"It's not easy being green" isn't just the lament of Kermit the Frog, it's the dilemma of carbon-crunching greeniacs everywhere.
At least that's the sanctimonious cri de coeur of Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger Curt Milton:
What's your carbon footprint? How much carbon does your lifestyle emit every year? Can you reduce your carbon footprint?
Thanks to Al Gore (and a lot of other forward-thinking people), carbon is on everyone's mind. The more carbon we emit, the more the Earth's atmosphere heats up. And that, as we all know, is a bad thing.
But, as Michael Specter writes in the Feb. 25 New Yorker, reducing your carbon footprint isn't that easy. And what seem like simple solutions (eating food that is grown close to home) aren't always the best ideas when the whole carbon equation is considered.
Milton complains that carbon emission calculations are not as cut-and-dried as one might always expect and that it's hard to make carbon emissions information accurate and understandable for say grocery store customers, not to mention the temptation to screw over the Third World to assuage liberal guilt about industrialization (emphasis Milton's):
One idea: Pay people in underdeveloped countries to not cut their forests or develop their lands (chopping down rain forests releases vast quantities of carbon). But that raises a moral problem: Is it fair to pay underdeveloped countries to clean up the developed world's mess?
It's not easy being green.
What about you? Are you trying to reduce your carbon footprint? And how are you doing it? (Here's a carbon calculator to get you started.)
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters















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Comments Policy
Screw the planet!
February 29, 2008 - 14:01 ET by ArchConservative*sniff sniff* Oh nooo my carbon footprint is destroying the world *sniff sniff* By breathing in and out I'm tearing our world apart! *sob sob*.
The best way to stop so-called-man-made-global warming and our country's so-called-carbon-flippin-footprint is to have all newspapers everywhere shut down. That should be what Hussein Obama and Clinton should espouse. No more newspapers anywhere. They help destroy forests and they are just thrown out after being read for a few hours. Newspapers are worthless and take up too much in our landfills.
So this is a challenge to the Seattle P-I: stop printing your paper and help "save" the planet. And while you are at it you uber-liberal morons, stop breathing and eliminate your carbon emissions for good.
You support the troops by supporting the mission! If you don't support the mission, have the guts to say you don't support the troops.
This is Why I don't Recycle
February 29, 2008 - 14:45 ET by PopularTechFirst of all if all these recyclable material was worth something, someone would be paying for it. Which is why I don't bother. Believe it or not wasting paper actually causes more trees to be planted!
Bullshit! - Recycling (Video) (29min)
Our Widespread Faith In Recycling Is Misplaced (Cato Institute)
Recycling is Garbage (The New York Times)
"Save the Planet?" Are you kidding me?
George Carlin - The Planet is Fine (Adults Only) (Video) (8min)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
I'm doing
February 29, 2008 - 14:02 ET by zoro7957........my part. When I start my car on really cold mornings, I let it warm up only nine minutes instead of the usual ten. I'm feeling better about myself already.
"pay people . . ."!!
February 29, 2008 - 14:13 ET by FastEdENOUGH with the governement subsidies and rebates!!
Do these bone heads understand that paying someone to NOT do something is not only a stop gap, but it only works once. Sure they may get paid over a long period of time, but somewhere in the future, the cutting will become more PROFITABLE, then the subsidy. Same result - now or later. Why not allow the market - ooops, smells of capitalism, set the agenda? Sorry, asking libs to be reasonable, what was I thinking?!?
They are also trying to keep the "underdeveloped" countries underdeveloped, in order to feel superior.
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
Only a nitwit liberal would consider that
February 29, 2008 - 14:14 ET by WhoIsJohnGaltpaying someone NOT to do anything is actually making them pay for our "mistakes". Oh, those unfortunate people, they're suffering by having to accept our free money for nothing.
Jeebus Crike....
Not for nothing... we're
February 29, 2008 - 17:19 ET by KhyrisNot for nothing... we're forcing them to take our money under the auspices that they won't clear forest for awful things like roads, schools, industry... you know things that would make them into a developed society smart enough to determine that the money they're taking is screwing them out of the superior wealth they could be making. We're bribing them to stay primitive... at least, primitive enough to not figure out we're keeping them primitive.
