My impact on the planet.

I decided to compare my impact on the planet from travelling round the world for two years and two months with living at home for the same period.

I have calculated my environmental impact from here
www.jpmorganclimatecare.com

Travel
Flights (Tonnes of CO2)
London to Mumbai: 1.01
Delhi to Bangkok: 0.32
Ho Chi Min to Hanoi: 0.13
Beijing to Singapore: 0.62
Singapore to Sydney: 0.87
Brisbane to Christchurch: 0.27
Auckland to San Francisco: 1.55
Calgary to Mazatlan: 0.35
Cancun to Habana (return): 0.14
Cancun to London (via NY): 1.15
Total impact due to flights: 6.41 tonnes of CO2

I am sure the figures used on the website to calculate the impact of flights are based on a full plane, sometimes the plane was not full and therefore my impact would have been greater.

Heating/AC/Electricity
Summer
During my time in these countries I was outside all day not using electricity or heating/AC. I never used AC in all the time I travelled in the hot countries.
Winter
I used heating and was indoors more (but not that much). Calculation TBC.

Overland travel
I was going to argue that the overcrowded buses and trains that I took would be running whether I was there or not but that would not be fair. It is going to be difficult for me to calculate this section so I will do more research.

Other bad environmental impacts of travel
Whilst travelling around the less developed countries I used a lot of bottled water, I would fill up the bottle where I could. It would have been better for me to use a small coal filter type water bottle.

Total impact on environment: 9 tonnes of CO2 (TBC - based on assumptions)


Home life
Transport
Driving to work, 30 miles per day at 30MPG = 7500miles = 5.26 tonnes of CO2 over two years. (15,600 miles total)*
Driving to Bradford/Cinema/Supermarket etc. = 9,000 miles = 3.15 tonnes of CO2 (assuming 30 miles a week extra travel on top of commuting and four trips home a year to Leeds from Oxford)
Total impact due to car use: 8.41 tonnes of CO2

Energy
Electricity and Gas over two years: 0.31 tonnes of CO2 (living in a house of 4 people, amount TBC)

Holidays
I am assuming that during this 2 years at home that I take no holidays abroad. From now on I refuse to do any long haul flights for short holidays, For any two week holiday I will spend it in Europe.

Total Impact on Environment: 8.7 tonnes of CO2

*I did car share whilst working. For the first year that I worked I had at least 1 passenger, sometimes 4. For the second and third year, I was mainly solo. For the last year I would car share with one other person for at least 3 days a week. This would factor down the figure to ?????? based on an average over my four years of work, but I am calculating this for the average person and not many people car share.

Conclusion
There is not a significant difference between living at home for two years and travelling round the world, which I find a little disturbing. The commute to work at home was the biggest killer, the solution I have found is to not work! After working in Canada with no commute I realised how much of my life was wasted to commuting. I blame urban sprawl and horrible business parks. In the future I will try to eliminate the need to commute or at the most cycle to work, I know this is easier said then done.

As far as travel goes, it would be good to see people travel locally for short brakes (2 weeks), within the Continent that you live. To totally stop short weekend holidays. As far as long distance travel goes, I don't think people will give these up. But instead take longer trips less frequently, it is cheaper and more rewarding. It would be nice to see employers allowing this, maybe once every four years allow a holiday of 6 or 8 weeks.

Chai Tea Recipe

Well, it is a rainy day, so I am hibernating in an internet room, and promissed I would do my chai tea recipe that I found on the net and addapted a little.

Ingredients (provides 4 cups)
1. Water 3 cups
2. Milk 2 cups (50/50 cream is real good for this too, but use 1 cup)
3. Cloves 3-4
4. Cinemon sticks 1 or 2
5. Cardomen pods 4 (1/2 tea spoon if powder form)
6. Black Pepper 4-8 corns (dependent on taste)
7. Ginger (fresh) 8 pea sized amounts (I used way more just for personal taste)
8. Tea 1 or 2 tea bags or 2 tea spoons of black tea. (I find one tea bag is enough)

(If you can find the following ingrediants at an Indian Supermarket, Jhopadpattis, Tamasuic, Shree Ram, then add them! I could not find them)

Instructions

1. Crush spices (items 3-6) together. I used a bean/soup can against the base of the pan because I did not have a pesstle and mortar.

2. Grate ginger into pan, I love to add lots but try just adding 8 pea sized amounts to begin with, approximately a table spoon.

3. Add water and sugar. Sugar is a must even if you generally do not have sugar in your tea. It brings out the flavour in the spices. Boil, then simmer for 2 minutes.

4. Add milk and tea and simmer for 15 minutes, although I got impatient and only simmered for 5 minutes but longer is better.

When I was a loner liveing in my caravan I would not add the milk but simmer the water for 15 minutes with the tea and sugar. Then I would put the tea in a flask, so that I could get instant chai by microwaving some milk and then adding some chai mixture from my flask. For some reason the tea tasted better when I left if for a few hours in the flask.

5. Cieve the chai mixture into cups and drink!

The spell check is in spanish, so can not find my spelling errors, I know there will be some!

A Weird but Humbling Thing Happened The Other Week

A weird thing happened today. I was working on the hotel front desk, taking a hotel enquiry over the phone, when I saw in the distance Wim and Petra approaching the hotel front desk. I met Wim and Petra on a rafting trip in Nepal. They are an awesome couple from Holland, they have been cycling round the world for a while now, their blog is linked on my page. I was on the phone, but started laughing and shaking a little bit, it was such a weird emotion to see them again, totally different to when I saw friends and family back home. I always knew I would see people back home again, like you take them for granted. It was also the unexpected. Wims sense of humour was still there, was very humbling.

The story gets even more coincidental. I was telling my work mates back at camp about seeing them both and Emilie told me Mathew met a dutch couple just like I described in Japan. So after chatting to Mathew, we realised that they were the same people, he went up to a nearby campsite to see them.

They have travelled the world and have also decided that Canada may be the country for them to be! They are getting a job in Calgary driving trucks, no better place to do it really. I wish them all the luck in that and maybe I will see them again. They also talked about going travelling again once they obtain residency, it's hard to stop, too much fun and experience to be had.


Wim and Petra - 3rd and 4th Left

My 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera

My wheels to get around Canada. The only famous fact I could find about Oldsmobiles, is Jackson Pollock died in one. There was a mouse living in my boot(trunk) for a while, didn't really want to kill him, so let him stay. He seems to have left now, I think I played my music too loud. The engine coolant also leaks into the car, I have set up a funnel and container to collect the drips. I tried to fix it by disconnecting the the heater core, but then massive amounts of steam poured through the air vents which turned the car into a mobile sauna, so I reconnected that and my days as a DIY mechanic were over!