carbon footprint

The Climate Change Coffee Spoof Video

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential for life. We humans, as well as the animal kingdom, exhale it. Plants absorb it. Dead and decaying organic matter of all types emits CO2. Carbon dioxide is also one of the many greenhouse gases that assures our climate is habitable. Without those gases the difference between night and day temperatures would swing 100 degrees!

Carbon dioxide is a finite compound, in other words there is only some much of it. It is constantly cycling from places where it is stored, into the atmosphere that surrounds Earth, and back into the oceans, as well as into all life forms, and then back into the cycle again. Despite its prominence, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is a mere four-hundredths of a percent (.04%).  Even more miniscule is percentage of that carbon dioxide that is produced by human activity: 4%.

As I explain with some vivid analogies in my upcoming book, Climate Cult, 4% of .04% is infinitesimal. There is no way fossil fuels (which emit CO2 when used) could throw the planet’s temperature and climate out of whack.

In my most recent video I illustrate the folly of those who contend we must reduce our personal carbon footprint and put an end to “Big Oil.” If gasoline and diesel are bad, what about coffee? The flavor one enjoys from their favorite coffee beverage comes from the roasting of the beans which exude CO2 when properly heated. Humans consume billions of cups of coffee each day—that’s a lot of carbon dioxide from those cups of joe! When are the environmentalists going to go after “Big Coffee?”

And therein lays my spoof. Enjoy and share.

And Happy New Year!

California Explores “Carbon Footprint Guilt Tax” For Restaurant Diners

A new statewide environmental program in California may soon be coming to a blue state near you.  It’s starting as a volunteer effort that will mean an extra charge for restaurant customers to offset the carbon footprint supposedly involved in going out to eat.

Cue the laugh track.

Launched earlier this month, the “Restore California Renewable Restaurants” program asks participating eateries to add a 1 percent increase to customers’ bills.  The money goes to farms participating in the “Healthy Soils Program,” which supports sustainable farming practices in California.

The voluntary program has attracted national media attention and caught the eye of several restauranteurs in Sacramento.

Restore California is a joint effort by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the (Stalinist) California Air Resources Board, and San Francisco nonprofit, Perennial Farming Initiative. The money raised will be distributed to farms participating in the Department of Food and Agriculture’s Healthy Soils Program, which have been screened to show they practice methods that sequester carbon, reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases and improve soil health.  Customers can opt out of the 1 percent fee, but the hope is most will likely never notice the price increase.  If they do notice, I’m sure the liberals who run this state will follow up with a public-shaming PR campaign.

A restaurant’s carbon footprint includes all greenhouse gasses (mainly carbon dioxide, as well as methane and nitrous oxide) created in the production and transportation of food to customers’ plates or homes, as well as all energy use.

Extra money from the surcharge be given to help carbon-conscious farms offset their high cost-of-doing-business and sell, in theory, sell their goods to more restaurants.  Such operations are so expensive they can’t exist without government handouts.

Basically, this is nothing more than a guilt tax: Pay up and you’re absolved for the sin of environmental gluttony, regardless of whether your practices change.

And the kicker? Carbon Dioxide is an essential atmospheric gas–we can’t live without it.  And, greater the concentrations, the more plantlike flourishes. Check out next week’s Hidden Headlines podcast for more on that part of the story.