The fact that the MSM so
February 29, 2008 - 14:16 ET by mattmThe fact that the MSM so easily and enthusiastically accepts the whole premise of these types of issues is what astonishes me.
It shouldn't surprise
March 1, 2008 - 09:04 ET by Seabeach4348It shouldn't surprise you.
The MSM is composed of overpaid brain-dead imbeciles most of whom have outlived their usefulness decades ago.
Remember: even if it's a forgery it's still accurate and true (paraphrasing a bit) and don't bother me with checking things our first.
Pay people in underdeveloped countries ?
February 29, 2008 - 14:20 ET by YahooWatcherWe're already paying people like Ted Turner farm subsidies for the land he owns, now I should pay some more people?
Oh, and my carbon quotient was 93 for a two person household.
...and climbing!
February 29, 2008 - 15:26 ET by ArchConservativeI'm not trying hard enough. I'm at 97. I won't rest until I hit triple digits!
I think my 93 is low.
February 29, 2008 - 15:51 ET by YahooWatcherThere was nowhere to enter info on my boat or our summer cottage, which I'm proud to say was financed with a normal 20 year fixed mortgage at 5.5% and is not in foreclosure as compared to the other 90% of America that the MSM keeps telling me is in dire straights over this credit crunch crisis.
I'll give myself a 100+, kinda like my golf game.
"The more carbon we emit,
February 29, 2008 - 14:21 ET by Mark Finkelstein"The more carbon we emit, the more the Earth's atmosphere heats up. And that, as we all know, is a bad thing."
Bad thing? Here in Ithaca this morning, on a day that would have been March 1st but for leap year, the temperature was . . . 11 degrees below zero!
Hey Mark! Want some cheese
February 29, 2008 - 16:32 ET by bassndudeHey Mark! Want some cheese with that whine??? :-)
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Yikes!
February 29, 2008 - 18:00 ET by celatorThe temp here was only 4 below this morning. Where is global warming when ya really need it!! ;+} And we have a forecasted 16 inches of snow starting after midnight tonight. Life ain't fair!
Liberal's Basic Rule For Discourse: I don't care if you agree with my premises, but I demand that you agree with my conclusions.
Last time I checked...
February 29, 2008 - 14:25 ET by mbrewer1The last time I checked.....I wasn't green. I haven't ever been green (even on St. Patty's Day), and I don't plan on being green anytime in the future.
Let the tree huggers pedal their generators to light their CFB (Compact Fluorescent Bulb) at night...or sit in the dark when the sun goes down....Maybe they can hear my music and movies playing in the background....hehehe.
I know....let's all burn candles to light and heat our homes. Welcome back to the 19th century......
mbrewer you reminded me
February 29, 2008 - 15:17 ET by fonzie2178of a joke.
Q: What do tree huggers do when it gets cold?
A: Sit around a candle.
Q: What do they do when it gets really cold?
A: They light it.
Thanks to Al Gore (and a lot of other forward-thinking people),
February 29, 2008 - 14:25 ET by Prester John...carbon is on everyone's mind."
Uh, no it's not.
Teach Your Kids About Environmental Activism
February 29, 2008 - 14:33 ET by V the KNow that the public and most private schools are serving as Global Warming Indoctrination Centers, some advice for parents whose kids are turning into mini-Al Gore's nagging you about your energy usage.
1. Engage your children in the fight against ManBearPig by telling them no more toys will be purchased, and new clothes will be purchased only when absolutely needed, thus reducing their consumer carbon footprint.
2. To reduce household energy use, television and lights will be turned off at 7:30 pm every night. Energy will no longer be used in frivolous pursuits such as video games.
3. No more desserts. Meals will be strictly vegan. (The young'uns don't need to know if you slip out for pizza... it's not you who don't give a damn about ManBearPig.)
4. After school activities and visits with friends will be ceased, to avoid the release of greenhouse gases through automobile use.
