but it's faster than the bus!

I did the calculations this morning of our CO2 footprint, getting ready to donate offset money. It's not complete, because I don't know how to figure in showers taken at gyms, or Florence's dorm electricity or stuff like that, but for our house, cars, and airplane use, the three of us come up to more than 38 tons of CO2 for 2006, 45% of which is for air travel. To calculate travel emissions, go to
http://www.terrapass.com/

We're flying in two days, in fact, and then Florence will go back to school and Arthur will go to Chicago for a conference. No end to it.
I was just listening to sociologist Juliet Schor on the radio talking about how much damage holiday celebrations do to the environment. She claimed that she wasn't trying to guilt trip anybody, but it's hard to believe her.
I don't do a lot of driving around shopping, I don't wrap packages (re-using gift bags over and over), we only have a small amount of outdoor lights that I mostly forget to plug in, and we don't run up the electricity bill more than usual by baking. Still, I do buy special foods from far away (clementines, dates, crystalized ginger), plus the (Fair Trade) bananas and chocolate we buy year-round, and we sure do fly.

Schor supports the organization behind this website.
http://www.newdream.org/