Carbon Coffee

One Tall Skim Caramel Macchiato… With Room for Carbon

Did you know that your daily dose of caffeine can actually add up to a hefty carbon footprint over the course of year?  Statistically, if you drink four cups of black tea a day you will basically contribute 30kg of CO2e a year, or a 40 mile drive down the freeway.  If you drink three lattes a day for the next year, you’ll use the equivalent amount of carbon as flying halfway to England. That’s some serious addition. Multiply that over a couple years and you might as well fly yourself around the world in a jet plane.

According to Mike Berners-Lee as referencing his book How Bad Are Bananas, the actual breakdown looks something like this:

• 1 cup black tea/coffee               21g CO2e
• 1 cup white tea or coffee           53g CO2e 
• 1 cup white tea or coffee           71g CO2e

(boiling twice the water needed)

• 1 large cappuccino                 235 CO2e
• 1 large latte                            340 CO2e

You’ll notice the kicker here involves the caffeinated beverages with the addition of milk.  Adding dairy to any one espresso drink is equivalent to 2/3 of the entire drink’s footprint, and the milk alone accounts for more than boiling the water and cultivating the tea/coffee combined.  However, it should be noted that this is assuming the milk is dairy and coming from cows (large producers of methane).

So, what do we do?  Give up coffees and lattes and cappuccinos?  Not likely.  But, there are some options available to lessen the impact.  The easiest way, obviously, is to avoid adding frothed milk and creamer to your beverage of choice.  When it comes to carbon and caffeine, black is best.  If that just isn’t an option, consider trying soy milk or almond milk.  Knowing a latte has four to five times the carbon that a cup of black coffee has, see if you can stand to cut the milk in half and cut your carbon impact in two every day.

Another easy way to bring down your contribution is to watch out for that boiling water.  If you boil only as much as you need (face it, how often do we do that?), you can knock off approximately 20g with every drink.  An easy way to get the right amount is to fill your mug with water first and then put that in the kettle. Boil only till it’s boiling, and then cut the heat. Skip the microwave and go for the stove-top, the least carbon-producing way to boil water. 

If you purchase your own coffee, you can search out coffee beans coming from coffee roasters who have zero or even negative carbon footprints.  One of the best examples is Tiny Footprint Coffee, a coffee roasting company that boasts “Carbon Negative Coffee.” With each pound of coffee sold, Tiny Footprint pays for 54 pounds of carbon offset, which creates a difference of 50 pounds and ensures that their coffee beans have a negative impact.

None of this is to say that you should stop drinking coffee and tea or even the occasional latte.  But it hopefully challenges you to look for some ways to bring that number down a little bit.  After all, if you’re going to skip the morning commute and walk to work in an attempt to lower your carbon footprint, I’d hate to think you entirely canceled it out by grabbing that extra large Mocha on the way.

Author Tara Alley is a freelance writer who enjoys blogging and writing about finding creative ways to live more sustainably.  You can follow her on Twitter @hopesiempre.

Carbon Offsetting

Carbon Offsetting; Is It Ethical?

By Beverly Saltonstall

Greenhouse gasses are the gases present in our atmosphere that both absorb and emit radiation. This is the driving force of the greenhouse effect which helps to maintain the current temperature on earth. Without greenhouse gasses life on earth would not be possible due to extreme cold conditions.

Water vapor H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) methane (Ch4) and ozone (O3) are naturally occurring greenhouse gasses that are found in the atmosphere. Other greenhouse gasses found in our atmosphere are halocarbons, substances containing chlorine and bromine sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), perfluorocarbons, (PFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which are all human introduced.

The problem is that, humans are adding both good and bad greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere in far greater quantities than is needed to maintain this temperature balance.

Except for a few diehard radicals, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind how damaging the excess greenhouse gasses are to our environment. One solution to the problem that has been devised is to purchase carbon offsets. Every human on earth, every business, organization and city gives off carbon dioxide. The amount of that carbon dioxide that emitted is your carbon footprint.

While everyone would like to be carbon neutral, that is not always possible. Carbon offsets were developed to allow individuals and businesses to offset the amount of carbon dioxide they emit. This is done by contributing to greenhouse gas reduction projects that will help achieve the goal of clean energy in the future.

While reducing your carbon footprint at home is the right thing to do, supporting a project such as the construction of a wind farm can offer a greater benefit. The number of these carbon offset programs is growing as more and more people are trying to cut down on their impact on the environment and become carbon neutral.

The problem with this is two-fold. First off many dubious projects are sprouting up that claim to be reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Many of these projects would have been completed whether or not they received carbon offset monies.

The second problem is the ethics involved. A recent article in Newsweek Magazine used the term “checkbook environmentalists”. These are people and corporations who have big bucks to purchase carbon offsets. They often make no attempt at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide they generate. People who still drive huge SUV’s and corporations who and purchase carbon offsets while they are still polluting the environment, have many wondering about the ethics of such a practice.

In general, carbon offsetting is a step in the right direction. Calculating your carbon footprint should be your first step and making a decided effort to reduce your carbon footprint should be your first step. Then carefully choosing a reputable company from which to purchase your carbon offsets is the next step. As more and more programs are developed, that decision will become easier.

Since airline travel is one of the most gas-guzzling forms of passenger transportation, the airline industry is getting in on the lucrative carbon offset business. The San Francisco Airport about to be the first in the world to be providing kiosks where you can calculate the carbon load that your flight will generate, and allow you to purchase carbon offsets at that time. Virgin America is an airline that offers in flight opportunities to purchase carbon offsets.

A Google search for the term “carbon offset opportunities” will generate thousands off hits. Deciding on which company to choose from to purchase your carbon offsets will take some research, but the benefits will be worthwhile.

About the Author: Beverly Saltonstall is an environmental writer. Visit http://pollutionwebsite.com for news, podcasts, articles and guides covering many aspects of pollution. To understand pollution, read "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Pollution, But Never Dared to Ask". (available on website)

Source: www.isnare.com
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