Teach your kids how to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, and teach them a valuable lesson about self-righteous moral posturing in the process.
That's awesome
February 29, 2008 - 15:15 ET by greenfairieI don't have kids but if I did and they gave me the ManBearPig spiel, those are great solutions. Let's see how long they last before re-embracing the 21st century.
Wouldn't you be getting a
February 29, 2008 - 16:07 ET by danboWouldn't you be getting a visit from protective services? This isn't about doing something like it's a real problem. This is about pretending you're doing something and giving away a lot of money needlessly so you can feel like you saved the world from a great imaginary satan.
Kind of like a bizarre, twisted potlach where "The Status of any given family is raised not by who has the most resources, but by who distributes the most resources. The host demonstrates their wealth and prominence through giving away goods or by burning the resources accumulated for the event. "
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Greenie final solution
February 29, 2008 - 14:54 ET by Mica the MagnificentIf the greenies are really getting their panties in a knot they should just kill themselves.
No more carbon footprint, and you save the planet for the appreciative native peoples of the third world.
The truth is... if Al Gore
February 29, 2008 - 15:01 ET by Subsailor599The truth is... if Al Gore does not care about his carbon footprint, then I don't care about mine. I don't even give it a second thought.
What about you? Are you trying to reduce your carbon footprint?
February 29, 2008 - 15:03 ET by TheTruthWhat about you? Are you trying to reduce your carbon footprint? And how are you doing it?
I bought a GTI. . . Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk5 saves the planet
Good rugs for sale...
February 29, 2008 - 15:12 ET by SemperrightI'm selling good rugs so you can wipe your feet real good.
It won't reduce you're carbon foot print, it will eliminate your carbon footprints. Cheap
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The MARINES don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan - 1985
My rug...
February 29, 2008 - 18:05 ET by celatorMy carbon footprint rug is made of seal skin. Works great!
Liberal's Basic Rule For Discourse: I don't care if you agree with my premises, but I demand that you agree with my conclusions.
I actually took the test
February 29, 2008 - 15:14 ET by fonzie2178and my 3/4 diesel pickup helped me to contribute only 33 tons of carbon last year. With the total atmospheric volume of 5.1x10e18 kg, and the total carbon content of that being 380 parts per million, I just increased the carbon content of the atmosphere by a whopping 0.000000005%. So if every single person (6.65 billion) on the planet had the exact same emission as me, we all made it go up 0.039 percent. Not much considering the total volume, and the fact that the atmosphere naturally stabilizes itself.
Who wrote that carbon calculator?
February 29, 2008 - 16:30 ET by Dave in TexasThat carbon calculator is a joke. On the question about compact flourescent light bulbs, if I said I'd replaced some, it reduced my footprint by 0.7. If I said all, it reduced my footprint by 1.5.
I would guess that 30% of the lights in my house consume over 95% of my lighting electricity. I've actually replaced them with CFs because it made economic sense to do so. I'm not going to replace the rest of my lights though, and even if I cared about my carbon footprint, that would still be the intelligent thing to do. The amount of CO2 generated during the manufacturing and distribution of the CFs would dwarf the amount of CO2 saved during their lifetime, because I would hardly ever use them.
Your right Dave. My carbon
February 29, 2008 - 16:44 ET by bassndudeYour right Dave. My carbon footprint was 45, above the national average. But it dosent let me figure my boat and motor in. I bet I could get it up to 50 if it did.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
bass,
February 29, 2008 - 18:55 ET by R D HelmIf they had let me add my four charcoal grills, I probably would have hit 100 easy. :-)
John McCain is a liberal. He said so himself.
it's not easy being green....
February 29, 2008 - 15:53 ET by mbuelBut it does show how easy our lives have become. If this is the largest worry that some people have, is how much CO2, they are emitting, than can we seriously say our lives are hard?
Good grief people have some perspective!
The "green" movement is the
February 29, 2008 - 15:54 ET by rbosqueThe "green" movement is the Communist movement. It is the enemy- it is a jealousy of the West determined to cripple us economically so that they can step in and "save us".
