Carbon Fast - Action 3 - Grow Food

It's day 3 of the Carbon Fast. Today's action is "give some time to grow your own vegetable garden at home". Coincidentally, i started an attempt to grow food a couple of weeks ago - so i have a photo to share.


I guess even starting today, a person would have something to show for their efforts, by the end of the carbon fast.

How Much CO2 Is Created By ...?

Another great infographic from the people at Information Is Beautiful. This one shows carbon emissions from various items and activities - a text, a shower, a soccer world cup ... and a few hundred others.


It's an interactive thing, so you can click on different items, the CO2 'scale', or on an activity categories. There are many items to see and compare, so it can be semi-addictive :)

One interesting comparison was an apple, depending on how much transport is involved. From your backyard-0g, from a local grower-10g, from a supermarket-80g, imported-150g. The pollution can weigh more than the item!

50 Tips in One

50 Ways to Help the Planet is a collection of little ideas that are easy to do. Some of them save money, most of them save energy, and all of them play a part in reducing greenhouse emissions.


There's also a well-designed desktop background with all the symbols on it.

In A Jam Over Food Miles

Ok, so most people probably know about food miles. The shorter the distance the food has to travel, the smaller the transport emissions. And i had a good laugh at the Brits when i heard they export 10,000 tonne of butter to Denmark - and then import 10,000 tonne of Danish butter back to the UK. "How proposterous!" I thought.


Then i bought my favourite jam (bargain price and a funky-shaped jar) and was happy with my purchase until i read the fine print.


I had falsely presumed that something made by Coles Australia, was made in Australia. Not so. Not even close.