How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint Of Everything (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This book is full of interesting, sometimes surprising facts about the carbon footprint of everything. Mike Berners-Lee, the author is a UK consultant who helps businesses figure out how to reduce their carbon consumption and he has a lot of experience with different kinds of calculations of energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. If you're into detail, Berners-Lee provides background on his calculations. I couldn't really follow them, but I'm not a math person. Regardless, he's open about the fact that these are estimates with a big margin of error.In the introduction, Berners-Lee emphasizes that he aims to give readers a kind of carbon-sense, rather than have them remember specific facts or numbers. In this, I think the book succeeds. I feel like I understand better the relative magnitude of different activities and products in terms of their greenhouse gas emissions and came away from the book with increased consciousness of the impact of particular activities--like food waste and air travel. It can be depressing to read straight through--probably ideal to keep by the bedside and read a little bit on different days. It was a somewhat interesting read, but there are a few things in this book that I just cannot get past:1. The liberal use of the terms like "guesstimate" and "flaky calculation." I understand that this is not exact... Is it necessary to mention this multiple times on every single page?2. Lack of continuity. The text jumps around too much. There were places where it mentions things that have not been explained with no reference, and other where it references back to things explained only a few pages back.3. Inconsistency. Some of the factors considered in calculations for items were completely left out for similar items. No real clear explanation of why, and I can't imagine that there is no impact on conclusions.
What do You think about How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint Of Everything (2010)?
another good reminder of the many types of carbon footprints we can leave
—Sookie
Found some things in this book that really surprised me.
—Cdettelbach
I thought of getting some valuable information
—shaunamahnamahna
