Branner Blog

Ever wonder what your carbon footprint is and how you can find out? It’s getting easier to do so by the day. Yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News devoted two full pages of their Tech section to helping each of us figure out just how much we contribute to global warming. Included was a simple calculator to assess your impact based on energy usage, driving, and flying. To read the article, go to the Mercury News website and search for carbon footprint.

Numerous carbon calculators are available on the Web including one connected to the Al Gore movie, “An Inconvenient Truth.” PG&E has a much simpler calculator that asks only for energy usage and miles driven. The Nature Conservancy has the most detailed calculator I found. It considers broad categories such as home energy use, driving and flying, food and diet, and recycling and waste.

If these calculators get you thinking about how to live a greener life, check out from the library “How to live a low-carbon life: the individual’s guide to stopping climate change.” It’s on the new book truck this week and then will be on the shelves. Call number: QC879.8 G62 2007.