My Life Will Be a Net-Negative for the World
Am I more than my carbon footprint?
Three Americans produce enough carbon emissions to kill one person. Now we know. A study from Nature Communications finally calculated what they’ve dubbed “the mortality cost of carbon,” and the numbers are in. 4,434 metric tons of CO2, roughly the lifetime emissions of 3.5 Americans, will cause one excess death in the world this century. Just by being alive, I will bear one-third of the responsibility for someone’s death in the climate collapse.
And that’s just my CO2. I’m sure I’m responsible for at least one disposable face mask and tons of styrofoam ending up in the ocean, probably choking a family of turtles as we speak. I drive a hybrid, but it’s not like lithium mines are good for the planet. I eat meat. I take long showers. I profit indirectly from continued U.S. imperialism.
However I slice it, the footprints of my life come down right on someone else’s throat.
I really try to be a good person, but all my best intentions still pave the road to climate Hell. No campsite rules for this generation; we can’t help but leave the world worse off than we found it. It isn’t our fault — fault isn’t a useful way of understanding this — but it makes me question whether the responsible thing to do might just be to off ourselves now.
