A review by rujein
How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee

informative medium-paced

4.0

Interesting information

•  True carbon footprint includes a host of indirect emissions.
• Carbon offsets are flawed and/or limited in scope. The only true offset is removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
• Rebound effect: more efficient technology typically results in higher-carbon living because our usage generally goes up by even more than the efficiency improvement.

Tips to reduce our carbon footprint

• Flights represent a significant proportion of our individual carbon footprint. Even if we take a short-haul holiday flight just once a year, that can represent tenth of our footprint.
• Everyone's footprint is different, and you can try to reduce your footprint based on how ready you are to make different types of changes and how much effort you are prepared to make. 
• Transport
  • Drive less or share the journey, think before buying a new car. 
  • A mile on an electric bike is more carbon friendly than a mile on a conventional bike because of how the rider obtains their energy (through food, which is very carbon unfriendly)
  • Do not travel first-class because the weight being moved per person increases and that means more energy is needed to move per person.
  • Luxury cruises are actually worse than travelling by planes :o
• Groceries
  • It is always better to reuse bags. If a disposable bag is necessary, paper bags have bigger carbon footprints than plastic bags (which actually have a pretty low-carbon footprint, though there are other bad environmental impacts) because the paper industry is highly energy-intensive.
  • Do not waste food!
  • Try to reduce packaging 
  • Best to eat local (avoid airfreighted food) and seasonal fruits, and buy imperfect produce
  • Carrots, apples, oranges, bananas and potatoes are all low-carbon.
  • Strawberries and juices (because refrigeration is needed, transport miles are higher) are high-carbon.
  • Dairy and meat are most carbon-intensive
  • Method of cooking is important: use a lid so that no heat escapes, cut into smaller pieces, use induction hob cookier or pressure cooker.
• Appliances
  • Carbon-friendliness of electricity use depends on the primary source of fuel for electricity in your country. If renewable energy sources are used, most electricity appliances would be more carbon-friendly than gas alternatives.
  • Turn off lights and appliances when not in use. It is a myth that turning them on and off will be as inefficient as leaving them on. 
  • Run washing machines and dishwashers on the lowest temperature setting.
  • Drying takes the most energy!
  •  There is little difference between using a paper towel or electric dryer to dry our hands (although a Dyson Airblade would be much more energy-efficient). 
• Technology
  • Our average email traffic is equivalent to driving 10-128 miles in a small petrol car. A genuine (read: containing actionables) email has a bigger carbon footprint because it takes more time to deal with (and the footprint of an email comes from the electricity needed to power the kit needed at each stage of the process). 
  • Zoom calls can help to save on carbon emitted by transportation (although pre-COVID, the rise of video-conferencing had simply gone hand-in-hand with the rise in air traffic).
  • Buy quality devices and look after them
  • Don't have more devices than you need! 
•  Clothes
  • Buy less often, things that last longer and second-hand
  • Choose recycled and renewable materials 
  • Wash clothes only when need
• Pushing for big system changes is important too!