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Carbon Footprint badge
Jun. 17th, 2024 04:15 pmThe Rebel Badge Club's monthly badge for June is Carbon Footprint. I keep going down so many rabbit holes working on this badge that I could spend any amount of time on it. But so many other people are doing it with basically one-word answers that surely I can be reasonable. And perhaps actually finish it!
First we are to 'Learn about the origins of the Carbon Footprint concept and how and why it was brought into public usage.'
Then we are to do at least four requirements (a.k.a. "clauses" in British English) from either an Individual Impact track or a Community Input Track. I'm choosing Community Impact because I've already picked all the low-hanging and much of the mid-hanging fruit from the Individual Impact track. There are 12 requirements to choose from. I want to actually take some sort of action as well as just learn things.
Per The Guardian's Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook, the carbon footprint concept 'was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP' which unveiled a carbon footprint calculator in 2004. The goal was to distract the public from blaming oil companies by inspiring us to blame ourselves.
Yet the writer explains, 'In my own case, some of what I could tout as personal virtue is only possible because of collective action. I have 100% clean electricity at home because people organized to make that option and the solar and wind power behind it available. I do some of my errands by bicycle because the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition worked for decades to put bicycle paths across the city and otherwise make it safer to get about on two wheels. I can take public transit because there is public transit. Across the Bay, the city of Berkeley led the way in making all-electric houses the standard for the future; more than fifty California cities and counties have followed suit. Paired with the clean electricity California has committed to, this mandate matters. Having an all-electric house or driving an electric car fueled by renewables won’t be a virtuous choice in the future; it’ll just be the norm.
'...That vegan options are available at a lot of fast-food chains is because enough consumers have created a profitable market for them. We do influence others through our visible choices. Ideas spread, values spread, habits spread; we are social animals and both good and bad behaviors are contagious. (For the bad, just look at the contagiousness of specious anti-vaccination arguments.)
'Vegetarian and vegan diets (and low-meat or no-red-meat diets) have become far more common, creating markets for new products and different menus. But they have not made the beef industry go away or reformed its devastating climate impact. Climate chaos demands we recognize how everything is connected. Seeing yourself as a citizen means seeing yourself as connected to social and political systems. As citizens we must go after the climate footprint of the fossil-fuel corporations, the beef industry, the power companies, the transportation system, plastics, and so much more.'
Wow, that quote is an excellent segue into the community impact section.
First some research requirements. I picked some where I knew I didn't already know the answer.
Research an historic event which damaged the environment. Explain what damage was caused and what we can learn from it to prevent the same thing happening again.
I decided to search for something local. I found Environment Texas's Industrial facilities dumped 2 million pounds of pollution into Texas air during winter storm. In January of this year, during a freeze, 'Oil refineries, petrochemical plants and other unprepared industrial facilities in Texas reported releasing an estimated 2.1 million pounds of unauthorized pollution into the air during freezing temperatures .... This pollution is largely preventable, but polluters continue to skimp on weatherization, which leads to big pollution dumps during extreme cold and hot weather.'
This accelerated the climate crisis and increased toxins in the air.
Apparently, to prevent this from happening again, industries have to weatherize. They don't want to. I could go down a rabbit hole figuring how to make them want to. Maybe the government could subsidize this like they do for homeowners, or they could tax pollution, or they could fine them, or citizens could have a protest march and get shot at, I don't know. I'm declaring myself done with this requirement.
