opinion: carbon calculators, week 2

Week 2 in the continuing series of what is missing from Carbon Calculators.  

There is a list of the things that those calculators don’t ask, thereby eliminating them from their algorithm. These are the things that are sometimes the meat of the matter, so to speak. By altering these things, you could affect your true footprint in ways unimaginable and truly make our planet sustainable.

GYM MEMBERSHIP

 

Here are all the reasons that going to a gym increases your footprint.

- Electrically powered equipment which are operating continually.

- Lights are left on when rooms are empty.

- Air-conditioning set too low and running continuously

- TVs in the workout rooms operate when no one is watching.

- Most lights  including table lamps and pot lights are incandescent.

- Fluorescent lights are probably the older inefficient models.

- Battery operated equipment use non-rechargeable batteries.

- Showers use high-flow shower heads.

- Many members take long showers with water running continuously.

- Equipment may be left operating overnight.

- Soda vending machines left operating continuously. (A soda machine, which runs 24/7, uses a lot of energy, about 10 times the electricity of a home refrigerator)

- Hot water usage. Whirlpools etc. Laundry facilities.

You are going to argue that YOU don’t create all the waste associated with a gym. Which is true.  However, if you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

There is no reason to belong to a gym.  Go outside.  First off, it is free.  Secondly, it connects you to where you came from: nature.  You can go outside and have the pleasure of seeing the sun, and getting it’s valuable nutrients (instead of getting them from a $50/month supplement.)  You are exposed to fresh air, instead of the recycled stuff, filled with the chemicals and toxins that came from the other members cosmetic products, that gets pumped through the air conditioning.  (And, no matter what you think, what is coming off your neighbor is more dangerous than what you might be exposed to outside.)

Most people go to the gym for the community.  To meet people they may not encounter otherwise.  But, how can you be so certain that someone you meet there is going to have the same belief system and philosophy as you do.  In fact, the only thing you have in common may be that you like to workout.  Narrow that playing field down some more.  If you like going outside, and you are outside, you will meet someone else who likes being outside.  See how that works?

Get on a bike, on a trail in the local mountains, the ocean or a lake, or whatever else you can find.  You have reduced your carbon footprint, automatically, and are still getting the workout you want.  And, who knows what other benefit you might get…

For earlier articles in this series: COFFEE