Carbon emissions are crucial to who a person is.
As faced with this statement, I considered who in my family is unaware of their emissions and the role they play in our family dynamic. My sister, Lenita Posin, plays as a mediator among family debates, and many look to her for advice and guidance. I did not presume she knew much about her carbon emissions, and in fact, assumed she did not do much to be environmentally conscious. I knew, through this interview, that her knowledge about her emissions would be a gateway into other people in my family to start thinking about their emissions. I had doubts because I predicted she would find the task tedious or may feel guilty about her emissions, but I attempted to reassure her through my curiosity. I predicted that Lenita would take what she learned about her emissions and her habits to influence others in my family to do the same, thus starting a conversation geared in the direction of taking action.
In the interview we started the travel section, I found it unexpected that Lenita relied so much on her car. She explained how she rarely takes public transportation because it is not as accessible to her in the area she lives in. Taking it was unproductive because it took too long. She stated that she lived in a wealthier area with older houses and older neighbors. I concluded that not only did she rely on her car because of her convenience, but that since no one in her area uses public transportation, the metro and bus system do not prioritize where she lives. Car fuel ended up being 25% of her household’s emissions, but she did not seriously consider an electric vehicle. She claimed she was worried about traveling long distances, and since traveling was one
of her favorite things to do that highly affected her quality of life, she does not consider it to be a good option for her. Once they make electric vehicles more convenient, I believe that my sister may consider the option. The other form of travel she uses is air travel. While she did not travel as much as she is accustomed to this year because of her newborn toddler, she will continue to travel, if not more in the upcoming years. In fact, when asked to choose between a car or a plane, she chose a plane. Air travel made up 8.6% of her emissions, but she found that to be inaccurate in comparison to her regular traveling habits. She did not seem fazed by her numbers, and in comparison to others in her area, she was not far from the average. I determined that since she lives in a wealthy area where many are retired, so much of their leisure may be spent on travel, especially by car. I found that Lenita follows a similar pattern by prioritizing her money with what makes her and her household happy.
Lenita had a lot of information about her house from remodeling it, but did not know about the history of it. When asked about the history she simply laughed because to access the records you must join a society. This had me thinking about how much she enjoys convenience, and that most of what she does is for convenience. She has no desire to learn about the history of her house because it does not affect her day to day and it would not be convenient to join due to applications and fees. Another aspect of her house she has for convenience is two fridges. She is able to store frozen meal and left overs, so it helps her eat out less, thus use the car less. Lenita said that her old house with her old windows are not very efficient. Her household is forced to turn up the thermostat during the cold winter. While she prefers a cool house, she has to keep the temperature up because of her toddler. In the end, she blames her inefficient windows for natural gas being 10.5% of her carbon emissions. Once again, she was not fazed by her numbers because
I believe she had low expectations for herself as she was aware of how inefficient her house is. In comparison to the average in her area, she ended up doing better than her neighbors. She claimed she was pleasantly surprised, however her old house still puts her emissions at 17.7 tons of carbon per year out of her total of 76 tons of carbon per year. She predicts replacing her windows and adding insulation in May will help her numbers, and I was glad to hear she pledged to do so.
The results from the food section surprised me more than it did with Lenita. Lenita’s household eats at home often, so Lenita will cook what is easiest for her. This usually includes a protein with a vegetable and/or carbohydrate. No one in the household is vegetarian or vegan, and Lenita rarely cooks fish because she does not store it in the fridge, so the family eats lots of red meats and poultry. I credit this, again, to the convenience factor, but she does make an effort to have her whole household eat vegetables and rely on leftovers. Meat makes up 3.3% of the carbon emissions, while diary makes up 2.6%. Lenita claims that the large diary intake comes from her toddler, especially since she does not breastfeed her anymore. However, Lenita wants to incorporate more of her whole foods into Mila’s diet as possible, so Lenita said there are simply less leftovers. In comparison to others in her neighborhood, who eat out often, she found that her habits are not as wasteful. While Lenita will not be a vegetarian anytime soon because she has grown up eating red meats, I find that she is more conscious of her food consumption than I realized. Her fridge never has unnecessary snacks or drinks, so what she buys is what she eats.
Lenita’s spending habits were what I assumed to be a major contributor to her carbon emissions, I was again, pleasantly surprised by her results. I assumed she spent a huge amount on clothes every month, and while it contributes to 4.6% of her emissions, I was still surprised by how low it was. She gave me the impression that she spent a lot on clothes, when in fact she
budgets pretty well. She assumed her emissions for shopping were better than those in her area because she does not have student loans, currently spends nothing on education, and has cheaper health care than those in her neighborhood because she is younger. She had considered factors of her emission I was not aware of, and realized how even the little aspects such as getting rid of cable, she has considered.
In the end, when considering what she could to take action, her attitude was that she was not against it, but had never truly considered. As mentioned before, she does not want an electric car, especially after buying a new vehicle recently, but does want a tankless water heater, as well as, more efficient windows. While these factors may not be entirely for the intention of reducing her emissions, she now realizes how they affect her carbon footprint. Lenita has more passion for being environmentally friendly than I imagined because she uses energy star appliances, rechargeable batteries, and many other eco friendly options. In fact, she compares those who don’t recycle to those who smoke, and clearly has the stance that those who don’t recycle are somewhat lazy. Perhaps growing up in a household that recycles has influenced her to have this mindset, as many others in my family have a similar ideal. My concern after conducting this interview was that what Lenita learn wouldn’t influence her decision making for her household. In the end, I believe that she has become more aware of what contributes to her emissions, and perhaps found a new attitude towards some of the eco friendly options she was presented. She ended the interview by saying that the tediousness of practicing environmentally conscious actions are what end up being effective. As she continues to take on this attitude, I know it will spread among others in my family.