Argument with “How Bad Are Bananas: — Or Why You Cannot Figure Out Carbon Footprint
Let’s Put an End to this Distraction
The book How Bad Are Bananas: The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee amounts to nothing more than an astonishing admission of the total futility of measuring carbon footprint. Urged to read this book by followers on Intertwine (my climate change newsletter) and readers on Medium, I took up the challenge. I am underwhelmed.
I have to start by giving Berners-Lee credit for his honesty and clarity in the book. He seems to understand the complexity of calculating a true “carbon footprint,” which most people seem to not understand. “I hope that by the time you have read [this book] you will have gained such a sense of where carbon impacts come from that you will be able to make a reasonable guestimate of the footprint of… everything that you come across. It won’t be exact, but I hope you’ll at least be able to get the number of zeros right most of the time.” Which is to say: It is impossible to calculate so hopefully guessing the orders of magnitude will help.
The argument seems to be that since the differences in different activities appear to be enormous, understanding the comparative enormity of each can help you choose high-impact moves. This example he provides is excellent:
