Jeff Zeiss, creative extraordinaire crafted this wonder-graphic and established the new decade as the Badassazoic. To see more of Zeiss' masterworks click here.
It’s not just a new year that’s upon us, but a new decade – A NEW ERA. We’re facing the best of times, the age of wisdom, the epoch of belief, and the season of light, to borrow from Charles D. And as my friend Jeff more aptly puts it, we’ve entered into the Badassazoic.
For me, the new decade couldn’t come at a more opportune time. I’ve been in south Arlington now for four months, I’ve got the lay of the land, and I’m itching to flourish. In honor of Ben and Marina’s New Year’s podcast, I made a Reto Concreto, or a well-defined resolution, to make 2011 worthwhile.
RETO CONCRETO: Halve 
my carbon footprint from last year
I used National Geographic’s carbon footprint calculator to determine that I emitted about 5.25 tons of carbon last year. So my magic number this year is 2.625 tons of carbon.
Below are the areas I have to improve upon to reach my target of 2.625 tons of carbon emitted.
DRIVING: Last year I was pretty good at avoiding driving, so it’s going to be tough to beat 2010's mileage. I’ve got to drive less than 2,310 miles.
Last April through October, I didn’t drive at all. While living in Glen Ellyn, I biked to the work and took the train into Chicago whenever I wanted to reuniabrate with city dweller compadres. While residing in DC and south Arlington I’ve been taking public transportation or bumming rides to work, up until I decided to bring a car out here in November.
FLYING: By far my downfall last year was flying. I took the equivalent of six round trip flights from Washington DC to Chicago (700 miles one-way). Unfortunately, while I was soaring up in the stratosphere my carbon emissions had a more acute impact than if they were emitted on land. It’s complicated, but there is a minor consensus out there that the impact of flying, regarding greenhouse gas emissions, is 2.7 times more harmful than the equivalent impact of driving.
HEAT & ELECTRICITY: I did not use any sort of green power options available through the power company in 2010. Fortunately, this year I am so poor that I qualified for the Commonwealth of Virginia Energy Assistance Program this winter. Considering that they credited me $273.55 for three months, and the most I’ve spent so far has been $22.23 on a heating and electric bill, I’m going to try to opt into the green energy option offered by Dominion which costs 1.5 cents more per kilowatt-hour used. Stay posted to see if this endeavor is successful.
GETTING TO THE ENDGAME:
- Driving: I’m going to rely on my bike or a combination of bike and public transportation to help me cut back on driving. Check out my driving progress as I update my driving log whenever I burn more carbon.
- Flying: I’m going to try to cut back on my plane rides to help me reduce my flying emissions
-Heat & Electricity: I’m hoping that this Monday will be the day that I enroll in the Dominion Green Power plan. Stay posted.
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