They call themselves "progressives" but there is NOTHING progressive about Communism.
Yes, it most definately is
February 29, 2008 - 16:37 ET by Clear thinkerYes, it most definately is a commie party. If anyone doubts it, they have not done their homework.
"Abstain from McCain"
Hmmm...
February 29, 2008 - 19:48 ET by ArmedDadEco-commies-has a nice ring to it.
Summer snow in
February 29, 2008 - 16:17 ET by danboSummer snow in Australia. For them. Isn't this like august for us?
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
I'm going to make it a point
February 29, 2008 - 16:31 ET by rbosqueI'm going to make it a point to "offset" Algore. I'm gonna have a nice Romeo & Julietta Robusto stogie, followed by a nice steak on my grill (lots of charcoal), a bonfire in the evening and then another cigar.
Awesome!
February 29, 2008 - 16:42 ET by DaleGribbleI proudly scored a 140! That's mostly because of the many long-haul flights I take per year for my job. I think I'll try to plan some more trips so I can break 200. It's fun to make liberals worry about the planet!
When you factor in the
February 29, 2008 - 16:42 ET by MidAmericaWhen you factor in the increase in world population and the rising energy use of the developing nations taking my cardboard to the curb for recycling and eating organic apples ain't gonna amount to squat to save the planet. We're all doomed so let's party like there's no tomorrow.
That carbon calculator is a
February 29, 2008 - 16:51 ET by bassndudeThat carbon calculator is a joke. Dosent let you pick the truck you drive, or the boat, and dosent even ask about using a fire place! My footprint of 45 is insulting to me! My household is only 85. What a crock. I bet with the fire place and boat, I'm well above 100. And I want those carbon credits.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Do like Al. Demand a
February 29, 2008 - 16:58 ET by danboDo like Al. Demand a recount. Count all the carbons!
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Well, if everybody in the
February 29, 2008 - 19:15 ET by ckc1227Well, if everybody in the US started using those energy efficient light bulbs, carbon would cease to exist altogether, and the global average temp would always stay the same, never increasing, never decreasing, and hurricanes and tornados(especially January tornados) would become distant memories of how things used to be in the past when the evil oil companies ran the world...
So much for going green
February 29, 2008 - 18:10 ET by CobraManI TRIED to reduce my carbon footprint. I really did! I told my boss that I was reducing my office hours from the usual 9 1/2 hours a day to no more than 5 as that will reduce the amount of non-renewable energy my work activities consume, and that will reduce my carbon footprint considerably. I also told him that I wouldn't work any more overtime for the same reason.
He told me that he's proud of my efforts and that he wants to help so he was thinking about firing me and eliminating my foot print in the office altogether.
Well, I guess it's needless to say that my carbon footprint wasn't reduced even a single shoe size.
Carbon Footprint in your eye hippie freak
February 29, 2008 - 18:38 ET by pennie59Here's the solution to every globalwarming/carbon emitting/treehugging/Americanserviceman hating leftover 60's hippie out there: Die! Then, as soon as your flea infested body and maggot infested brain decompose I'll plant a tree in the dirt you leave behind. I promise.
My carbon footprint?
February 29, 2008 - 19:04 ET by c5thenI'm a size 11, what about you?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
" It's not easy being
February 29, 2008 - 19:16 ET by Slickster" It's not easy being green", is never esay to live a lie. Carbon credits are a scam. So the racist Left want underdeveloped nations to starve or become permanent welfare states are our expense. Let's just finish the job and kill them all.
"Whoo Hoo!!!"
February 29, 2008 - 19:41 ET by ArmedDad"Earth First!We'll log the other planets later!"-Guy with a V-8 powered chainsaw.
I live near these idiots...
February 29, 2008 - 21:08 ET by Parker1227...and have been laughing hysterically as we have witnessed huge snow storm after snow storm dumping snow in the Cascades shutting down the highways (read: lifelines) going over the passes from Seattle to the rest of the country in the east.
About 15,000 years ago, the whole Seattle area was under 5000 feet of ice. If the sun-spot cycle doesn't kick in pretty soon we are going to have to start issuing anti-carbon credits!
