The Truth About My Carbon Footprint

To measure my (ex)carbon footprint I used the websites: www.climatecrisis.net & www.nature.org. To my astonishment, both calculators estimated my footprint to be more than double of that of the average American (18.1 and 29 respectively). I, the vegetarian who renounced meat becauase its industry is detrimental to the environment, almost fell out of my chair. Embarrassed, I went to evaluate the factors that contributed to these calculations. First of all, neither of the sites listed Puerto Rico as place of residence. This is an extremely important factor because electrical engergy is relatively expensive when compared to other states. So when I insterted my yearly engergy bill (which is quite high because my parents are not environmentally conscienscouis) I knew its reading was slightly erroneous.

General facts that my readings depended on:
-I recyle everything recyclable
-I drive a small car
-No need for heating oil
-I travel twice a year to Europe and a few times a year to contiguous USA.
-I live in a house (w/ a pool)
-We are a family of 4
-I don't eat meat

My readings were high for two main reasons:
1. My electric bill does not provide an accurate account of the amount of engery consumed because PR was not listed as a state or country. (Clearly this is a factor I cannot control)
2. I travel...a lot. (Factor within my power, but hard to overcome.)

Climatecrisis.net inquired about: state of residence, number of people per household; car and milage; air travel; monthly electric, natural gas, heating oil, and propane bills. Nature.org asked the above except the monthly electric bill and did inquire about my diet and recycling habits.

Although there is a differnce of 19 tons per year in my readings and currently I lack an accurate estimation of my carbon emissions, I can easily guess that my emissions levels are high.