Little gal, big footprint

A brief exercise in carbon footprint analysis

Hi! I'm Abi, from Georgette Packaging. A few years ago, the term “carbon neutral” meant absolutely nothing to me. A lot has changed since joining a small-but-mighty packaging company that wants to shift how businesses and consumers think about sustainability. 

I think a lot about the environment from a packaging industry standpoint, but I decided to dive deeper into my own carbon footprint using an online calculator by Projet Wren. Practice what you preach, right? I nervously calculated kilometers driven, electric consumption, and eggs eaten each week. How bad was the damage? It turned out to be bad, but not that bad. I’m currently 34% below the yearly Canadian average, but a shocking 276% above the world average. Yikes. I’ve got some work to do. 

Screenshot from projectwren.com

Here’s what I’m currently working on to improve my carbon footprint: 

Transportation
Transportation is 43% of my total carbon footprint, making it the biggest contributor. Driving is definitely the activity that I can cut back the most on to improve my carbon footprint.  I grew up in a small town, so public transit has never been habit for me… driving is very much second nature, no matter the distance. Alas, THIS IS NO EXCUSE! 

After months and months of commitment, I’ve finally developed a habit of taking the train whenever or wherever possible. It makes for a much more relaxing trip and even though it’s not a perfect solution, it’s so much better for the environment… the emissions from transit by rail are super low.  

I still have many trips where driving is absolutely necessary. I frequent lots of small towns where there’s no public transportation, so going forward I might have to think about driving an electric car instead to really drive down (pun intended) this part of my carbon footprint. Next summer, I want to make a commitment to riding my bike more often. 

Diet
Diet accounts for 17% of my total carbon footprint. In the past year, I decided to scale back on my meat intake for environmental reasons (especially red meat because it’s one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions). Though I still eat lots of fish, chicken and eggs, I’ve shifted to making at least half of my meals at home meatless and I haven’t bought read meat in months. I’m a carnivore at heart, so it’s admittedly hard for me to resist that juicy steak or hamburger at times (I’m drooling on my keyboard now) but if I’m out at a restaurant or away with family, I’ll treat myself. Again, this isn’t a perfect solution and there’s lots of room for improvement - I haven’t made any changes on the dairy front, which is something I want to start thinking more about.  Everything in moderation, right?

Goods
10% of my carbon footprint is “things”... most of which I probably don’t need, but that’s another blog post. I’ve always loved thrifting for both my wardrobe and my apartment, so this has been a naturally low-carbon-emission part of my life. The majority of my apartment is second hand stuff (thank you to my family and Facebook Marketplace) and a solid portion of my wardrobe is thrifted. I also sell / donate my own housewares and clothing through consignment shops or online, instead of throwing things away.  But I’m not all innocent: I’ve indulged in a lot of fast fashion over the years that I cringe just thinking about from an environmental perspective, so I’ve got some sh*t to make up for. 

Alongside vintage shops, I’m trying to explore sustainable brands like Everlane, Reformation, and Boyish Jeans. There are so many beautiful, slow fashion brands popping up, which is awesome to see. If I must go the fast fashion route, there are sustainable lines at stores like Zara and H&M.  I think the key here will be to commit to buying less stuff overall, and think more strategically about what is a need versus a want. Again: good old moderation. 

Other things I’m doing: reading and educating myself as much as possible. I recently picked up the book How Bad Are Bananas by Mike Berners-Lee to sharpen my “carbon instinct”, and our team frequently shares environmental articles in a Slack channel to keep everyone informed and up to date on current environmental affairs. Making sustainability a part of your daily conversation is a really important step towards developing better habits around it. 

Canada, as a nation, is emitting a lot of carbon every year, especially when compared to the rest of the world. I like to think of our country as progressive in so many ways, but it seems to me that we’ve fallen behind on a very important responsibility. Project Wren says that if everyone in the world lived like me (and remember, I’m 34% below the national average), we’d have to bring emissions to 0 within 40 months. That’s just over 3 years, and good enough incentive for me to stop writing and get back to carbon busting.

Abigail Conners, Senior Sales Consultant @ Georgette