Sasquatch or salamander?

This week let's talk terminology. It's boring, but it's got to be done.

Let's consider for a moment whether you have big feet. No, this isn't some kind of podiatry survey (although that would, of course, be hours of fun). Mostly I'm interested the size of your footprint – your carbon footprint.

Here's a handy dandy all-purpose mini carbon primer:

1. Carbon is the by-product of the life cycle (and decay) of living things.
2. Unfortunately, it's also the by-product of our nefarious lifestyle ways, the most noticeable and damaging of which is the burning of fossil fuels.

So that leaves us with the heart warming concept that carbon emissions are both natural and bad.

Welcome to the complicated business of saving the world.

It goes like this:

• Absolutely everyone who exhales on a regular basis has a carbon footprint (even those that don't, actually, since decay releases carbon, too)
• As a community built in a free, modern, civilised country it's near to impossible to avoid consuming energy in some form to survive or live a modestly comfortable lifestyle. (You've probably noticed this bit.)
• The consumption of energy determines the impact your life/lifestyle has on the planet's ecosystem
• The size of the impact you personally have determines your 'carbon footprint' on the world
• So, your carbon footprint will be based on the amount of energy you require (in the form of burning fossil fuels, mainly) to conduct your life.

The question is, then... does your carbon footprint resemble more of a Sasquatch or a salamander?

Again, podiatrically speaking (okay, no vocabulary emails... I like making up words), we're used to being stuck with our too-large/too-small/freakishly normal feet. But here in Environmental Responsibility Land you CAN change the size of your footprint. It's simple: reduce your energy consumption.

Since this whole blog is based on that very notion, I won't go on and on about it in this posting. Let it suffice to say that what we need to do is pretty much anything we can think of to cut back our energy usage from turning off a light to selling a car and everything in between.

Ergo, today's message is:
Everything you do which reduces your 'business as usual' approach to energy consumption brings us one step closer to a 'cooler' world.

Now go on out there and do your bit.

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Tune in next week when we talk about... carbon offsets!
Same bat time, same bat channel.

Anybody who has suggestions or has found interesting/innovative solutions for themselves, please share!

Welcome!

Hi folks. Thanks for tuning in.

Birth of a Planet
I'll bet you're all dying to know how the modern day Planet is born. Especially since most of the headlines are about how we're currently killing the one we're on. Allow me to elaborate.

A group of interested (enthusiastic) Terrace residents attended a community development workshop on March 3. The idea was to talk about our interests and ideas for the town, the community, the region and its residents. Several working groups were formed to discuss top-ranking submitted ideas and brainstorm possible ways of addressing them. The number of topics, concerns, and the energy of the group was really quite staggering. So much so that the vetting process made deciding which discussion to partake in a bloody tough choice. After careful consideration of the offerings (read: ultimatums were declared) I became part of a group discussing environmental concerns in the area and how they were (or weren't) being tackled.

The Readers Digest version
Basically, our group expressed a general disgruntlement with the options and information available or provided by the city for incorporating the 'reduce, reuse and recycle' concepts into our local lifestyle.

One of the biggest problems we saw with achieving any action on this topic was a lack of education directly aimed at or available to residents. Add to that the general feeling of helplessness that most of us experience about such overwhelming concepts as global warming and carbon emissions and you've got a recipe for inaction. Education, as we all know, is the chief means by which we can fight apathy and ignorance. But education can be tricky, expensive, and time consuming. Especially if you try to do it all on your own.

Enter the internet
The good ole interweb is the cheapest and (arguably) easiest way to get your information to people. All you need is someone reasonably well versed in the nefarious ways of the web (that's me, I'm guessing) and a passion for enviro-issues (also me and hopefully you) and a penchant for volunteering for things (yep, me again) and... voila! The birth of Planet Terrace.

The inevitable disclaimer
Previous statements about 'educating yourself on your own' being (to paraphrase) painful notwithstanding, that is what I'm going to be doing here. I'm not putting myself out here as a ready-made expert or as a poster child for green living. Like you, I'm just a concerned resident of Terrace. But I will do my best to find the facts and the experts and point you to them. And I'm going to work my keyboard to a nub trying to bring you weekly tips and hints about creative recycling, reducing your carbon footprint, how to save on energy bills (and in some cases make money doing it!), and generally about how little ole you can help make a difference. Because absolutely every little effort you make will help bring our Planet (and our planet) back to life.

Some details
I'll need your feedback. Comments, suggestions and bits of information are more than welcome. Although it will no doubt occasionally be tempting, abusive contributions will be either ignored or exploited so proceed at your own risk. All other submissions will be happily shared. Volunteers, sponsors and embarrassingly large (or small) donations will also be appreciated.

You can subscribe to an RSS/Atom feed for this blog to get new entries directly to a newsreader or aggregate reader of your choice. You are encouraged, prodded and cajoled to share this site with everyone and anyone who can read and has a computer. Print it out if you have to. Read it to anyone in earshot. Teach your children to sing the URL. They, more than any of us, need the Planet to survive.

If you'd like to share the original content of the blog, please credit the site. We are operating under an implied copyright, so don't be naughty and pass it off as your own. Or at least have the decency to rewrite it. And if you're going to do that, consider the volunteer position mentioned above.

Thanks
...to everyone for your interest (especially those still reading)! It's exciting to have you here. I promise to make future posts as economical (or at least entertaining) as possible.