Find out about local organizations or initiatives working to reduce food waste. Googling showed me only:
* Too Good To Go - restaurant food
* UT's Housing and Dining
* The city utilities that provide composting (to keep wasted food from turning into methane)
Then I looked up a place I go:
HEB - They follow the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy (actually the EPA currently has a wasted food scale):
a) Source reduction - reduce the volume of surplus food generated - Of course they use math to try to get the right amount of food, which is just good business sense. They also mark down foods, rescue ingredients to make in-store products.
b) Feed Hungry people - donate excess to foo banks, soup kitchens, and shelters - They partner with food banks 'with food donations, monetary support, and/or volunteer support.'
c) Feed animals - divert food scraps to animal food - They work with 32 cattle farms and 8 composters.
d) Industrial use - provide waste oils for rendering and fuel conversion and food scraps for digestion to recover energy - They send cooking oil and meat byproducts.
e) composting - create a nutrient rich soil amendment - They work with 8 composters.
f) landfill/incineration - last resort - They do also use landfills. 'Currently, more than 95% of H-E-B stores capture recovered food and divert from landfills according to the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy system, and we’re working to get all H-E-B stores on this program. As we do so, H-E-B will continue to monitor the latest scientific & economic research to identify new ways to improve and share unsold food with those in need.'
Research some of the natural alternatives to trees for reducing carbon dioxide levels.
a) Grasslands - they store less carbon than trees, but are less vulnerable to droughts and wildfires; they sequester most of their carbon underground.
Source: UC Davis's Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink Than Trees
b) Wetlands - slowed decomposition leads to the accumulation of organic matter which stores carbon. Drainage releases carbon.
Source: nature communications' Carbon Storage in US Wetlands
And even for trees, it's best to let reforestation happen naturally (removing weed species and grazers of course)
Find out the difference between carbon-offsetting and carbon zero.
Carbon offsetting - financing projects outside a company's value chain - if these reductions match the company's emitted carbons, they can claim to be carbon neutral or net-zero. Theoretically. I'd thought that this would be a good way to finance green energy projects that were still too expensive to compete on price, but apparently they are mostly about planting trees or promising not to cut down trees, mostly in places where these things were going to happen, and sometimes in ways that are ineffective and/or immoral (kicking people off their land). There are carbon-offset registries set up to be neutral third parties to confirm offsets, but they are paid by the companies selling the offsets.
Carbon zero - reducing emissions within a company's value chain (e.g., efficiency, electrification, renewables). This is actually the area where a company has some expertise, at least.
Not part of the requirement, but relevant:
Carbon tax - a tax on carbon emissions, with the benefit of a) including some of the cost of emissions in the price so that people make better choices and b) encouraging companies to find ways to reduce their emissions--suddenly it becomes financially wise to improve efficiency and research better technologies. Negatives include a) that the effects tend to be regressive (hurting poor people most), b) change takes time, and c) companies are incentivized to move someplace without these taxes. I'd think it would also incentivize companies to cheat and lie about their emissions. And apparently it's generally used only for carbon dioxide and not other greenhouse gases. Interestingly, some carbon tax schemes involve transferring the collected taxes to tax payers (aka a 'carbon fee and dividend'). Another strategy is cap-and-trade which lets some companies pay other companies for their improvements, but this sounds like just another form of carbon offsetting.
Another requirement I like, though I'm not doing it, is to Make a poster or presentation about a Climate Hero. How can they inspire you? My first big hero was No Impact Man, who made some extreme changes to try to eliminate his environmental footprint (mostly through carbon-zero methods). His book made them seem less extreme and made it easier for me to think of things I was willing to change.
Another big hero(ine) is Greta Thurnburg who is protesting her own government in addition to minimizing her own footprint, to the extent of taking a sailboat for overseas travel! I dressed up as her one Halloween, though I didn't say many of the quotes I'd memorized (a bit depressing for party talk). I greatly admire when people actually live by their beliefs, especially when society makes it so difficult.
I also wasn't going to do the requirement to Research new technology to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere because I'd read that it's way too expensive to focus on right now and diverts attention from things we can actually do. But then I found Reporting Texas's article, Austin Company Has Unique Answer to Capturing CO2 Emissions - It explains that 'Efforts thus far have mainly focused on capturing CO2 in a power plant or factory’s flue gasses, before it escapes into the atmosphere, and transporting it to sites such as geologic formations underground or deep in the ocean, where it can be stored.'
