A CARBON-INTENSIVE CIVILIZATION

"The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous, and enduring, and thus more intelligent, even competitive."  Paul Hawken

1. Do you have any idea of the amount of CO2 produced from daily activities?  
2.   How much carbon is produced to provide energy for our lifestyles?
3.   How much CO2 is emitted as a result of my using electrical appliances?
4.   Are you wondering how much carbon your own lifestyle is spewing into the air? 
5.   Did you know that the United States is the highest average producer of carbon dioxide in the world? 
6.   How many trees should I plant to offset my CO2 emissions?
7.   Where did we get this information?
8.   What is a single tree worth?

1. Do you have any idea of the amount of CO2 produced from daily activities? 

Take a look at these staggering figures….

Each litre of gasoline spews out over 2.5 kg of CO2 (19 pounds per gallon).  Add up all those daily commutes or shopping trips and you pump out an average of five tons per year for every car you, your family or business operates.   And what about the electricity supplied by your public utilities? You may be shocked to learn that every kilowatt hour adds 1.7 pounds of CO2 to the air (0.19 kg/kWh).  On average, each home in the US consumes 840 kWh per month (EPA, Region 1 North East), which adds up to 5.5 tons of yearly CO2 production.  Just imagine how much carbon dioxide a typical small business emits: almost two million pounds per year or 1,000 tons! You probably don’t want to think about how much CO2 a large factory spills into the air, often with no repercussions.  Our lifestyles and consumptions patterns have spawned an industrial enterprise that has invested extensively and almost exclusively in fossil fuel based energy.

Remember that one of the Earth’s cycles is to is to move carbon from its outer layers in.  The coal deposits we are now burning were once great prehistoric forests that have moved from the earth’s surface towards its core.  It really messes with the system when humans dig up or burn this carefully sequestered carbon and throw it up into the air at a greater rate than the earth’s carbon sink capacity can remove it. 

2. How much carbon is produced to provide energy for our lifestyles?

The following figures show just how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels and other combustibles to provide energy to support our lifestyles and businesses:

3. How much CO2 is emitted as a result of my using electrical appliances?

Electrical appliances consume energy even when they are turned off.  The amount of carbon generated depends on how the electricity is produced (see chart above).   

For an excellent illustration of how our electric lifestyles produce carbon, we refer you to "Your Contribution to Global Warming," by George Barnwell, which appeared in the February-March 1990 issue of National Wildlife, the magazine of the National Wildlife Federation (page 53).  The article assumes electricity generated from coal and calculates that each hour your television is on produces 0.64 lbs (0.29 kg) of carbon.  Each time you use the toaster adds 0.12 lbs (0.054 kg).

To calculate carbon outputs for specific appliances, use the coefficients listed above (eg. For coal-fired energy)

Multiply the number of watts (W) the appliance uses times the number of hours (h) it is used, then divide by 1000.

For example a 60-W light bulb operated for 24 hours uses (60 W) x (24 h) divided by 1000 = 1.44 kWh.

This use of electricity would produce an emission of (1.44 kWh) x (2.3 lb CO₂ per kWh) = 3.3 lb CO₂ if the electricity is derived from the combustion of coal.

Figures show average per capita carbon dioxide emissions in metric tonnes per person per year for the year 2004.  Retrieved from:
http://en.wikipedia.org

The US has the highest annual average, at 20.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions per capita. That's 44,000 pounds worth of responsibility for global warming for each and every person living in the United States, if the load is shared equally.  But if you are an adult living in an urban area with one car, your CO2 emissions are almost double the national per capita average and total at least 40 tons per year.  In addition, if you fly frequently on commercial airlines or have a motorboat which you use often, your CO2 “responsibility quotient” would likely rise to between 45-60 tons annually.

5. Did you know that the United States is the highest average producer of carbon dioxide in the world? 

Not only does the United States have the highest annual carbon emissions per person, it also produces the most carbon of all the countries on the planet.  On average over 30% of worldwide carbon emissions are contributed by the American economy, although the country has less than 5% of the world’s population.  

Globally, the picture looks like this:
United States                                       30.3% of total worldwide carbon emissions
Europe                                                 27.7%
Russia                                                  13.7%
Southeast Asia, India and China             12.2%
Central and South America                      3.8%
Japan                                                    3.7%
Middle East                                            2.6%
Africa                                                    2.5%
Canada                                                  2.3%

In Europe, four countries - the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Spain - are among the top 20 national fossil fuel CO2 emitters. These four nations contribute 65% of the region's total fossil fuel CO₂ emissions. 
US Dept of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Carbon Dioxide Analysis Centre

6. How many trees should I plant to offset my CO2 emissions?

By planting 1,000 hardwood saplings in Costa Rica, you would capture and sequester approximately 40 tons of CO2 per year.  At the end of a 25-year project cycle, you can feel good about locking in 1,000 tons of CO2.   And your Community Trees for Carbon will continue capturing CO2 in perpetuity.

Alternatively, one could calculate that for every 25 trees planted and well managed, you could sequester one ton of CO2 annually. 

7. Where did we get this information?

This calculation is based in part on tropical hardwood plantation growth rates using a model called the Klinki Matrix Forest.  This model was developed by a consultant, Buford Briscoe, Ph.D. Agroforestry, one of the earliest scientists to study carbon sequestration rates, now a resident of Costa Rica.  Dr. Briscoe’s model assumes the planting of 1,111 klinki trees (Araucaria hunsteinii) with other hardwood trees per hectare on suitable land in Costa Rica.   Dr. Briscoe has recognized that the Klinki Matrix is an accurate model for predicting average local growth rates for other tropical hardwood species besides the klinki tree. 

Reforest the Tropics, a non-profit organization spearheaded by Dr. Herster Barres, with Dr. Briscoe also serving as chief local consultant, has used the Klinki Matrix to predict growth rates and quantify the average CO2 sequestration ratios that could reasonably be expected from its hardwood plantations here in Costa Rica.  The calculation is straightforward:  total tree weight is determined by multiplying volume projections by the specific gravity of the wood, with CO2 making up 48% of the corresponding dry weight. 

Since Community Trees for Carbon are fully bio-diverse reforestation projects with more than 50 species of trees, including leguminous species which further capture carbon dioxide, the projections of Reforest the Tropics can probably be surpassed.

8. What is a single tree worth?

The ecological and environmental benefits produced by a single growing tree are invaluable.  What is one tree worth if allowed to grow for fifty years? 

A total of $196,250, according to American Forests Magazine, broken down as follows:

·       $62,500 in air pollution control
·       $37,500 in water recycling and humidity control
·       $31,500 worth of oxygen
·       $31,250 in soil benefits
·       $31,250 in wildlife shelter
·       $2,500 worth of protein in bark and leaves consumed by wildlife

Doesn’t it make good sense to plant more trees?