Fifteen

Issue date: 12/8/09 Section: Opinion

Let's take a brief look at some numbers. Online calculators vary, but the orders of magnitude are pretty consistent. If you are flying from Boston to Salt Lake City to be with family for the holidays, your share of emissions from that flight is about 4,100 pounds of CO2. If you then drive in a jeep for 30 miles to get to a cabin in the woods, that tacks on another 30 pounds of CO2, or 60 pounds round trip. If you fly to San Francisco, it's about 5,280 pounds, and if you family is from or vacationing in Brisbane this winter, your CO2 emissions are 19,100 pounds.
An average shiny new magazine copy represents about .29lb of CO2 emissions, and a new book on virgin paper is responsible for about 16lbs CO2. The emissions of organic cotton clothing are indeed lower than those of conventional, but we're talking about 6-7 pounds of CO2 for a long sleeved cotton shirt either way, but that's before you wash and dry it.

So back to the beginning of the article, it is indeed a swell idea to give recycled or handmade presents. It is charming to feed the birds and reuse your tin-foil, and I do indeed recommend that you seek out LED Christmas lights and locally grown potatoes. But don't overlook the numbers. It takes a lot of recycling your periodicals to make up for your one round trip flight to Utah.
Want an idea that will make a dent in your environmental impact? You've probably heard it, but eat less beef. The emissions responsible for 1 kg of beef are equivalent to the amount of CO2 released by an average car every 160 miles, and the energy consumption is equal to a 100W bulb being left on for 20 days, according to a report published in The New Scientist. As for travel: if you have the option, traveling by train cuts your emissions in half, and riding the bus cuts down to 20%.
If you're visiting family in Newton this Holiday season, you can wrap all your presents in plastic, and give the "steak of the month club" as a gift and still come out ahead of the folks traveling by plane overseas. You guys going to Brisbane better use only twine, skip the tree altogether, and go vegetarian for a year to compete on reducing emissions. Or take a boat.

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