But Skyonic's SkyMine technology turns carbon emissions into solids such as sodium bicarbonate, hydrocholoric acid, and bleach. This system lets the gas be 'recycled into solids at the plant site, avoiding the need to find suitable and safe storage sites and transport the CO2.
...“Our investors have collectively invested over $2 billion in pump-it-in-the-ground sequestration efforts, and their universal verdict is that sequestration is prohibitively expensive, useful only in a few choice geologic spots, and fails to meet the low-energy penalty claims of the last 20 years,” Jones said.'
Then, for some actions.
What actions are your local government taking to tackle climate change? Contact your local representative with your thoughts on what you would like them to take action on.
My city has a climate equity plan (https://www.austintexas.gov/page/austin-climate-equity-plan). 'The plan includes the bold and aggressive goal of equitably reaching net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 with a strong emphasis on cutting emissions by 2030.' I signed up for rethink, the newsletter from the Office of Sustainability.
Overarching strategies are to create green jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, support community initiatives, link elected officials, city staff and utilitiy staff, support local greenhouse gas reduction and carbon removal projects, carbon dioxide removal, and carbon offsets when necessary.
More specifically, for buildings, goals are net-zero carbon for all new buildings and reduced emissions for existing buildings, blocking refrigerant leakage, reducing the carbon footprint of building materials, and achieving water equity.
For transportation and land use, most new development should be located 'within the city's activity centers and corridors,' and half of trips have a better carbon footprint than driving alone in a car. Also, more vehicle miles should be electric and charging stations need to be increased equitably.
For food and product consumption, we need equitable food access and to prioritize regenerative agriculture, promote plant-based foods, reduce food waste, recycle, and compost.
For natural systems, protect more 'carbon pools on natural lands' and farmland and achieve 50% tree canopy.'
This is pretty amazing. I don't have any additional recommendations, so I'm just going to write to my City Council member in support of this plan. I know from the papers that people seem to be really afraid of increased density--they want to live in their pristine little suburbs. Well, I don't mind. My only problem is the lack of parking (a big problem in a city with horrible mass transit and very hot, mostly unshaded bus stops with either no place to sit or a single dark metal bench).
Which companies that you use have large climate footprints? What can you do to avoid using these companies? - I wasn't going to do this one because looking at my budget, most of my money goes to property taxes, then charitable contributions, then utilities, then homeowner's and car insurance. I'm not sure which companies I would look up or how to find out their carbon footprints.
Instead I can go with what some other people in the Rebel Badge Club are doing and realize that all power companies have large climate footprints, and though I'm not willing to avoid using them, I am working to buy less from them by walking and biking when I can, holding off on going to Trader Joe's until Robin's going anyway so I can carpool with him, and switching from natural gas to electricity when I can since my electricity is supposedly all from wind (though of course I get it from the grid). I am already taking these actions.
What actions can you take to call out major polluters? Either
* Research and sign a current petition related to environmental action
* Take part in a boycott
* Contact your local MP
This is a good idea, but I have no idea how I'd go about doing it. What companies would I pick? How do I know which ones are bad? Another Rebel found a ranking of (British) grocery stores, but most of the things I found for the US just listed good ideas that different grocers were trying to do. I did find United States Supermarket Scorecard 2024. According to it Trader Joe's is a little better than HEB, though they don't seem to have much information on either and seem to be weirdly focused on refrigerants. Also, it's probably not accurate for me, because my local HEB was constructed to be sustainable and has a LEED Gold certification and Austin Energy Green Building 4-Star sustainability certification.
I found Climate Friendly Supermarkets' Citizen Investigator project. You look for the refrigerant that grocery stores are using, as shown on labels that are right on the refrigerator cases. Currently they have the Wheatsville on Guadalupe, which has R407A (which is HFC and thus bad) and Whole Foods N. Lamar which has R404A (also HFC).
I also thought I could research the carbon footprint of insurance companies. No. But I found a more interesting perspective in Heated's These insurers are screwing the public on climate change - They explain that many property insurers 'have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums.' Which makes good business sense. 'Clearly, these insurers understand the risks of climate change, and understand that it’s not financially viable to insure properties in climate-vulnerable areas.
