What Are the Emissions For?
Even in a ‘net zero’ world we will still emit: so how should we best spend our carbon budget?
A few years ago, I decided to get work snacks out of my life. There’s always a half-box of doughnuts or cookies lying around in the office kitchen, and, for many years, I had mindlessly eaten whatever was on offer. My thought process about work snacks had never been more complex than, “Ooh! Doughnuts!”
But I wanted to drop a couple of pounds, and I knew that most of the junk food I ate during the workday didn’t make me feel good or fill me up. It was just empty, unsatisfying calories. So I decided that I would stop eating work snacks.
I did this for a little while, and I did drop those pounds, but it took a little joy out of my life. Sometimes, a doughnut does make a Wednesday afternoon a little more tolerable. Eventually, I found a better way to handle work snacks.
I decided to be a food snob.
Essentially, I resolved to only eat work snacks if they were really good. There’s one place in town that makes excellent doughnuts; the other doughnuts are honestly pretty mediocre. So I decided to say no to the half-stale, mass-produced doughnuts and yes to the artisanally made, interesting ones. Same with everything else. No to the box of…
