Refresher Course: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Treehugger

Changing the way we eat is one of the easiest (we say that because it doesn't normally involve major renovations) and most effective ways to curb that carbon footprint. We know that. We also know that walking, not driving, to the store wins major green points. So what's the news here?

We're not surprised by the recommendations to 1. go vegetarian (or at the very least, eat less red meat) and 2. walk or bike to the grocery store. The thing is, we were surprised by this article over at Treehugger because these these two ways make a very big impact on our carbon footprint, according to a new study by Brighter Planet.

In fact, the study shows that personal transportation to and from the store accounts for more than two-thirds of the transportation-related carbon emissions of most foods!

The new study recommends focusing on your transit to and from the grocer just as much as you focus on eating locally and sustainably.

It might not be news to us greenies, as the Treehugger post points out, but it is another way to take in the information, and maybe convince naysayers to make a few more changes.

(Image: Amber Byfield for Re-Nest)

Comments (6)

I'm shopping for a family of 6. I'm not walking to the store, thanks.

I walk to and from work every day and that's not always the easiest thing to do because I live in northern Michigan. I think I'll drive to the grocery store because I only go there once a week and carry a heck of a lot more.

I often biked to the store (a mile each way), depending on what I needed to pick up. Any number of things are too heavy and bulky for me to carry home by bike.

However, I have not done so for the last eight months. Why? Not the weather--it's rarely too cold in the L.A. area, and we haven't had that many rainy days. No, the answer is that I'm not biking while I'm pregnant.

So I may start up again once I've recovered from giving birth, but in the meantime I'll continue my usual practice of trying to minimize the number of trips I make.

I think it's an interesting article. To me it's more of a reminder that no matter what the reason for short-distance driving is, if it's frequent it will add up seriously. For some reason it's convenient to neglect the amount of km driven this way, but I actually once calculated how much I had used the car instead of my legs or bike - and was appalled.

I'm not saying that a pregnant woman should choose a bike, but I think many of us could review our habits a bit and start making small changes first to see whether it's completely horrible to take the bike one time out of four for instance. And yes, my means of transportation really is the bike. Close to 100 % of the time.

What about combining trips? For example, the grocery store is on the way home from work for me, wouldn't just stopping on my way home utilize the same trip? Rather than going out specifically for groceries.

I used my bike during my pregnancies and can't see anything wrong with that. Okay, I stopped when I was in the last weeks, but really, there's nothing to it.
I'm 30 and have no driving license, although the social pressure gets higher every year, I really don't miss it. It's a question of habit.
Combining trips: if you go to work with your bike and stop on the way for groceries, you can buy yourself some extra chocolates because you have also had your daily moment of physical exercise:-D