Carbon Footprint Measurements

On Wednesday, we'll discuss carbon footprint models in class.

• How can they be helpful? What is their goal?
• What do they measure?
• What are the differences among them?
• Is there a standard way of measuring carbon footprints?
• What are some obstacles to lowering carbon emissions?
• Is the use of fossil fuel an ethical problem or a practical problem or an economic problem?
• Is the solution to excessive carbon emissions a technological one? A political one?
• What motivates people to lower their energy use? What are some obstacles?

Reminder: the assigned reading is this article: "Big Foot" from The New Yorker.
And I request that each person measure their carbon usage with both of these online tools:
Model 1: http://www.rprogress.org/
Model 2: http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

Another comment is due, and you should probably write it on the reading assignment. There are many challenging ideas in this article that are begging for commentary. One question I would like us to discuss in class is: Why does the subtitle say "In measuring carbon emissions, it's easy to confuse morality and science"?

I would also entertain thoughtful comments on the carbon footprint exercise, if you'd rather write about that instead, providing that your comment gets to the substantive and theoretical issues that are raised.

See you tomorrow!