What things did you enjoy the most about your experience this week?
I wanted the first week of this experience to be representative of a typical week for me and not change my habits. This was an opportunity to get a sense of what was the carbon footprint of my daily life and to identify areas where I could improve.
What were the main challenges you faced during the week?
I’ve been mindful of my footprint in the past but actively tracking every activity has highlighted the challenge of creating an exhaustive list of carbon sources. Many sources are non necessarily intuitive (such as recreational activities for example).
Another challenge I’ve faced is that in the apartment that I am currently renting, I do not have access to my electricity and gas consumption which are managed by the landlord. This is not uncommon in my neighborhood for such “in-law” apartments and does raise the issue that access to detailed data/information is critical for people to manage their carbon footprint.
What were your main lessons learned of the week?
My largest source of CO2 was from meals. I was able to stay within my daily budget on all days but 2, which was instructive. Unsurprisingly, those were the days I ate meat. Smaller sources also tend to add up and could be things I cut out as they tend to be not the most healthy habits: snacks/sodas!
I am lucky enough to be able to walk to most places, but had to take the car on the last day of the week which was a significant contributor. As my car is a hybrid, I experimented with the spreadsheet to see how much CO2e the same trip would have contributed with an ICE city car, which was almost 5 times greater.
What would have made it easier for you to achieve your target this week?
No target yet.