"Big Foot" - Michael Specter

In his article, Michael Specter talks about the problem of global warning and different ways we can address this problem. Everybody has a carbon footprint, or an amount that they contribute to global warming. Many companies and individuals are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Many people consider "food miles" as a factor when purchasing food items. "Food miles" refers to the distance a product travels from the farm to your home. Food from supermarkets have an average of 27 times more food miles than food bought in local markets. Specter says that this is not an accurate way to measure how much emissions were produced because it doesn't take in certain factors such as land use, type of transportation, weather and the season. Specter examines different peoples ideas on how to reduce emissions. John Elkington, founder of an enviornmental consulting firm, says that "we are in an era of creative destruction". By this he means that the problem of global warming is so massive that soon people will be to overwhelmed and feel to helpless to address it. He says that this will have drastic effects on many of the institutions we rely on such as our political system. I think that while this is kind of an extreme viewpoint, it is not that unlikely. Our society has a lot of problems and carbon emissions is only one of them. I think that the energy crisis will put further strain on our already burdened government.

While I am aware that individual people can actively work to reduce their impact on the environment, I do not personally feel responsible for global warming. No one person is individually responsible for global warming, but no one is exempt from the obligation to try to reduce their impact when possible. It is not very difficult to find ways to reduce your impact without really having to make any major changes in your lifestyle. However, even these changes wont reverse the damage that has already been done. In addition to reducing carbon emissions we also need to find a substitute for fuel. Personally I cant do anything about this problem so I don't feel like I should feel bad about it.