Ask HN: Do you care about your carbon footprint?

[tq-qv]

Hi. I am curios if people care about their (personal or household) carbon footprint.

If yes: do you work on reducing it, and how do you prioritise what to do (i.e. what has impact)? Are you willing to change your lifestyle or are you relying mostly on tech? (Solar, EVs, or other things)

If no: who should be responsible for reducing carbon emissions? (If anyone)

[LinuxBender]

Yes to some degree. While I doubt I could even begin to compete with the carbon emissions of some countries and corporations I try to do my part. I moved to a state that makes heavy use of green energy that is also much less expensive than my former state. I use that clean energy to heat my home. I adapted my body to be comfortable at low temperatures 58F-64F. At 57F I just put on a zip-up sweater. My home is heavily insulated and partially earth sheltered. In the winter I put double-sided insulation on half of my double pane windows.

Solar will not work great on my property but I will eventually install some. I've been holding off from Solar not just because of my property but also because low frequency inverters are still evolving and competition is growing. I am leaning towards Hysolis.

I am holding off with EV trucks as options are very limited, many bugs are still being worked out and competition is still very weak. My first EV will most probably be a side-by-side [1] and that should be fine for ~95% of my driving needs. I would prefer a Honda EV side-by-side if they made one.

[1] - https://ranger.polaris.com/en-us/ranger-ev/

[jstx1]

No.

> The use of household carbon footprint calculators originated when oil producer BP hired Ogilvy to create an "effective propaganda" campaign to shift responsibility of climate change-causing pollution away from the corporations and institutions that created a society where carbon emissions are unavoidable and onto personal lifestyle choices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint

Kurzgesagt also provided a very good view on this that I agree with - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc - "Can YOU Fix Climate Change?" (No*). The video explains it much better than I could in a comment but if you're concerned about your own contribution, you're focusing on the wrong thing.

[giantg2]

No, not directly.

In general, I just try to avoid waste and over-consumption. I think that an obsessive focus on carbon is missing the rest of the system and the rest of our impacts. I think the primary driver for most of our negative impacts is consumption and population growth, specifically excessive and irresponsible consumption. That covers carbon emissions (agriculture is a huge producer), over-fishing, over-abundance of disposable products that done recycle, littering, etc.

The solar panels you mention are a great example, they seem to address carbon footprint, but there's still substantial output during the manufacturing process and they'll just end up in a landfill a couple decades later. So sure, better on the carbon front, but technically non-renewable (hardware).

[vimy]

I don’t care because it doesn’t matter. Worldwide lockdowns in 2020 yet only a 7 % reduction in emissions. The lockdowns checked almost every box on the ‘do this to save the world list’ from green activists. No air travel, car traffic decimated, factories closed, .. And only 7 % less emissions. Behavioral change is not the solution. Degrowth doesn’t work. In fact, degrowth means less money to invest in renewables.

Innovation and technology is how we solved our problems in the past, there’s no reason to think this time it will be different.

[burntoutfire]

> Innovation and technology is how we solved our problems in the past, there’s no reason to think this time it will be different.

Actually, there are pretty good reasons to at least have doubts.

[richbradshaw]

Yes, though I can't seem to do a lot about it.

I use an app to pay a small amount each month to offset emissions.

I'm vegetarian, partly due to climate issues.

I'd like solar panels, but they are expensive and won't offset my whole electricity usage.

I'd like an electric car, but currently drive a petrol car, but will change when I can.

I very rarely fly, and only once every 10 years fly long haul, though generally due to budget rather than emission based constraints!

I'd like to cut more, but it's tough to see how to make cost effective cuts.

[kleer001]

No. It's a canard, a wild goose chase, a red herring...

Thanks to Kurzgesagt. They did a great video essay at :

"Who Is Responsible For Climate Change? – Who Needs To Fix It?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVxxxqwBQw

Also Goodheart's law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

[bjourne]

Yes, I don't fly as much as I could nor do I drive. I do agree with jstx1 however in that the main responsibility for reducing emissions lies on governments and global corporations, not on individual consumers. By yourself you just can't make an impact. It has to happen on the political level.

[f0e4c2f7]

I don't think about my personal footprint much because I don't view that as a realistic assault on climate change.

Perhaps it's too optimistic but my focus is more on options like solar and fission in the medium term, fusion and carbon capture in the long term.

[softwaredoug]

Does anyone recommend a monthly service to offset your carbon footprint? Googling im never sure what services are legit or not..