Carbon Emissions
I don’t know about you but I am intimidated by the whole Carbon Emissions thing. Partly because it is intangible. And doing something that emits carbon generally benefits me and my family … and then I feel guity about it, in a vague abstract kind of a way.
When you read about carbon emissions it gets very complex very quickly, and all about the numbers. So I won’t use a single number here!
Here’s the thing. You know this already: collectively we are burning too much fossil fuels. The thing about fossil fuels is they are a storehouse of carbon, from millenia ago, condensed prehistoric creatures. This makes the stuff fabulous for burning and drives my car really nicely. But the whole world is burning it and benefiting from it and it’s all too much for the atmosphere. The delicate balance that God wrapped around the earth to sustain life is cooking. We have had too much of a good thing. We are obese on fuel, bloated and staggering, and taking the planet down with us.
We have to leave the fuel in the ground. We have to stop burning it.
If only we could leave the problem to other people to sort out. But we know that we all have to carry our part.
It is a grand cliché but it is true: If I am not part of the solution then I am part of the problem.
Carbon is about accepting responsibility. Stop dodging and making excuses. I am responsible for burning carbon and heating the atmosphere.
Together as communities, churches, organisations, businesses, schools, we are responsible for burning carbon and heating the atmosphere.
So both individually and together we choose to grab hold of the problem and choose to be part of solutions. That means reducing carbon emissions.
How do we go about that?
For an organisation or business, the first step does not require any change; you just crunch the numbers. The first step is to measure your current carbon emissions. This gives you a ‘baseline’. From there you can set goals and plan for how you will cut back. The NZ Govt has made this as easy as possible. On the Ministry for the Environment website you will find heaps of resources and guides on Emissions. You will learn the jargon, and figure out what to count and what not to count. Different things have different formulas for calculating carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). You input how many litres of petrol you bought and it will convert this into a weight measure of carbon and the other GHGs.
So that is where the maths comes in. If you’re good with numbers you’ll probably love calculating emissions! The rest of us will do our bit, because a number is something you can work with. And when you shrink the number, next year, and the year after that, that is hard evidence and cause for celebration.
If one side of the equation is shrinking carbon outputs, the other side is growing carbon inputs, as in the wonderful green living things that absorb carbon in the miraculous cycle of life on earth. This means investing time and energy in growing trees and nurturing swamps. Reforestation and wetland projects are not only great fun but also great for the big picture.
So, welcome to the 21st Century! Our problems with carbon emissions are getting solved any time soon. It takes all of us taking responsibility what we can do, to ensure that life on earth can still thrive into the 22nd Century.
When you read about carbon emissions it gets very complex very quickly, and all about the numbers. So I won’t use a single number here!
Here’s the thing. You know this already: collectively we are burning too much fossil fuels. The thing about fossil fuels is they are a storehouse of carbon, from millenia ago, condensed prehistoric creatures. This makes the stuff fabulous for burning and drives my car really nicely. But the whole world is burning it and benefiting from it and it’s all too much for the atmosphere. The delicate balance that God wrapped around the earth to sustain life is cooking. We have had too much of a good thing. We are obese on fuel, bloated and staggering, and taking the planet down with us.
We have to leave the fuel in the ground. We have to stop burning it.
If only we could leave the problem to other people to sort out. But we know that we all have to carry our part.
It is a grand cliché but it is true: If I am not part of the solution then I am part of the problem.
Carbon is about accepting responsibility. Stop dodging and making excuses. I am responsible for burning carbon and heating the atmosphere.
Together as communities, churches, organisations, businesses, schools, we are responsible for burning carbon and heating the atmosphere.
So both individually and together we choose to grab hold of the problem and choose to be part of solutions. That means reducing carbon emissions.
How do we go about that?
For an organisation or business, the first step does not require any change; you just crunch the numbers. The first step is to measure your current carbon emissions. This gives you a ‘baseline’. From there you can set goals and plan for how you will cut back. The NZ Govt has made this as easy as possible. On the Ministry for the Environment website you will find heaps of resources and guides on Emissions. You will learn the jargon, and figure out what to count and what not to count. Different things have different formulas for calculating carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). You input how many litres of petrol you bought and it will convert this into a weight measure of carbon and the other GHGs.
So that is where the maths comes in. If you’re good with numbers you’ll probably love calculating emissions! The rest of us will do our bit, because a number is something you can work with. And when you shrink the number, next year, and the year after that, that is hard evidence and cause for celebration.
If one side of the equation is shrinking carbon outputs, the other side is growing carbon inputs, as in the wonderful green living things that absorb carbon in the miraculous cycle of life on earth. This means investing time and energy in growing trees and nurturing swamps. Reforestation and wetland projects are not only great fun but also great for the big picture.
So, welcome to the 21st Century! Our problems with carbon emissions are getting solved any time soon. It takes all of us taking responsibility what we can do, to ensure that life on earth can still thrive into the 22nd Century.