Is your footprint above or below average? And do you care?

[Cam77]

Is your carbon footprint above or below the national average - and if it’s above do you feel bad about it? There are some good calculators online which quiz you on every aspect of you lifestyle. For what it’s worth I’m below average on most metrics - food consumption, energy usage (average sized home with good rating), don’t drive (work from home), only one kid, etc. However, I do fly a fair bit including one long haul every couple of years (12 hour return flight to visit family) - and that alone bumps me right back up to around the national average. I feel kind of bad about it, but there you go.

101% on the quiz mainly due to car use and food shopping. Both of which can be quite easily reduced so that’s given me something to work on!

The calculator was way off. Talking about stuff I need to do I already do.

Though I condemn people who fly abroad with small kids who don’t even understand the concept of “abroad”. At such a young age they won’t remember the place and a 4-year-old simply doesn’t care if the beach he is on is in nearby Cornwall or far away Portugal.

But I didn't used to go on holiday abroad for the sake of my child. I went abroad for my benefit, and dh's. As someone who doesn't 'do' beaches, including dd when she was smaller, the beach was not even a factor. Reliable dry and sunny weather was, however.

sashh I agree. It asks how many people live in your home, but 2 people could either mean a couple without children or a couple with children who don’t live at home, but they are counted the same.

Pets probably bumped me up as well , but sadly my dog will only eat expensive food and I have an elderly pony who costs a fortune .

I just wanted to add that I’m one of those that said it came up as above average and I’m not bothered to do any more, and explain why.

Like a lot of MN users, I already recycle, use reusable sanpro, beeswax wraps, take my travel cup to the coffee shop, etc. Barely drive, have been walking 50 mins back from work etc. Last flight was 18 months ago. I do have 12 year old cats, but won’t be having any more pets once they’ve passed.

There is little more I can do without financial or time implications (and I am poor in both areas). I can’t afford to make my house more energy efficient. I can’t afford to only buy local. I don’t want to stress about things I can’t change, so I’m not bothered.

We're 4 tons below the UK target for 2020 of 10.5 tons. Happy with that, but more to do.

i am a very rare flyer.
although i imagine some of my food comes via aeroplane.

Mine is awful, i fly a couple of times (at least) a month.
I have started using escosia as my search engine. As everytime you use it, they plant a tree

Mine is below average, at 80
i remember being scandalized at seeing new zealand onions in Sainsbury in UK, just why?
however I do buy frozen fruit and veg which may well come from abroad.
and of course those bananas!

Mine is 116% which I am really disappointed about! We live in a 4 bed detached home and use heating oil which probably doesn't help. When this boiler packs up, we plan on installing gas and having a more efficient boiler, but I really cannot justify the expense until this one actually breaks? We are a one car household, however I need it for work and have a longish commute. I am a HCP who does home visits and clinics in various surgeries in rural areas so really do need my car. We grow a lot of our own food, have chickens and compost all food scraps and paper and card etc ourselves, we always shop locally and have been on a plane once in 10 years so I honestly thought we would have fared better!

I would like our next car to be electric however there would need to be more charging points by then as currently is just wouldn't work where we live, given how much driving I have to do for work each day.

I have below average footprint but work travels undo all my efforts in other areas and I end up with a much higher footprint than average. That's on my employer I suppose but it's an eye opener. I think it emphasises quite well how the real impact is created by businesses rather than individuals. There's only so much one can do at personal level - big businesses and industry in general are the ones that can make a real difference.

Mine is above average, which is quite upsetting actually as I'm a vegetarian and an adopter, so like to think I'm rather eco-friendly 😳

I agree with RatBagCatBag Im afraid .I have a feeling we have a fairly low CF anyway .Only one car between us ,DH cycling to work and only long haul trips occasionally. ,Eat meat sometimes and veggie meals a couple of times a week . Looking at China /India etc .unless everyone comes together in a global plan we are only scratching the surface .It ha become a "cause celebre " rather than an honest campaign ,with celebrities ,Anarchists and so on hiring a boat for Oxford Street and flying here and there first class ! Poor young Greta Thunberg is very earnest and sincere but up against world leaders is fighting a losing battle !

Mine is sky high . We fly several times a month to Europe and further a field. When at home we don't use the car very often as we walk but we eat alot if meat. We are in the process of moving overseas and I'm am determined once the move has happened to not fly for a year

Why are we so bad in the UK, compared to the rest of the world? is it because we are an island?
or just not Green enough?

the questionnaire also recommends buying more expensive, which galls somewhat

Hmm, according to the WWF calculator I'm way above UK average, principally due to travel.

But, some of the questions were hard to answer, e.g. how many people in the household? 2 adults and 2 students, who are here part time. So how many people do live here?

And how many hours a week do you use the train? Most weeks none, but some weekends a long trip of 4 hrs each way. Same with takeaway spend etc - most weeks nothing, but then the occasional splurge.

Travel was my main downfall. Car use hard to cut down currently, though I'd like to - easy to get the bus to work, but I need a car to get to my horse afterwards, and there's no benefit in getting the bus to work, the bus back home to pick up my car, then car to get to horse (by which point it's probably dark anyway...)

Above average.

Big house for the number of us, two cars, pets. Only one DC who is in reusable nappies at least and we don't fly often. We do recycle a lot too.

I got 112%

I have a lot of children, pets and a large house. I never fly, I use my car for work as I work in the community, but not a lot for anything else. We recycle, compost food, try to cut down on single use plastic etc . We eat far too much meat which is an easy one to change and I know I need to buy less stuff.

I came out just below on 2 calculators resurgence and WWF and just above average on the other
we are above as we live in a larger house but we both work from home we need 2 extra rooms as office base and DH needs his workshop my home based job involves antiquees so I need space not just a space for a laptop but restoring things so buying new is not necessary I think is quite green, my mileage is high as the stuff for business needs a car to transport you can't take an re upholstered armchair on a bus my clients are often within 50+ mile radius so being self employed that is my carbon footprint not someone else's

it doesn't take account of the fact that actually rurally gas is generally not a heating option our public transport is poor

we don't fly often twice in ten years

we eat meat but we don't buy stuff, we don't replace tech unless broken we don't upgrade phones or PC's we don't replace furniture I expect the furniture I have bar a new mattress for bed to last my lifetime
I don't spend much on clothes cosmetics or entertainment

so our minuses are transport by cars everywhere and having and heating a larger house plus meat eating

our pluses are no flights, only one child, repairing stuff not wasting food, , we don't spend much on consumables or holidays

Below average mine came out at 93%. Have a new build that is energy efficient, I walk to the station and get a train every day, no kids, no pets...we have had one holiday to Spain but in future are going to holiday in the uk.

Omg I got 182% 😳

Mines below. Vegan, no kids, wall to work and use my car only if only option.
I flew a couple of times last year and will need a fly a few times this year, but I do try and been hugely conscious in my other lifestyle choices

I got 282%... not surprising really.

My husband and I both work in the travel industry (both for airlines) and do many long haul flights per year.

My commute is 1.5 hours each way (but I have a tiny petrol car).

However we do have eco heating (air source heat pump) and insulation everywhere in the house. Plus we recycle everything.

I got 94% in the WWF quiz. Most of the reasons it’s that high are things I can’t change at the moment, although I could probably eat less meat. My family resist my attempts to introduce meat-free food so I need to work on indoctrinating them.