At this point we all know that flying and driving are completely horrible for the environment and we should try to reduce the amount of both we do. Given the recent dire warning from the UN I started to think about this stuff again.
There are calculators on line that will give estimates for emissions but the estimates vary wildly. I'll let you do your own research here, but I've used a couple of average numbers here for my personal use.
As a guess:
As I need to fly twice this year, the flights are my biggest impact. In fact I really don't drive that much at all these days.
Just to muddy the waters further this is an interesting article about the time scales of various pollution sources.
So there aren't easy answers but generally it's not rocket surgery, we should all try to fly and drive less.
There are calculators on line that will give estimates for emissions but the estimates vary wildly. I'll let you do your own research here, but I've used a couple of average numbers here for my personal use.
As a guess:
- Nonstop return flight from San Francisco to London = 3.3t
- Average car use for a year = 4.6t
As I need to fly twice this year, the flights are my biggest impact. In fact I really don't drive that much at all these days.
Just to muddy the waters further this is an interesting article about the time scales of various pollution sources.
So there aren't easy answers but generally it's not rocket surgery, we should all try to fly and drive less.
Teleconferencing and Working From Home
Modern technology makes remote working not only viable but in many ways more productive and enjoyable that commuting or traveling to conferences. I don't mean to minimize the importance of face to face contact, but if we don't change our ways we won't have a planet to live on in 50 years.
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Tele-presence are all technologies that will allow us to interact with the world without the need to burn vast amounts of fossil fuels. In my last year at NVIDIA I learned to work from home several days a week. It was an adjustment in style but I was definitely productive and less stressed. I also presented at an entirely virtual global conference which was a good experience, the audience seemed engaged and asked good questions at the end which is a good indicator of success in my opinion, so it can work.
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Tele-presence are all technologies that will allow us to interact with the world without the need to burn vast amounts of fossil fuels. In my last year at NVIDIA I learned to work from home several days a week. It was an adjustment in style but I was definitely productive and less stressed. I also presented at an entirely virtual global conference which was a good experience, the audience seemed engaged and asked good questions at the end which is a good indicator of success in my opinion, so it can work.
The Science Fiction of it
Soylent Green is the movie where people are eating people.. yeah right, but why are they eating people? Is it because of an environmental collapse caused by over population and resource exhaustion? The Solyent Corporation's Oceanographic survey (a big plot point in the movie) shows the oceans to be dying... Our oceans are in trouble.
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