'But here’s our question: If these insurance companies truly understand climate risk—and if they are truly acting responsibly—why are they still underwriting and investing in fossil fuel projects, and supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production around the world?' Good point!
'Though insurance companies usually hide which fossil fuel projects they underwrite, some public records requests have revealed at least one. In June, watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen obtained records revealing that AIG, Liberty Mutual, and others issued insurance policies in April to a methane gas terminal in Freeport, Texas. That same facility exploded last year, releasing tons of toxic pollution into the air of surrounding communities.' Of course I'm using Liberty Mutual for my property insurance.
They say 'AIG and Travelers in the US, as well as a few smaller insurers' have stopped supporting coal at least, though 'not a single U.S. insurer has ruled out support for oil and gas expansion projects.' There is a ranking of insurance companies on page 11 of Insure Our Future's 2022 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and the Climate Emergency. I could consider switching to AIG, the highest ranked American company on the list.
Another action I could take is to write to my insurers and tell them that I support the Insure Our Future's Annual letter to the CEOs of 30 major fossil fuel insurers.
And finally I've thought of a bonus action (it fits the intent of the badge but not any specific requirement). Per IOP Science's article The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions, the #1 way for first-world people to make a difference is to have one less child. That's a weird way to say it, but it's certainly a good idea to make it easy for people who don't want any (more) children to get that wish. I already make annual contributions to Planned Parenthood, but I have also decided to protest anti-birth-control campaigns. And, for other reasons, I have committed to sending postcards to voters, using the message found to be most effective.
So, I have now, indeed, fulfilled the minimum requirements for this badge, even if I don't take any of the actions I've figured out. Still, the whole point for me was to actually take actions. And, for my future reference, here is summary:
* Write my City Council rep in support of the city's climate equity plan.
* Submit refrigerant data to the Climate Friendly Supermarkets' Citizen Investigator project.
* Consider switching from Liberty Mutual to AIG.
* Write to my insurers supporting Insure Our Future's annual letter.
* Protest anti-birth-control campains
* Send postcards to voters.
First we are to 'Learn about the origins of the Carbon Footprint concept and how and why it was brought into public usage.'
Then we are to do at least four requirements (a.k.a. "clauses" in British English) from either an Individual Impact track or a Community Input Track. I'm choosing Community Impact because I've already picked all the low-hanging and much of the mid-hanging fruit from the Individual Impact track. There are 12 requirements to choose from. I want to actually take some sort of action as well as just learn things.
Per The Guardian's Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook, the carbon footprint concept 'was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP' which unveiled a carbon footprint calculator in 2004. The goal was to distract the public from blaming oil companies by inspiring us to blame ourselves.
Yet the writer explains, 'In my own case, some of what I could tout as personal virtue is only possible because of collective action. I have 100% clean electricity at home because people organized to make that option and the solar and wind power behind it available. I do some of my errands by bicycle because the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition worked for decades to put bicycle paths across the city and otherwise make it safer to get about on two wheels. I can take public transit because there is public transit. Across the Bay, the city of Berkeley led the way in making all-electric houses the standard for the future; more than fifty California cities and counties have followed suit. Paired with the clean electricity California has committed to, this mandate matters. Having an all-electric house or driving an electric car fueled by renewables won’t be a virtuous choice in the future; it’ll just be the norm.
'...That vegan options are available at a lot of fast-food chains is because enough consumers have created a profitable market for them. We do influence others through our visible choices. Ideas spread, values spread, habits spread; we are social animals and both good and bad behaviors are contagious. (For the bad, just look at the contagiousness of specious anti-vaccination arguments.)
'Vegetarian and vegan diets (and low-meat or no-red-meat diets) have become far more common, creating markets for new products and different menus. But they have not made the beef industry go away or reformed its devastating climate impact. Climate chaos demands we recognize how everything is connected. Seeing yourself as a citizen means seeing yourself as connected to social and political systems. As citizens we must go after the climate footprint of the fossil-fuel corporations, the beef industry, the power companies, the transportation system, plastics, and so much more.'
