While I feel like the weight of embodied carbon is a good reference because someone can imagine their weight, I also think that it would be relevant to imagine the volume of carbon (maybe as CO2?). Because there might be a disconnect of someone imagining the weight of graphite (which seems innocuous), but the volume of CO2 seems more impactful? (noting that I realize that this includes the additional O2, and relates to temperature, etc).
I thought about volume for a long time; there were those images of bubbles of CO2 swamping cities. In the book I note: "Many have tried to express CO2 as volume; the Cake motorcycle company hung one of their bikes in a giant cube enclosing the 1,186 kilograms of upfront emissions from making one of their bikes. But volume changes with pressure, and I am not certain that people get it. People have tried using bubbles of gas as an image but had to explain that “At standard pressure, and 59 °F a metric ton of carbon dioxide gas would fill a sphere 33 feet across.” -It is too variable."
Has anyone calculated the point during climate change at which it is simply no longer possible to carry on as we have and must seriously change over globally to make it last, make it do, do without lifestyles? Probably not because there will not be a single point in time marking the before and the after but a gradual process of change and increasing limitations until we suddenly tip into the new world.
Heh! On a lighter note, Lloyd: what was the upfront carbon cost of your books first run and then for the shipping? And if there is an eBook version, what is that footprint going to look like?
amazon says ebooks are about 2kb per page so my e-book is 360kb, and a gigabyte of storage and transfer is 200 kg of CO2 so each e-book is 72 grams of CO2 about equal to half a banana. (I was curious, and it is higher than I thought)
I am glad that you have a passion in life and, post-TreeHugger, you can pursue it further and deeper. Writing a book, which I have not yet done, is a lengthy and difficult task - kudoes.
However:
"because I didn’t write the book for building professionals...But architects and engineers live in their own bubbles and speak their own languages...But these also work for everyone in everyday life...I am not sure if people will get this..."
So who IS your audience besides the obvious one (those people already interested in this subject - and without reading it myself, I hope they all buy it)?
But what is your marketing plan to get out of the "their own bubble" to reach others not OF your bubble? What are your arguments and discussion points to those that are already consumed with the vicissitudes confronting them? What's the plan to break through their own Maslov's Wants of spouses, children, other family, careers, homes, other interests that are either optional or demanded of them?
You are always well prepared with the numbers and analysis germane to your topic - but how will you persuade them to add your interest to theirs OUTSIDE of those numbers and analysis?
What is your answer to "I have other things to contend with that are much more pressing than the carbon in my stuff - and I DO want a better and more comfortable life for me and my family"?
What is your comeback to that that last half even as your writings say "No, you have to do with less"?
And THAT is the failure point of most environmentalists - how, outside of government doing a forcing, do you thwart that message?
While I feel like the weight of embodied carbon is a good reference because someone can imagine their weight, I also think that it would be relevant to imagine the volume of carbon (maybe as CO2?). Because there might be a disconnect of someone imagining the weight of graphite (which seems innocuous), but the volume of CO2 seems more impactful? (noting that I realize that this includes the additional O2, and relates to temperature, etc).
I thought about volume for a long time; there were those images of bubbles of CO2 swamping cities. In the book I note: "Many have tried to express CO2 as volume; the Cake motorcycle company hung one of their bikes in a giant cube enclosing the 1,186 kilograms of upfront emissions from making one of their bikes. But volume changes with pressure, and I am not certain that people get it. People have tried using bubbles of gas as an image but had to explain that “At standard pressure, and 59 °F a metric ton of carbon dioxide gas would fill a sphere 33 feet across.” -It is too variable."
Already preordered
Has anyone calculated the point during climate change at which it is simply no longer possible to carry on as we have and must seriously change over globally to make it last, make it do, do without lifestyles? Probably not because there will not be a single point in time marking the before and the after but a gradual process of change and increasing limitations until we suddenly tip into the new world.
I'll get my university library to buy your new book when it's available, they bought your last book because i asked about it!
Are you familiar with the term "energy blindness"?
Heh! On a lighter note, Lloyd: what was the upfront carbon cost of your books first run and then for the shipping? And if there is an eBook version, what is that footprint going to look like?
"new society publishers saved the following resources by printing the pages of this book on chlorine free paper made with 100% post-consumer waste:
trees: 20 fully grown
water: 1600 gallons
energy: 8 million BTUS
solid waste: 68 pounds
greenhouse gases 8,670 pounds
I am NOT disappointed - you knew! But that's just for one book, right? Or is that for the entire first run of...how many?
Now, about that eBook and the cost of the data center and transmission...heh!
amazon says ebooks are about 2kb per page so my e-book is 360kb, and a gigabyte of storage and transfer is 200 kg of CO2 so each e-book is 72 grams of CO2 about equal to half a banana. (I was curious, and it is higher than I thought)
Yup, everything from concrete to cupcakes has a carbon footprint. I’m eager to read this book and review it for The Green Dispatch.
I am glad that you have a passion in life and, post-TreeHugger, you can pursue it further and deeper. Writing a book, which I have not yet done, is a lengthy and difficult task - kudoes.
However:
"because I didn’t write the book for building professionals...But architects and engineers live in their own bubbles and speak their own languages...But these also work for everyone in everyday life...I am not sure if people will get this..."
So who IS your audience besides the obvious one (those people already interested in this subject - and without reading it myself, I hope they all buy it)?
But what is your marketing plan to get out of the "their own bubble" to reach others not OF your bubble? What are your arguments and discussion points to those that are already consumed with the vicissitudes confronting them? What's the plan to break through their own Maslov's Wants of spouses, children, other family, careers, homes, other interests that are either optional or demanded of them?
You are always well prepared with the numbers and analysis germane to your topic - but how will you persuade them to add your interest to theirs OUTSIDE of those numbers and analysis?
What is your answer to "I have other things to contend with that are much more pressing than the carbon in my stuff - and I DO want a better and more comfortable life for me and my family"?
What is your comeback to that that last half even as your writings say "No, you have to do with less"?
And THAT is the failure point of most environmentalists - how, outside of government doing a forcing, do you thwart that message?