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"Consumers may have to make personal sacrifices, by giving up things they use and enjoy, in favor
of less familiar technologies."
William Rees, the man who invented the phrase ecological footprint, said
"governments and the corporate sector" don't wish to make the "changes needed."
The oil company BP once tried to promote the "footprint" as a way of blaming consumers.
But BP was careful never to suggest a boycott.
Rees thinks "the [footprint] idea can still be useful...
if the climate movement reclaimed the concept and took it [away from] oil companies."
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"Short car trips...use a shocking amount of energy"
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves permits for fossil-fuel facilities
based upon citizens having a "need" for them.
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"Need" means how often you and I purchase the polluting product.
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"Odds are that your
biggest single source
of ghg emissions
...is air travel."
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"Every time we
shop we're voting
with our wallet"
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of gasoline or jet fuel
creates over 20 pounds
of carbon dioxide".
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In general, the better-off / better-educated you are,
the bigger your opportunity to radically reduce your pollution output.
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What is your fair share?
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Try your hand at the pollution footprint budget game?
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Peter Kalmus works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In his book, Being the Change, he writes:
“Burning fossil fuels should be unacceptable socially…burning fossil fuels harms others.”
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“If you're a climate activist…why would you want to…[burn] more fossil fuels?"
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Project Drawdown came up with a quiz about greenhouse pollution. Test your knowledge?
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Our news media often describe global warming as a creature that bothers us,
rather than as an atmospheric condition which we create.
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"Every energy reduction we...make is a gift to...all life on Earth."
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