It’s Earth Day! Here’s How To Minimize Your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint: The bigger it is, the worse you are as a human being. (If you’ve ever flown on a plane, you may as well get a tattoo that says “I HATE THE EARTH” on your forehead.) Happy Earth Day, you utter villain. (Just kidding.)

Most of us know that the concept of a “carbon footprint” was invented in 2004 by a PR firm hired by British Petroleum to shift the burden of responsibility off of corporations and onto individuals.

Your biggest impact on the climate crisis comes from how you use your voice: the candidates you vote for, the petitions you sign, the protests you attend, the nonprofits you support, like Protect Our Winters.

You, me, and everyone else reading this article could go full caveman and it still wouldn’t have a measurable effect on the pace at which our climate is changing. Only significant policy change at the state, national, and international levels will reduce the rate at which our planet is warming.

But it’s important to walk the walk. This Earth Day, we’ll dive into climate change and carbon footprint from a few different angles. We’ll look at emissions by climbing discipline, small steps we can all take to mitigate our negative impact on Earth’s climate, and spotlight a few of the most “eco-friendly” climbing trips ever taken.

Carbon Emissions and Climbing

How do different disciplines of rock climbing contribute to climate change?

In a 2021 thesis presented to Middle Tennessee State University’s Honors College, climber Reuben Savage found that roped climbing disciplines (~48 kg kgCO2e/yr) emit more kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per year than bouldering (31.66 kg), given the larger quantity of gear required.

When it comes to gear, our shoes are the kicker. The production of rock shoes emitted overwhelmingly more carbon dioxide equivalent per year (27.78 kg) than any other piece of climbing gear. The second highest piece of gear were crash pads (3.88 kg).

An few easy takeaway are: resole your shoes, shop used apparel, and consider upcycling your retired gear. Also, when possible, consider buying bluesign certified products.

Traveling to Climb?

Where your climbing carbon footprint really racks up, however, is when you travel. Climbers who travel regionally by car pump out more carbon (~400 kgCO2e) from travel than climbers who stay local (~240 kg), while climbers who travel cross-country emit far more (~830 kg).

Climbers who travel by flying, of course, are majorly upping their output. Per the Flight Free USA  emissions calculator, the average one-way flight from New York City to Kathmandu, Nepal, is pounding out 4,400 kgCO2e per passenger. The site notes that “avoiding this trip is as climate-friendly as being vegetarian for 8.1 years.” Yeesh.

Overall, however, Savage’s findings were that simply partaking in rock climbing has a negligible impact on an individual’s carbon emissions. “Carbon emissions from rock climbing make up 2% of the average American’s [annual] emissions.”

What matters is where, how, and how often you travel to climb which will ultimately decide the bulk of your climbing-related carbon footprint.

Inspiration: 3 Eco-Friendly Climbing Trips

Many well-known climbers have made strides to promote climate-friendly climbing travel. Typically this means avoiding the use of a car by trekking, cycling, or taking public transport to the crag. If the climb is on another continent, it might include a sailboat…

1. Sébastien Berthe’s Trans-Atlantic Sail

In 2022, Belgian climber Sébastien Berthe sailed nearly 6,000 miles from Spain to Mexico to (unsuccessfully) attempt the Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d), a journey which took the better part of three months. He may not have freed the line, but he put up a more than worthy effort to make it there.

Berthe has a history of climate-free travel. He also cycled around the Alps with Nicolas Favresse to tackle a series of multi-pitches in 2020. Favresse has a similar resume. He, Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Jean-Louis Wertz, and Aleksej Jaruta made a sail-climb trip to Greenland in 2021, and some variation of their crew has completed several sail-climb expeditions, including a 2011 effort that won a Piolet d’Or.

2. Honnold and Caldwell Pedal and Sail to Alaska

Last year, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell completed a widely publicized trip by bicycle from Colorado to British Columbia (~2,300 mi), then sailed to Alaska, climbing all along the way. The trip was supposedly documented by a National Geographic film crew for an upcoming television series.

3. Cycling Around the World to Climb For Eight Years?

There are slews of climbers—from pros to weekend warriors—who have upped the ante on ambitious trips ostensibly to reduce carbon emissions. Perhaps the most impressive effort I’ve come across is that of Adam & Noémie from @smallworldonabike, who have reportedly been cycling around the world since 2016, climbing along the way.

Five Ways You Can Fight Climate Change

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you’ve been inundated with common ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Reducing consumption of meat and dairy, installing new insulation (if you live in a cold climate), switching to a green energy provider, cycling instead of driving, carpooling instead of riding alone, avoiding air travel, and donating to environmental nonprofits are a few ways we’ve probably all heard of. Here are some you may have not considered:

1. Use the “chilli” App

At first glance, the environmental action app chilli seemed like a brainrot Gen Z-cornball project, but I’ve come to really enjoy it. The free app connects you with environmental campaigns around the globe (called “missions”) and gives you simple, daily tasks to complete to support them, like sending emails, signing petitions, and reposting and commenting on social media.

