A Great Online Home Carbon Footprint Estimator

Yesterday we had our first meeting of Smaller Footprint, a community group for working together to greatly shrink our household carbon footprints. During the meeting I wanted to recommend the following carbon footprint calculator, a useful and meaningful tool, but couldn’t find the address. Well, here that information is!

Reprinted from FaceClimateChange.com

The CoolClimate network at the University of Berkeley, California has a very well-designed tool for estimating home carbon footprints. Carbon footprint calculations are kind of a bear, so anything that makes them more straightforward and understandable while remaining accurate enough to be truly useful is a win. Check it out! It only takes a few minutes to get some interesting information, and they have a small business version available on the same site (all free).

CoolClimate household carbon footprint calculator

Books and Links Recommended by Sustainable Williston Members for July

Here are some recent books and links from Sustainable Williston members;

Vermont Climate Assessment from UVM’s Gund Institute
http://vtclimate.org/
The Vermont Climate Assessment is the nation’s first state-level climate assessment providing data similar to the National Climate Assessment.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History/dp/0805092994
Reporting and explaining the current mass extinction.

Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing, by Doug McKenzie-Mohr
http://www.amazon.com/Fostering-Sustainable-Behavior-Introduction-Community-Based/dp/0865716420
A remarkable book detailing specific research, facts, and techniques for spreading sustainable ways of life.

Why Geography Matters: More Than Ever, by Harm de Blij
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Geography-Matters-More-Than/dp/0199913749
Understanding the most dramatic events in our world through geography.

George Marshall on how to talk with climate change dissenters
http://www.climateaccess.org/resource/tip-sheet-george-marshall-how-talk-climate-change-dissenter
Arguing and throwing facts at climate change dissenters, it turns out, is practically useless. What does work to open real conversations about climate change?