Wow, that quote is an excellent segue into the community impact section.
First some research requirements. I picked some where I knew I didn't already know the answer.
Research an historic event which damaged the environment. Explain what damage was caused and what we can learn from it to prevent the same thing happening again.
I decided to search for something local. I found Environment Texas's Industrial facilities dumped 2 million pounds of pollution into Texas air during winter storm. In January of this year, during a freeze, 'Oil refineries, petrochemical plants and other unprepared industrial facilities in Texas reported releasing an estimated 2.1 million pounds of unauthorized pollution into the air during freezing temperatures .... This pollution is largely preventable, but polluters continue to skimp on weatherization, which leads to big pollution dumps during extreme cold and hot weather.'
This accelerated the climate crisis and increased toxins in the air.
Apparently, to prevent this from happening again, industries have to weatherize. They don't want to. I could go down a rabbit hole figuring how to make them want to. Maybe the government could subsidize this like they do for homeowners, or they could tax pollution, or they could fine them, or citizens could have a protest march and get shot at, I don't know. I'm declaring myself done with this requirement.
Find out about local organizations or initiatives working to reduce food waste. Googling showed me only:
* Too Good To Go - restaurant food
* UT's Housing and Dining
* The city utilities that provide composting (to keep wasted food from turning into methane)
Then I looked up a place I go:
HEB - They follow the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy (actually the EPA currently has a wasted food scale):
a) Source reduction - reduce the volume of surplus food generated - Of course they use math to try to get the right amount of food, which is just good business sense. They also mark down foods, rescue ingredients to make in-store products.
b) Feed Hungry people - donate excess to foo banks, soup kitchens, and shelters - They partner with food banks 'with food donations, monetary support, and/or volunteer support.'
c) Feed animals - divert food scraps to animal food - They work with 32 cattle farms and 8 composters.
d) Industrial use - provide waste oils for rendering and fuel conversion and food scraps for digestion to recover energy - They send cooking oil and meat byproducts.
e) composting - create a nutrient rich soil amendment - They work with 8 composters.
f) landfill/incineration - last resort - They do also use landfills. 'Currently, more than 95% of H-E-B stores capture recovered food and divert from landfills according to the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy system, and we’re working to get all H-E-B stores on this program. As we do so, H-E-B will continue to monitor the latest scientific & economic research to identify new ways to improve and share unsold food with those in need.'
Research some of the natural alternatives to trees for reducing carbon dioxide levels.
a) Grasslands - they store less carbon than trees, but are less vulnerable to droughts and wildfires; they sequester most of their carbon underground.
Source: UC Davis's Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink Than Trees
b) Wetlands - slowed decomposition leads to the accumulation of organic matter which stores carbon. Drainage releases carbon.
Source: nature communications' Carbon Storage in US Wetlands
And even for trees, it's best to let reforestation happen naturally (removing weed species and grazers of course)
Find out the difference between carbon-offsetting and carbon zero.
Carbon offsetting - financing projects outside a company's value chain - if these reductions match the company's emitted carbons, they can claim to be carbon neutral or net-zero. Theoretically. I'd thought that this would be a good way to finance green energy projects that were still too expensive to compete on price, but apparently they are mostly about planting trees or promising not to cut down trees, mostly in places where these things were going to happen, and sometimes in ways that are ineffective and/or immoral (kicking people off their land). There are carbon-offset registries set up to be neutral third parties to confirm offsets, but they are paid by the companies selling the offsets.
Carbon zero - reducing emissions within a company's value chain (e.g., efficiency, electrification, renewables). This is actually the area where a company has some expertise, at least.
