[Gansan]

I don't try to compensate. I don't have land where I can plant trees. So I try to pollute less. I do about 1000 km every month, so I use my 15 kmpl car and 63 kmpl motorbike on alternate days. I also use only public transport on specific days of the month or try not to go out at all.

We are vegetarians from birth, but I don't think that compensates for emissions from meat production. Vegetarians consume dairy products rather liberally, so the net effect may be zero.

Long ago the PCA (Power Conservation Association of India) ran a news paper campaign called SOS (Switch Off Something) for weeks, and it remains in my mind to this day. I always subconsciously try to find things that can be switched off. I will even switch off street lights near my home if they remain on unnecessarily. I use very efficient lamps and appliances, and use my Ac judiciously by setting it just a couple or three degrees below ambient temperature and mildly running the ceiling fan at the same time.

[GeeTee TSI]

While I hated (economy) flying, I now have one more reason to avoid it for the environment. My hopes rest on Vande Bharat trains and their like which can perhaps prompt me to ditch the car for a solo intercity drive. I do not mind stretching my travel dates to accommodate train travel

I walk or cycle for errands a lot more than when I had a scooter. I also take my motorcycle for almost all city bound rides (irrespective of the weather) in place of the car. But every succeeding car or two wheeler has been bigger, heavier than what I had before, so rather pointless whatever I do

Alas, I feel I may not be able to give up driving in the sense of the word as it is an addiction (weekend purposeless drives especially), maybe regulations will force me out of it in the future

[chandrda]

I can't stop polluting, cause I drive to work and love long drives. My kids have started enjoying the drives with me now (especially my daughter) and I would like to enjoy and maximize it as long as possible.

So will I start using public transportation to compensate, absolutely Not. I have had enough with public transportation nor will I start using bicycles.

I would like to drive as long as I can. But it doesn't mean I don't care about pollution and don't want to give the future generation a clean earth.

Also, I won't get into the Veg vs Non veg or EV vs ICE or Oil vs Electricity Production comparison. Since I am no expert on this and can only quote reports from internet.

So this is how I compensate -

Have been planting trees on the road side since I was 12 years old. Have been planting trees in and around my locality when ever I am in Bangalore and try to take care of them for few years. Many of these have survived road widening, construction, illegal tree felling etc.. and are huge trees now providing shade, shelter and hopefully cleaning the pollution.

Planted 3 trees last month. My father and me have been taking turns to care for them. I am in the processing of planting few more trees in the coming weeks and hopefully at least half of them survive. Trying to instill the same in my kids as well, hope they pick it up.

Not sure how to measure my polluting act vs Planting act, but this is my idea of compensating

Regards

[am1m]

Well, I don't have children, and rarely have I taken international flights, so that compensates for whatever little driving I do and my meat-based diet, without having to feel guilty!

https://www.livescience.com/13835-ca...ctivities.html

https://www.science.org/content/arti...ling-you-about

(Of course, we didn't take that decision because of the environment (we're just too lazy to be good parents), it just conveniently fits in with the trendy narrative these days!)

[srini1785]

Let me see:

1. I get up and brush : I use a plastic toothbrush, so I pollute.
2. Take a dump and a bath: I use use water and sewage is dumped into a lake, so I pollute.
3. Eat Breakfast : ..Eh (I don't know)
4. Take the car to work place : No question about it, I pollute big time.
5. Type this post : I'm using thermal energy, so I pollute.
6. Eat Lunch : Eh ..(This is killing my brains..I don't know).
7. Go Home : Use same car so again pollute big time.
8. Eat and go to sleep : The Fans ON the whole time (I'm feeling so guilty now).

In my sleep, I see a Neanderthal, he's so environmentally friendly. I wake up and get on with point no 1.

[venkyhere]

To be honest my first reaction when I read the thread title is "what a joke".
Since I have as much freedom to express my opinion here as any other member, here goes :

1. As apex species, humans will eventually wipe themselves out, through their own actions or from a giant natural catastrophe (comet, virus, increase in sea level due to human effused green house gases)

2. It makes no difference whatsoever whether the human race survives or not, on earth ; the earth will outlive everything.

3. The only "free" energy source is fossil fuel, solar and nuclear fuel (others like wind/geothermal/tidal etc are not as efficiency "tappable" as the above three are). What I mean by that - even to 'tap' these energy sources, we need to spend some energy upfront to create the mechanism to exract/process into usable form. On those stakes, nuclear is the most efficient and solar is the least efficient (energy tapped : energy spent for tapping), fossil fuels are nicely in the middle.

4. But what is the ultimate source of energy on earth (may be in the universe even) ? Gravity. That's what packed biological matter into crude oil, that's what triggers fusion reaction in the sun/stars, that is what formed the 'elements' that were created when earth formed. So all three sources of 'most efficient energy' available to us - fossil, solar, nuclear => all were created by gravity. We really don't know what gravity is as of today. This is the only real source of 'energy'.


And here we are, talking about some silly carbon footprint offsetting with slogans like "every bit adds up". You go somewhere and plant tree saplings - "going there" burnt some fuel, talking about it in social media is consuming gigabytes of resources on servers and consuming electricity, climate change summits held in swanky hotels in locations is burning energy because 'important climate scientists/lobbyists' fly only first class.

Fundamentally, all this "save the planet" is pure BS. The planet can take care of itself. Plastic is made from ingredients that came from earth, just that it didn't have the recipe, man invented the recipe. "Non-biodegradable" is causing everyone to run around flailing their arms and screaming in panic. Maybe there is another way for earth to get rid of plastic - some volcanoes & some earthquakes later, maybe in the future, all the plastic that 'extinct' humans dumped on earth's crust, will be sucked into the magma and will disappear into eternity.

The purest way to 'offset' carbon by a human living in modern society, would be (pardon me for saying this) to kill himself. Yes, that's right. He himself is an accumulation of carbon, he needs to burn carbon and convert it into CO2, just to sustain his breath and be alive ; forget things like eating, recreational driving, motorsports, going to car meets etc.

So this entire TBHP thread is simply needless fodder, as useless as humanity's attempt to 'protect' the earth. THIS IS MY OPINION.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

THIS IS MY OPINION.

Yes, so it is. You shout it by typing bold but that doesn’t make it a good opinion. Also, if you had bothered to check the OP intro to this thread, you would have noticed it is not about believing in environmental change as such.

So have proven nothing other than your ability not to read very well, I think.

Just my opinion of course.

Jeroen

[Venky03]

Can't really call it offsetting but maybe optimizing my energy usage?

• All bulbs are LEDs, all fans are BLDC and replaced old ACs & fridge with their inverter counterparts.
• Smart integration of solar power (DIY : Solar Power Conditioning Unit).
• Switched 2Ws to EVs and they'll soon be able to use solar power for charging.
• Using the car only for highway runs.
• Currently practicing permaculture at my farmhouse.

Other than that, I run a startup that services and refurbishes old laptops, helping them stay on desks instead of ending up as e-waste.

[Zippy_wheels]

While trying to do your bit in reducing CO2 levels, is a noble cause, I dont think going out of our way to do it is worth it. Sure saving electricity, walking instead of taking a car for short distances etc are doable and also save money. But for the most part all we are doing is trying to shift pollution from our over-polluted cities and speading it in the hinterlands, for example coal, steel, other industries are situated outside of cities.

The efforts govts can take to stop paddy burning, pollution from industries and airlines, illegal mining etc will provide better results without common people having to sacrifice the small joys of life. We work 8-10 hours and sleep 6-8 hours. Its hard to think and act on environmental issues in the little remaining time we get. This when we are not even sure where to plant trees, or how to take time out to maintain them. There is also the fact that you have to wait for a few years before they grow up, to be big enough, to have an impact.

It would be easier for everyone, if the govts acted to prevent depletion of forests, not allowing heavily polluting trucks and busses to ply on our roads, preventing forest fires, preventing industries from polluting the air and rivers etc, preventing stubble burning, creating more cities to ease the burden on the bigger cities, shifting businesses and exports away from products that only profit us by sucking the life out of land, air etc.

This way the common man will also be able to have a little bit of fun, without feeling bad about something he may not be that much responsible for, in the first place.

[professortarzan]

Although I claim to be concerned about the environment, I am definitely no saint. Now that I've got it off my chest, this is what I do.

• I rent a house closer to my workplace, even though its significantly expensive. When the weather is kind, I walk down instead of taking my car or two wheeler.
• I have tuned myself for basic comforts, I am very judicious about using the ACs. This year, I started running it from beginning of April after a break of several months. Even the running hours for a day are well planned. On top of that, the AC in my room (Carrier 2-ton) is currently at 27 degrees.
• For the past 6 years, my EB bill has not crossed 1500 for two-month period except for once (peak summer, WFH).
• I still use a tab that's 6 years old. It struggles with the storage, its quite slow and lags often. But I am trying to keep my e-waste in check. On a similar note, we have contended ourselves with a basic 32 Inch TV, until we got a new one very recently. But we still use the old TV on a daily basis.
• Any device that needs frequent changing of batteries has been 'upgraded' to rechargeable batteries. I have done this way back in 2019 itself.
• Being gentle on the throttle, a big sign of me getting older. I remember the days I used to downshift and rev my Apache next to flyovers for the raspy engine note. Same with my car, the sweet hum of iVTEC needs to introduction.
• Although it is less relevant, I try to keep my sound pollution to minimum. That means using the horn less and only if actually required. I don't like it when people honk at the smallest obstacle ahead of their path.
• I've been postponing a new car purchase. My car is almost 11 years old. It works, its reliable. Also, considering that my usage is less, I don't see a need to scrap it and get a new one.
• Finally my guilty pleasure, online shopping. I buy a lot of stuff online. But I am always conscious of what I do. I look to buy from same buyer if possible. I try for the deliveries to be on same day (Amazon Prime Day for instance). I look for products on Big Basket/Amazon Fresh/Flipkart Grocery as they don't come with all the packaging.

I admit that I do contribute towards all kinds of pollution and there is a lot to improve, but I am conscious at least. So, onwards and upwards.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Venky03

[*]Switched 2Ws to EVs and they'll soon be able to use solar power for charging.

I think this step alone increased your CO2 footprint by a good margin. EV battery manufacturing emits tons of CO2 to start with. You'd be able to even out sometime in the future if you manage to charge only from renewable sources and also manage to run that car for a couple of lakhs of kilometers and still doesn't require a battery pack change. Please check out the second video in my post above.

[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

And here we are, talking about some silly carbon footprint offsetting with slogans like "every bit adds up". You go somewhere and plant tree saplings - "going there" burnt some fuel, talking about it in social media is consuming gigabytes of resources on servers and consuming electricity, climate change summits held in swanky hotels in locations is burning energy because 'important climate scientists/lobbyists' fly only first class.

Fundamentally, all this "save the planet" is pure BS

Couldn't agree more. The west has been hurting the planet for centuries and now they want the rest of the planet to share their portion of sins
They've already done enough damage to the society and social media (can't even have an off-roading or dog lovers group without politics, feminism or rainbows thrown into it). And now they're after the environment

The NGT is a pure example of what blindly following the west results in

[Venky03]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I think this step alone increased your CO2 footprint by a good margin. EV battery manufacturing emits tons of CO2 to start with. You'd be able to even out sometime in the future if you manage to charge only from renewable sources and also manage to run that car for a couple of lakhs of kilometers and still doesn't require a battery pack change. Please check out the second video in my post above.

Attachment 2441816

Let me inform you that in this video and several others, individuals tend to selectively present information that aligns with their agenda. While discussing the emissions of manufacturing the battery packs, the speaker has conveniently overlooked the emissions involved in the manufacturing and transportation of petrol, which is a crucial aspect to consider in the overall comparison of emissions between EVs and petrol-based vehicles.

Pointing to an actual study which says otherwise :



Ref : Life cycle assessment of electric and combustion vehicles in India

Emilsson and Dahllöff (2019) found that the production of lithium ion batteries causes emissions of around 61 to 106 kilograms of CO2e per kilowatt-hour (kgCO2e/kWh) of battery capacity, and that this scales linearly with battery size, in proportion to battery capacity(Emilsson and Dahllöf, 2019).

Since the video and research is primarily is about 4Ws, here's the calculation for 2Ws by ChatGPT :

When comparing the carbon footprint of a 4 kWh electric motorcycle with a similarly designed petrol motorcycle, the entire lifecycle of each vehicle must be taken into account. Manufacturing of the electric motorcycle produces 490 kg CO2-eq, and the battery pack adds an additional 320 kg CO2-eq. In contrast, the manufacturing of the petrol motorcycle emits 470 kg CO2-eq, and the engine contributes to 230 kg CO2-eq. Although the electric motorcycle has a higher carbon footprint during manufacturing due to the production of the battery pack, over their lifetimes, the electric motorcycle would emit significantly less carbon dioxide compared to the petrol motorcycle. The difference in emissions is approximately 110 kg CO2-eq, which could be offset by riding for approximately 3000-4000 kilometers. Moreover, if the energy used to charge the electric motorcycle comes from renewable sources, the overall carbon footprint could be further reduced.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by ambarkhan

we need about 30-45 trees per year. So, you'll need to plant approximately 60-90 trees per year to offset the 2 tons of CO2 you produce.

Do we? Because even if a tree is planted, it will continue to live for several decades. Do we need to continue planting 60-90 trees per year?

I believe the quote should be rather, at any moment one should have 60-90 trees that are planted by him in his entire lifetime.

[ranjitnair77]

Some of the things that I have done are:

1. Installed a 5kw rooftop solar system for my house. We manage to generate about 22 units of electricity on a good day. This is fed back to the grid using a netmeter. This is probably the most effective way to cut carbon emissions.
2. Applied heat reflective paint on my roof which reduces the hours for which the AC needs to run in summer.
3. We compost wet waste using the 3 bin method and use the compost in our garden.
4. I almost always use a scooter for my local commute.
5. I'm trying my best to reduce consumption in every possible way. Especially clothing. While my attempts at minimalism haven't worked, I will continue to try.

I did think long and hard about EVs but in the end, I felt that keeping my trusty petrol Verna for a few years longer would probably be better for my carbon footprint than swapping it for an EV.