Americans already have large carbon footprints: where the world average is 4 tons, the American average is 20. A study at MIT found that no matter what you do, if you live in America, you’re automatically going to have a large footprint – whether you’re homeless, a child or a Buddhist monk – because our public services and infrastructure create a ‘baseline’ of 8.5 tons, which no American can drop below. But, even though you won’t find someone with a tiny carbon footprint here, you will find people with huge ones – especially the richest man in the country, Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
EcoGeek has it:
Bill Gates, specifically chosen for the study, has a carbon footprint about 10,000 times the average. Of course, he also has produced a great deal of wealth and growth for the world. In general, the researchers found that as income rises, so do emissions. A homeless person, who ate at soup kitchens and slept in shelters, had an average carbon footprint of 8.5 tonnes, still twice as much as the world average. Even monks, who lived half the year in the forest, had carbon footprints of 10.5 tonnes.
Big shocker – the richest techie nerd in the world has a huge CO2 footprint. This guy has more giant, expensive, energy sucking toys than you can possibly imagine. He has a house with a 3-car garage – for his servants. At last count, old Bill was worth $56 billion.
Link [EcoGeek]
Photo credit: Mugshots.org