Not part of the requirement, but relevant:
Carbon tax - a tax on carbon emissions, with the benefit of a) including some of the cost of emissions in the price so that people make better choices and b) encouraging companies to find ways to reduce their emissions--suddenly it becomes financially wise to improve efficiency and research better technologies. Negatives include a) that the effects tend to be regressive (hurting poor people most), b) change takes time, and c) companies are incentivized to move someplace without these taxes. I'd think it would also incentivize companies to cheat and lie about their emissions. And apparently it's generally used only for carbon dioxide and not other greenhouse gases. Interestingly, some carbon tax schemes involve transferring the collected taxes to tax payers (aka a 'carbon fee and dividend'). Another strategy is cap-and-trade which lets some companies pay other companies for their improvements, but this sounds like just another form of carbon offsetting.
Another requirement I like, though I'm not doing it, is to Make a poster or presentation about a Climate Hero. How can they inspire you? My first big hero was No Impact Man, who made some extreme changes to try to eliminate his environmental footprint (mostly through carbon-zero methods). His book made them seem less extreme and made it easier for me to think of things I was willing to change.
Another big hero(ine) is Greta Thurnburg who is protesting her own government in addition to minimizing her own footprint, to the extent of taking a sailboat for overseas travel! I dressed up as her one Halloween, though I didn't say many of the quotes I'd memorized (a bit depressing for party talk). I greatly admire when people actually live by their beliefs, especially when society makes it so difficult.
I also wasn't going to do the requirement to Research new technology to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere because I'd read that it's way too expensive to focus on right now and diverts attention from things we can actually do. But then I found Reporting Texas's article, Austin Company Has Unique Answer to Capturing CO2 Emissions - It explains that 'Efforts thus far have mainly focused on capturing CO2 in a power plant or factory’s flue gasses, before it escapes into the atmosphere, and transporting it to sites such as geologic formations underground or deep in the ocean, where it can be stored.'
But Skyonic's SkyMine technology turns carbon emissions into solids such as sodium bicarbonate, hydrocholoric acid, and bleach. This system lets the gas be 'recycled into solids at the plant site, avoiding the need to find suitable and safe storage sites and transport the CO2.
...“Our investors have collectively invested over $2 billion in pump-it-in-the-ground sequestration efforts, and their universal verdict is that sequestration is prohibitively expensive, useful only in a few choice geologic spots, and fails to meet the low-energy penalty claims of the last 20 years,” Jones said.'
Then, for some actions.
What actions are your local government taking to tackle climate change? Contact your local representative with your thoughts on what you would like them to take action on.
My city has a climate equity plan (https://www.austintexas.gov/page/austin-climate-equity-plan). 'The plan includes the bold and aggressive goal of equitably reaching net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 with a strong emphasis on cutting emissions by 2030.' I signed up for rethink, the newsletter from the Office of Sustainability.
Overarching strategies are to create green jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, support community initiatives, link elected officials, city staff and utilitiy staff, support local greenhouse gas reduction and carbon removal projects, carbon dioxide removal, and carbon offsets when necessary.
More specifically, for buildings, goals are net-zero carbon for all new buildings and reduced emissions for existing buildings, blocking refrigerant leakage, reducing the carbon footprint of building materials, and achieving water equity.
For transportation and land use, most new development should be located 'within the city's activity centers and corridors,' and half of trips have a better carbon footprint than driving alone in a car. Also, more vehicle miles should be electric and charging stations need to be increased equitably.
For food and product consumption, we need equitable food access and to prioritize regenerative agriculture, promote plant-based foods, reduce food waste, recycle, and compost.
For natural systems, protect more 'carbon pools on natural lands' and farmland and achieve 50% tree canopy.'
This is pretty amazing. I don't have any additional recommendations, so I'm just going to write to my City Council member in support of this plan. I know from the papers that people seem to be really afraid of increased density--they want to live in their pristine little suburbs. Well, I don't mind. My only problem is the lack of parking (a big problem in a city with horrible mass transit and very hot, mostly unshaded bus stops with either no place to sit or a single dark metal bench).
