[SECProto]

The biggest takeaway I get from the article is that the average annual food-sourced CO2 emissions is equivalent to driving 6000km. Average car owners in North America do quite a bit more than that annually (and likely in a vehicle that produces much more CO2 per km than the europe-based study would use)

[neltnerb]

Oh wow, I just did the calculation myself (3.22 trillion miles and 330 million people) to see the 9800 miles per capita driven in the USA.

What a waste. I hope that at least most of it is long haul trucking or something with personal value like a vacation, rather than just commuting.

[fpgaminer]

The average American commute takes 26.9 minutes: https://www.npr.org/2018/09/20/650061560/stuck-in-traffic-yo...

9800 per capita should be completely unsurprising to any American. If all you did was drive to work, it'd be a mere 40 miles per workday (5 days a week, 50 weeks).

Non-Americans might be surprised about it. But let me be clear: driving is the backbone of American society. Always has been. The classic video game Oregon Trail is about Americans making one long commute across the entire country, so they could find better jobs. Which honestly explains a lot about Californians: our ancestors traveled the whole of the United States to get here, what's a short 2 hour commute to work on the 405 every day?

Our country is HUGE, almost all of it is habitable, and we have a sprawling road system. We have the option to work where it's most profitable, and live where it's most comfortable. And boy do we take advantage of that.

Good or bad, that's the U.S., so I hope people aren't too surprised when they learn that we've been burning a lot of gasoline in our cars. And also perhaps why we have such a pro-oil/coal culture.