I am taking the news seriously
February 29, 2008 - 22:27 ET by pbthinkerI'm taking the news seriously, especially this global cooling thing, which looks a little more realistic than Al's Gorebal Warming thing. So I'll keep pumping that CO2 into the atmosphere, as fast as I can, trying to keep those CO2 levels high, so the earth will stay warm. Hey, we may just get a chance to prove Al Gore correct, and drill for more oil at the same time.
Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.
Alton XUV - Eat this Carbon Footprint!
March 1, 2008 - 00:21 ET by PopularTechGive the Planet the Finger with the Alton F-650 XUV
Oh how I would love to try past eco-nuts in one of these babies!
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
"...carbon is on everyone's
March 1, 2008 - 03:04 ET by Cortillaen"...carbon is on everyone's mind. The more carbon we emit, the more the
Earth's atmosphere heats up. And that, as we all know, is a bad thing."
This is disgusting. It makes me recall a rant from one of the "teachers" at my former high school after a student had the audacity to question his declaration that "short-sighted, greedy, capitalist idiots are killing the planet": "These are the facts, damnit! Little differences and fake scientists bought by oil companies can't change the truth that we're killing the planet! If you don't see this, you're either stupid or naive." I'd already given up on learning anything from that quack, but I had to have a little fun at his expense after that. One of my friends recorded all of her class lectures (probably still does), so I borrowed the recording and disected his rant in an anonymous letter which got distributed to the whole department. I never did find out if he got in trouble over that, though...
www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.
"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi
Stephen Ambrose when asked
March 1, 2008 - 09:34 ET by danboStephen Ambrose when asked to write a book on the building of the railroads almost turned it down. Believing he would be writing about robber barons he hated.
But as he studied it. Read the manuscripts. He walked away with a totally different view. They were men gambled their fortunes and lives and sometimes lost to build it. That they deserved a lot more.
Ambrose was a man who apparently was willing to look objectively and change his mind when what he found contradicted the dogma of political correctness.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Liberals are always trying
March 1, 2008 - 04:40 ET by CooltomLiberals are always trying to fix problems when they are usually the ones who broke it in the first place.
Case in point. They want to reduce the CO2 emissions that result from the generation of electricity but they also were the ones who killed the nuclear power industry and fight any attempt to build hydroelectric dams.
Real fur comes from animals -- fake furs are petrochemicals.
They want to grow vast amounts of additional corn for ethanol but corn requires lots of irrigation -- and the attendant electricity to run the water pumps, distill and transport the ethanol, etc. (Not to mention that the Midwest is headed into a prolonged drought period.)
As the price of corn for ethanol increases, farmers are taking dormant land out of soil conservancy programs.
In the article, one of the the greenies who were gushing about carbon footprint labels and local food was adorned with an Armani handbag and probably headed to buy some Perrier and imported brie.
As for locally produced food, good luck on growing oranges and avocados in Minnesota.
Finally, isn't it odd that whenever greenies get together to kvetch about global warming, it usually involves a long plane ride to the warmest places on the planet. Conferences are held in Bali and Rio, usually in the dead of winter in the Northern hemisphere (well, except for Al Gore in the middle of a snowstorm)...
How convenient, er... or is that inconvenient...
<<Finally, isn't it odd
March 1, 2008 - 09:27 ET by Seabeach4348<<Finally, isn't it odd that whenever greenies get together to kvetch about global warming, it usually involves a long plane ride to the warmest places on the planet. Conferences are held in Bali and Rio, usually in the dead of winter in the Northern hemisphere >>
And did you see Richard Branson (or is it Robert?) of Virgin Air (BIG corporation; BIG airplanes, HUGE carbon emissions) on the MSM earlier this week, covering his butt, by telling us that his airplanes run on fuel made from coconuts?
And what's with that haircut of his?
I demand a recount.
March 1, 2008 - 09:47 ET by danboWe only got a 63? I demand to be up there with Al.
I think I'm going to go do it for Al. See what he gets.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT