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How our lifestyle choices impact our carbon footprint

The team from Minimalist Journeys compared their carbon footprint across different lifestyles. Here is what they learnt about the pros and cons of using carbon footprint calculators.

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How our lifestyle choices impact our carbon footprint

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  1. CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR PROS AND CONS In 2022, the team from Minimalist Journeys learnt more about our carbon footprint and found out how our lifestyle choices impact carbon emissions. CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATORS DO NOT (YET) CATER FOR NOMADIC/ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES The smallest house is still larger than a tiny house, and even car sharing is a concept they don’t accommodate. Carbon footprint calculators don't consider the alternatives. THE UN PER CAPITA AVERAGE IS HARD TO ACHIEVE None of our lifestyles meets the UN per capita average targets of 2.1t per person per annum by 2030. The closest we’ve gotten to that target was during our year of van life in New Zealand with just over 3t per person per annum. Are our calculations or those of the UN wrong? WORKING A CORPORATE ROLE IS MORE IMPACTFUL Our corporate life (with overseas holidays) was more carbon- intensive overall than our alternative/nomadic lifestyles. But Carbon Calculators don't consider nomadic lifestyles. TRANSPORTATION IS THE LARGEST CAUSE OF CARBON EMISSIONS - NO MATTER THE LIFESTYLE Whether it be corporate life in Sydney with a holiday or business travel, and a daily commute on public transport, or backpacking around the world, or even vanlife in New Zealand, transportation shows up as the biggest carbon emitter. Carbon footprint calculators don't consider the vanlife lifestyle. SHARED ECONOMIES ARE NOT CONSIDERED Apart from cost savings, the sharing economy has a huge environmental benefit. Embodied and energy-use related carbon emissions reduce significantly when we share assets like accommodation, appliances, vehicles, tools etc. CALCULATORS ONLY CONSIDER CARBON FOOTPRINT, BUT OTHER RESOURCES IMPORTANT TOO Beyond our carbon footprint, we gained deep insight into our water consumption. We consumed 263 litres pp per day in Sydney but only 32 litres pp per day during our year of van life in New Zealand. RESULTS FROM CALCULATORS CAN PROVIDE VALUABLE INSIGHTS Agriculture is a huge contributor to carbon emissions, more than we realised. Aviation is often called out as the main culprit of carbon emissions. But air travel (only) accounts for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions. Reference: How our lifestyle choices impact our carbon footprint, First Published: 11 January 2022, https://www.minimalistjourneys.com/lifestyle-choices-carbon-footprint/. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2020

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