THE JOURNEY

In August 2021, a massive heatwave engulfed Greece my home country. The phenomenon was extreme not only because of the high temperatures (>40oC) but mainly because of its duration (close to 3 weeks). It was attributed to the weakening of the jet stream, itself the consequence of climate-change-induced lower differential temperatures at the jet stream's boundaries. As a consequence of the heatwave, wildfires ragged across the country for days, consuming more than 125,000 hectares of forests and arable land. Those days brought the climate catastrophe as close to home and to the present as possible.

NASA Earth Observatory Aerial picture captured of the Day for August 12, 2021.

I then took up reading Bill Gates book on the climate crisis, only to realize the herculean task we are facing in averting the upcoming disaster.

As of September 2021 I started measuring my father's carbon emissions and kept a log book full of data ranging from kWh of electricity consumption to air miles flown and clothes purchased. As the data piled up I was surprised to discover that his footprint was driven by a variety of inputs that I didn't expect. For instance, I calculated that close to 30% of his footprint over the next 12 months was driven by the consumption of food. And I thought that being a vegetarian would help ...

In the months that followed, I kept researching the field and searching for more accurate formulae for measuring carbon emissions for more and more aspects of human activity. The field is presently in its infancy and finding trustworthy data is by large challenging. Only a handful of companies report on the carbon footprint of their products. Apparel company AllBirds has just started listing the carbon footprint of the shoes and clothes it sells. Casual restaurant chain Pandora Bread has also just started including carbon footprint estimates on its food menus. I have tried to compile such data alongside other sources (International Standard of Organization ...) to refine my calculations. This is still work in progress and I expect to keep constantly updating the methodology.

I was also took up learning Javascript alongside other programming languages and taught myself how to build a web site. I started working on the site and soft launched CalC02 in the spring of 2023. The journey is just starting...