Part of the growing political agenda on climate change includes the possibility of ‘carbon rationing.’ In essence this means rationing the amount of carbon emissions per head. If we take an example of airtravel this could mean that we are limited to a certain number of flights a year where the distance we travel would be taken into account.
There are however some intersting obstancles to the fairness of this policy. Firstly, as I’ve noted in a previous post our individual carbon footprint comprises more than heat, light, transport and electricity. Therefore how can rationing take into account our carbon emissions made from shopping etc? It is feasible that theses could exceed a the Co2 emissions from a flight.
The next issue is that of population growth. If carbon emissions are worked out per head it could be a benefit to have a larger family which is not what we need in an already overcrowded planet.
In Britain we cause an average 10.92 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Fertilisers are said to be the largest source of CO2 emissions in agriculture. So if we can reduce the carbon footprint of the clothing industry, who use agriculture to make man-made fibres and then transport all over the world, we will be doing well! The way we can do this is by using more natural and organic fibres and reducing the miles the clothing travels.