Which companies that you use have large climate footprints? What can you do to avoid using these companies? - I wasn't going to do this one because looking at my budget, most of my money goes to property taxes, then charitable contributions, then utilities, then homeowner's and car insurance. I'm not sure which companies I would look up or how to find out their carbon footprints.
Instead I can go with what some other people in the Rebel Badge Club are doing and realize that all power companies have large climate footprints, and though I'm not willing to avoid using them, I am working to buy less from them by walking and biking when I can, holding off on going to Trader Joe's until Robin's going anyway so I can carpool with him, and switching from natural gas to electricity when I can since my electricity is supposedly all from wind (though of course I get it from the grid). I am already taking these actions.
What actions can you take to call out major polluters? Either
* Research and sign a current petition related to environmental action
* Take part in a boycott
* Contact your local MP
This is a good idea, but I have no idea how I'd go about doing it. What companies would I pick? How do I know which ones are bad? Another Rebel found a ranking of (British) grocery stores, but most of the things I found for the US just listed good ideas that different grocers were trying to do. I did find United States Supermarket Scorecard 2024. According to it Trader Joe's is a little better than HEB, though they don't seem to have much information on either and seem to be weirdly focused on refrigerants. Also, it's probably not accurate for me, because my local HEB was constructed to be sustainable and has a LEED Gold certification and Austin Energy Green Building 4-Star sustainability certification.
I found Climate Friendly Supermarkets' Citizen Investigator project. You look for the refrigerant that grocery stores are using, as shown on labels that are right on the refrigerator cases. Currently they have the Wheatsville on Guadalupe, which has R407A (which is HFC and thus bad) and Whole Foods N. Lamar which has R404A (also HFC).
I also thought I could research the carbon footprint of insurance companies. No. But I found a more interesting perspective in Heated's These insurers are screwing the public on climate change - They explain that many property insurers 'have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums.' Which makes good business sense. 'Clearly, these insurers understand the risks of climate change, and understand that it’s not financially viable to insure properties in climate-vulnerable areas.
'But here’s our question: If these insurance companies truly understand climate risk—and if they are truly acting responsibly—why are they still underwriting and investing in fossil fuel projects, and supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production around the world?' Good point!
'Though insurance companies usually hide which fossil fuel projects they underwrite, some public records requests have revealed at least one. In June, watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen obtained records revealing that AIG, Liberty Mutual, and others issued insurance policies in April to a methane gas terminal in Freeport, Texas. That same facility exploded last year, releasing tons of toxic pollution into the air of surrounding communities.' Of course I'm using Liberty Mutual for my property insurance.
They say 'AIG and Travelers in the US, as well as a few smaller insurers' have stopped supporting coal at least, though 'not a single U.S. insurer has ruled out support for oil and gas expansion projects.' There is a ranking of insurance companies on page 11 of Insure Our Future's 2022 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and the Climate Emergency. I could consider switching to AIG, the highest ranked American company on the list.
Another action I could take is to write to my insurers and tell them that I support the Insure Our Future's Annual letter to the CEOs of 30 major fossil fuel insurers.
And finally I've thought of a bonus action (it fits the intent of the badge but not any specific requirement). Per IOP Science's article The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions, the #1 way for first-world people to make a difference is to have one less child. That's a weird way to say it, but it's certainly a good idea to make it easy for people who don't want any (more) children to get that wish. I already make annual contributions to Planned Parenthood, but I have also decided to protest anti-birth-control campaigns. And, for other reasons, I have committed to sending postcards to voters, using the message found to be most effective.
So, I have now, indeed, fulfilled the minimum requirements for this badge, even if I don't take any of the actions I've figured out. Still, the whole point for me was to actually take actions. And, for my future reference, here is summary:
* Write my City Council rep in support of the city's climate equity plan.
* Submit refrigerant data to the Climate Friendly Supermarkets' Citizen Investigator project.
* Consider switching from Liberty Mutual to AIG.
* Write to my insurers supporting Insure Our Future's annual letter.
* Protest anti-birth-control campains
* Send postcards to voters.