The causes vary from forest protection to air pollution prevention to plastic waste reduction to—of course—climate change mitigation. Chilli, like Duolingo, also has “streak” and “score” features to keep you engaged. There are dedicated chats for each mission, an app-wide general chat, and a #investigator channel designed to serve as a “dedicated space for collaborative research, fact-finding, and investigation.”

Using chilli has helped me feel like I’m “doing” something with my voice each day, and sending these emails and signing petitions only takes a few seconds. The chats also build a sense of camaraderie and positivity amid the onslaught of bleak news we often receive on social media. As one random user posted in #general as I was working on this article, “I truly feel like I’m contributing to something bigger [here].”

2. Sign Up for Climeworks Carbon Capture

There are dozens of companies—including many airlines—that now offer ways to “offset” your carbon emissions. In short, offsetting is when one individual or company emits greenhouse gasses, and then pays for another entity to emit less, in theory “canceling out” the original emissions.

Offsetting emissions may sound good at first glance, and it’s certainly better than nothing, but it doesn’t actually reduce emissions at the source, and many offset schemes have been outed for greenwashing. A study currently underway by ETH Zurich and the University of Cambridge indicates that just 12% of carbon offsets sold worldwide result in “real emissions reductions.”.

Luckily, there are alternatives. Instead of offsetting your emissions, you could actually pay to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Swiss carbon removal company Climeworks uses direct air capture to pull CO2 from the atmosphere, solidify it into stone, and store it deep underground in Iceland.

Climeworks claims their carbon capture facility is over 1,000 times more efficient than trees on the same land. Furthermore, by mineralizing and storing carbon underground, the capture is essentially permanent. (When carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in trees via photosynthesis, it’s only captured as long as the tree is alive. When the tree burns, rots, or otherwise dies, that carbon is again released.)

Carbon capture is expensive and the technology is still in its infancy, so don’t expect whopping numbers, but keep in mind that these aren’t just reduced or “offset” emissions, these are actually negative emissions—carbon is getting pulled out of the air. Individual subscriptions start at $30/month (20 kgCO2e removed monthly) and go up to $120 (80 kg).

3. Save or Invest Sustainably

Most of us squirrel away what little we can save in this economy into investment portfolios or dedicated retirement funds like a Roth IRA or 401(k). Even if your savings just sit in the bank, remember that your bank is putting that money to use—and maybe not in a good way.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2016, the world’s 60 largest banks have given $5.5 trillion in financing to the fossil fuel industry. Of the top 12 banks funding fossil fuels globally, the leading four are prominent American banks: JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

So instead of keeping your cash with these suckers, look at green banking alternatives like Aspiration or ATMOS, or put your money in sustainable investment funds, which invest in companies that prioritize practices like renewable energy, sustainable production, and energy efficiency.

Almost every major investment platform these days offers environmental and social governance portfolios (ESG), from Acorns to Betterment to Vanguard. By investing here, your money directly supports businesses working towards a lower-carbon future. (Sustainable investing can also be financially rewarding. Studies have shown that sustainable investment funds often outperform traditional funds.)

4. Educate Yourself

There is a trove of resources online that steer clear of doom and gloom and offer a positive outlook on the path ahead, with a blend of clear, concise, reliable information and actionable advice. Project Drawdown is a prime example.

Among other resources, Project Drawdown lists an expanding catalog of technologies and practices that can help mitigate climate change, including everything from abandoned farmland restoration to tree intercropping, low-flow fixtures, geothermal power, and bamboo production.

5. VOTE

Some politicians listen to the science, and believe that climate change will negatively impact the environment, economy, and quality of life for everyone on this planet in a serious way.

Others admit climate change is occurring, but don’t believe it’s worth caring about. (Unfortunately, others don’t even acknowledge the facts…)

Back candidates you support, not just at the national level, but at the state and local level as well. And don’t just show up and vote: Canvas, donate, and in general get the word out about the candidates you believe in.

Staying Out of the Pits

Sometimes being cognizant of your carbon footprint feels like walking a thin line between guilt on one side and despair on the other. You’re guilty when you can’t live up to your goals, and when you do live up to them, you’re so stressed and pissed off about what private jet flyers and big corporations—the real emitters—are doing that your mental health tanks regardless.

My partner and I spent a couple of weeks motorcycling around Vietnam recently, and though we’d decided a while back not to eat beef or pork for ethical and climate reasons, at a certain point I found myself standing in a tiny village northeast of Lào Cai, trying to communicate that I was eating vegetarian to a woman who didn’t understand English, staring at the only item (pork pho) on the menu, and tormenting myself for 20 minutes about whether to go hungry for another several hours or just order the damn food.

I ate the pork. It was good.

Then I went back to our hotel, signed some petitions on chilli, and let it go.

Listen to your gut (no pun intended). Do what you can, when you can. Not ready to give up meat? Maybe just go vegan for a month instead. Not sure about cycling to work every day? Try it twice a week. It might be a small impact, but at least you can look at yourself in the mirror and know you’re putting in an effort.

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