+ What's your recreational footprint?

Fun & CO2!
Our new open office plan works! Because we got rid of our cubicle dividers, I got into a conversation with my co-worker about the carbon footprint of food. He pointed me towards the Carbon Trust where I found the publication "The carbon emissions generated in all that we consume". I wasn't expecting to get involved in anything for our current Greener Grass topic, but I stumbled onto an unexpected revelation: Recreation and Leisure activity (in the UK) has the single largest carbon footprint of any consumer use category- beyond even heating, commuting, etc.

Amazing! This includes all the upstream emissions related to producing the boats, bikes, cars, shoes, and everything else we end up using to have fun, plus burning the fuel expended to get to where we play.

This information got me thinking; my significant other and I are headed to a cycling tour in Oregon. I did some checking and found that my favorite outdoor store, REI, neutralizes some or all of their adventure vacation impact using the BEF Green Tag Program. Another similar program is run by TerraPass. As a concession both to having a vacation and mitigating it's impact, I offset part of the flight using the Green Tags. It's a start.