Carbon Neutrality

I don't worry so much about being carbon neutral; I have to drive to get to work or my only option is to go straight home after work, as my bus schedule is limited. Therefore, I have the option to go somewhere straight from work, rather than taking the bus home and driving to where I'm going.

I have always had old things; most of my furniture is vintage, as are many of my household goods, accessories and some of my clothing. I like old, so am unlikely to build a new house, which would be difficult to do on a carbon neutral basis. I focus on doing my best not to do egregiously wasteful things; if I was working in a place with better public transit, or lived somewhere that had better access to the transit available, I'd take the bus more. As it is, it doesn't make sense for me to do so right now. One of the benefits of my current employment is low-cost transit; I can either buy a bus pass at a reduced rate or pay for low-cost parking and have opted for the parking.

I have analyzed carbon footprint information on more than one occasion and have concluded that I'm doing better than I was a year ago; at that time, I was traveling on a project and was flying out to another city every few weeks. I enjoyed it while it lasted but my carbon footprint is reduced based on lack of flight alone. Once we were in the city we were all in one car, in hotels that were fairly close to the offices in which we worked.

While I didn't go ahead with the farm shares, due to the uncertainty of what vegetables, volume of produce and other expenses that would've rendered the upfront fee onerus, I plan to make an effort to shop more frequently at the farmer's market. It should be possible as there will be a market near where I'm working and there is a Saturday market near where I live. I'm also making an effort to use fewer plastic bottles and am trying to remember to take a reusable bag with me, at least to the farmer's market so I don't end up with 8,000 plastic bags. As it is, if I buy one or two things I don't take a bag.

It isn't a perfect system, but my theory is that I have had a smaller carbon footprint my whole life, simply because I have always had old things and when I was a child wore hand-me-downs.