I spent some time estimating my direct "carbon footprint" last year. Regardless whether one believes in global climate change or not, extracting from the earth what it is trying to hold on to is rather nasty business. And while I like to live in a warm house and would find life intolerable if I had to live within walking distance from the building I work in, I'd rather there was less pollution, less litter, better air, cleaner water, the list goes on...
I drove my 4-wheeled vehicles 7942 miles last year, burning 327 gallons of fuel.
I only rode my motorcycles 4260 miles last year. I think this only included five states; this is a little sad. I don't track my motorcycle fuel, but I suspect this is about a 25% increase in petroleum over my car miles.
I used 8641KWH of grid electricity - about 4.8 tons of coal. Sorry world. I used 414KWH of solar electricity, which I guess helps… Geothermal allowed a year without buying any propane.
I rode my bicycle 1820 miles and walked my dogs 1609 miles. This did absolutely nothing to help the earth since I wasn't "going anywhere." It did help my mental health which is worth something to me, but likely not to the earth. The universe doesn't care about me. At all. The earth may be better without most of us.
Yet one of the biggest misses in all the talk about climate change is the lack of focus on population control. In the doldrums around Christmas I read quite a bit and tried to be convinced by skeptics that say it doesn't need to be part of the solution. But no one came close to convincing me; they are all wrong. No problem of consumption gets easier in a world with 10 billion and every solution is more attainable in a planet with 6 billion. So I guess I have that no-kids thing going for me ... when I die, my footprint dies with me.
As an aside, when I think about any problem in the world right now, I never say, "You know what would make this better? More people..."
Population reduction is also not a solution to helping the earth. Newton's Third Law states every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is false. Every action has significant unintended consequences. There is no economic model that does not include an ever increasing population. This unintended consequence is no greater than what we will see with the unintended consequences of any other climate action. In other words, yes, we are doomed.
But what if we are wrong about everything?
Like many people, I've been reading a lot about Bryan Kohberger - the presumed murderer behind the killing of four college students in Idaho. I actually did read the affidavit - painful as it was - and it's pretty convincing, even if this as a document is meant to be one-sided. As smart as some police can be and as talented as forensic scientists are, in 1994 they framed a guilty man, resulting in O.J. Simpson's eventual acquittal. Maybe this acquittal was justified, even if unjust. Unintended consequences.
If the evidence against Bryan Kohberger really is just a series of radically bonkers coincidences, his life is over just the same.
With 700 miles of driving ahead of me to get to South Carolina, Kohberger's immediate crime may have been getting pulled over not once, but twice for tailgating in Indiana. I've never been pulled over for tailgating, but if I were, I would almost certainly leave ample room in front of me for at least the remainder of the state I'm in; Indiana is only a little over 150 miles across.
Late in 2022 I ditched my ridgeline and bought a Ford Maverick. Although not the sole reason, mileage was part of the rationale why I made this switch. The Maverick is about 20% more fuel efficient.
There is currently much love for electric cars, "For most Americans, this many miles will work most of the time," is included in just about every article written about electric cars after the range of the vehicle is stated. The word "most" is the word that gets glossed over here - what happens when it isn't. My trip to South Carolina is 700 miles ... in the winter. Only an exceedingly expensive electric car under ideal conditions could make this trip without recharging. And recharging would add significantly to the time the trip takes, potentially turning it into an impossible trip unless my boss magically gives me extra days off. So while an electric vehicle may make sense for "most" of my life, there are no solutions for the part that isn't "most." (I can buy a lot of gas for what the cost of a rental car would be and I'm not sure rental car companies will look kindly on me using their cars for hog hunting.)
Unintended consequences.
It does seem like we as a global community are looking at climate change much like a dieter looks at the cookie dough in the fridge, "I must eat it all today so that I can start fresh tomorrow." The next day the grocery store is still only a few miles away and cookie dough is on sale.
But I think there is a critical need ignored in all of the messaging about climate change: Travel. It is difficult to get out of our cocoons. And whether it is across town, across the country or across the globe, the only solution is travel. Seeing Valdosta, Georgia is not the same as reading about it. Walking into a Las Vegas casino is not the same as reading about it on reddit. Social media is a solution to nothing and probably is a bigger part of the problem. No conflict has ever been resolved on Twitter.
I'm not saying I'm going to save the earth by driving to South Carolina to kill pigs, but not going is doing nothing - which is worse in the long term.
Unintended consequences.
These were my thoughts used to try to not worry about leaving. Last year, my hog hunting trip ended early and I'm really hoping something like that does not happen again (I'm sure SO is hoping so too). Additionally, the new beagle has made amazing progress, but it won't take much of a slip and she could be a sad feral beast again. In all fairness, SO is probably more careful than I am.
So after a final walk of the dog, I was on the road.
Leaving in the afternoon meant there was more traffic compared to my usual early morning departure, but it wasn't too bad and I was in no hurry. I made my way down to the interstate and headed south.
After listening to Hidden Brain on the radio (I have several HB podcasts on a thumb drive, so this one felt free), I listened to older Radio Lab podcasts the rest of the trip.
Traffic was moderate until after Lexington when the road opened up. Eventually I got off on 25E and headed SouthEast making it to Middlesboro just as it was getting dark. I found my hotel and made myself at home as best as I could. The walls were a bit thin and the room was directly across from the lobby so headlights kept hitting my window, but it was a nice hotel at the right place and right price.
My day ended with a noodle bowl and some junk food. The adventure has started.
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