I've been flying a lot recently. It has made me think. So, I sat down one and tried to remember all the flights I took in my life. I went through and carefully came up with a list of each flight. It took a while and I forgot some but eventually filled in the gaps. Before I decided to count the flights I have taken, I made a guess... maybe 80 flights in my life... 100? Well, it turns out I have taken 153 flights! Now, I am sure there are people that have taken many more, but still, it seriously gave me pause for thought. 153 flights, I wonder how many times around the world that is? Or, how much CO2 I have personally released into the atmosphere?
So, I sat down again the other day and did a "back of the envelope calculation". Ok, well, I actually used a spreadsheet, which is a way more efficient and organized way to manipulate that much data. But, the results of the simple arithmetic were eye opening.
Since 1996, so far I have taken 153 flights, which translates into:
- 292,690 km (182,931 miles)
- over 7.3 trips around the world
- 24,364 L (6,412 gal) of jet fuel
- or, 153 barrels of crude oil - a dump truck full of fuel!
- which cost me over $10,000 USD (just for the jet fuel burned)
- which has a mass of 17,000 kg (37,400 lbs)
- equal to 149,600 McDonald's quarter pounders ("pre-cooked weight", of course!)
- the energy I was personally responsible for burning released 1 trillion joules
- or, 250 billion calories! Note to self: call Weight Watchers!
- This is the energy in about 250 tons of TNT
- or, the equivalent of a magnitude 4.8 earthquake
- or, 1.6% of the energy in the bomb which, destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
- while adding 54,000 kg (118,800 lbs) of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Of course, this is just the energy I have used. Me. Just, one pretty typical Occidental guy, who, believe it or not, still considers himself an "environmentalist", whatever meaning that has these days. This calculation just takes into account the energy I have used in jet fuel only. Not to mention, the amount I have burned in cars over the years, or the fuel burned indirectly through the manufacture of the stuff I have bought over the years.
Peace,
Grant
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