Ive been chasing data as soon as a kid chasing fireflies ever since I first grabbed a carbon calculators calculator in a cramped literary dorm. It felt strange at firstspending an evening entering my daily latte, my subway ride, the streaming marathon of Stranger Things into a spreadsheetbut the moment the numbers lit up, I got hooked. Theres something intoxicating virtually turning invisible emissions into something you can see and talk about. {}

In this declare Im pulling together the latest Environmental Footprint And Carbon Environmental Stats, sprinkling in a handful of surprising (some even invented) tidbits, and showing you how to make these stats behave for you, your business, or just your own conscience. Strap in, because Ill be bouncing along with difficult facts, personal anecdotes, a dash of sarcasm, and a few whatif scenarios that will save you guessing.

When I first heard environmental footprint I imagined a literal imprint left on the planetlike giant dinosaur tracks across a forest. The truth is more abstract, but no less important. An environmental footprint quantifies the total amount of natural resources you consume and the waste you generate, expressed in terms of house area, water usage, and most crucially for our conversation, carbon emissions.