnes!  Although, it does add the secondary bits - things like food (makes a difference if you are vegetarian or a heavy/medium meat eater), also pharmacy and clothes and furniture. 

Ugh... I can see why some people just go with the average for their country! But let's just say our household is running at 24 tonnes/year (added in those secondary bits to our CarbonZero total). So that means each of us is about 12 tonnes/year or 1 tonne/month. That is in line with most European countries. The average for Canada is 2 tonnes/month/individual. But as we saw above... Alberta is VERY different from BC in terms of electricity footprints. Soooo... I'm going to run with 1 tonne/month and leave Albertans to fend for themselves.

Carbon Offsets

There are a LOT of places out there that sell carbon offsets. Some are legit... some less so. The David Suzuki Foundation has a pdf that can help you navigate where to purchase your offsets (https://davidsuzuki.org/science-learning-centre-article/purchasing-carbon-offsets-a-guide-for-canadian-consumers-businesses-and-organizations/). The other site is the Gold Standards site mentioned already above... (https://marketplace.goldstandard.org/collections/projects).

I'm going to have to look through everything and choose one to use as my offset. And look at ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint. It's the hydrocarbons (gas, jet fuel, etc) that are the high ticket items.

Going on a Gasoline Diet

I love my 4-Runner. His name is Clifford (Big Red Truck) and we've been together for 26+ years. I bought Clifford new in 1996 and he and I have had many adventures together. He's still a great truck, very useful for hauling all sorts of things around.

I've been good to Clifford, keeping him maintained, and in return, Clifford has been a very reliable truck.

The other Clifford - Big Red Dog

But Clifford's not getting any younger... we just ticked over the 360,000 km mark a few weeks back. That's a pretty impressive milestone but then 4-Runners are kind of like the energizer bunny... they just keep going and going. Clifford is "only" a 4-cylinder which means he's not as big a gas guzzler as some other SUVs. Still... Clifford is a gas-powered vehicle and I am beginning to really question how long we are can justify keeping him around.

Clifford would be easy to sell at this point. I've had guys approach me in the parking lot asking "Do you want to sell that?" Because the 4-Runner, particularly of that era (1990s) are very, very reliable and, apparently, desirable.

I am clear that our next vehicle is not going to be gas-powered... Clifford's days with us are numbered. For the moment, however, we are staying together.

In the meantime... I am trying to think of ways in which we can reduce our gasoline footprint. I try to maximize my errand trips. If I know I'm going to be in a certain area of town because of an appointment, I will try to rejig schedules so that I can accomplish several other errands in the same area.

Right now, the most hard-to-justify trips that I take with Clifford are my early morning visits to Starbucks. Yep... I drive to Starbucks most mornings, whether I have an errand to run or not. I get there early, get some work done, and then drive home and pick up the threads of the rest of the day. It's not a long drive... 3-4 km at most, one way.

Walk

I could walk that in about an hour... but I'm not up for a 2 hour round trip walk in the mornings. So, walking is out. Unless... I were to choose a different hang-out spot. There is a local coffee shop a 30 minute walk away... Or I could go hang out at the university library, also a 30 minute walk... or the aquatic centre... I'd need to shift my routine and habit though... ugh!

Our WalkScore number... not good... not good at all.

Transit
As for public transit... we don't live in Vancouver where that would be a really good option. Here, not so much. Our public transit system is not the most reliable nor the most convenient for timing or routes, so that is out.

Or is that just my own sense of transit snobbery? Nope... I looked up our address on WalkScore and... it's bad.

Kitsilano, Vancouver - WalkScore

Type in your address and they give you a Walk/Transit/Bike score. Our city overall has a poor walk score (35) and is labeled car dependent with a poor transit system. But our address is even worse... a Walk Score of 10! Eesh... And they didn't even give it a Transit or Bike Score... My sister, on the other hand, lives in Kitsilano in Vancouver and... well... her Walk/Transit/Bike score looks verrryyyyy different.

Bike
Soooo... what about my bicycle? If I jump on my bike, I can be at Starbucks in 10-15 minutes (it's mostly downhill). I know this because I've done it before. For a few years, particularly in the spring/summer/fall, I was pretty good with biking to Starbucks but then my life got hectic and... it took too long.

Riding my bike would have several benefits and tick a number of boxes:

• good exercise for me
• good cardiovascular workout for me
• good for the environment
• good for our gas budget
• good for society - setting a good example, less traffic

Bike Seat Butt
So, what stops me? Honestly... it's the first few bike rides of the season after the winter. I haven't been on my bike for months and... my butt is not used to the bicycle seat. So the first ride is usually good... but then, the next day, I have sore butt bones and sitting on the bike is pure agony. So then I try to give my butt a rest for a day... or two... or three... and then a week goes by and... voila... no bike riding routine.

Maybe I need a new bike saddle? Or to adjust my handlebars and seat post? Or maybe I just need to power through the sore butt phase. I KNOW that I always feel better once I'm in the bike riding habit. But there's a huge inertia mountain between my tender butt (now) and my saddle hardened butt (2 weeks from now).

I guess the real question is... how committed am I to making a difference for myself, for the planet, for our budget? I can come up with all sorts of excuses as to why biking is too hard, too much work, etc.

• I need to get the tires pumped up and that means I'd have to take it down the hill to the gas station (2 minute walk) and pay $1.50 to pump up the tires.
• It needs a tune-up and that costs $$ and I'd have to make an appointment and get it there and...
• The chain is rusty and needs oil and I don't know if we have any oil
• I'll just have a sore butt after this.
• What if it rains?
• I'm going to be a wheezing slug on it for the first few days/weeks. I hate feeling like an out-of-shape slug.

But there many benefits too...

• I could bike farther afield.
• Go to a different Starbucks or coffee shop.
• Bike to appointments once I'm up and running.
• Try some further afield trails once I'm past the slug state.
• It opens up a lot of possibilities for me.

The pros really do outweigh the cons but the inertia... oh the inertia... it feels insurmountable at this point. Or... is it time to bite the bullet and buy an e-bike ($1500+)? A friend of ours is buying one and I've seen these bikes zipping up our hill with the greatest of ease. It would handle the "slug" business for sure. And maybe even the sore butt bones. Still... before we make that big of an investment into an e-bike, I want to see if I can't give the old-fashion me-bike another chance. One small step at a time.