To live a low carbon life should I drive or walk?

[alaskaguy]

According to John Tierney I should walk to leave the lower carbon footprint.

From John Tierney's blog:

If you walk 1.5 miles, Mr. Goodall calculates, and replace those calories by drinking about a cup of milk, the greenhouse emissions connected with that milk (like methane from the dairy farm and carbon dioxide from the delivery truck) are just about equal to the emissions from a typical car making the same trip. And if there were two of you making the trip, then the car would definitely be the more planet-friendly way to go.

Link:
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/...-ed-begley-jr/

Howver, this issue is not settled quite so easily as their are those that would challenge that driving leaves the lesser carbon footprint:

Link:
How Virtuous is Ed Begley Jr.? - TierneyLab - Science - New York Times Blog

[markshir]

Does that include the emissions from transporting the gasoline and manufacturing the car, tires, as well as building and maintaining the roads and other extensive infrastructure that is needed to sustain our level of traffic? I doubt it.

[drmwevr08]

That doesnt even seem possible. We are screwed.

[SpokaneCY]

All I know is that I'm going to start hoarding incandescent bulbs as every CFL I've put in has been competely unacceptable as to color of light, rapidity of lighting up and longevity. Not to be a DebbieDowner, but these trivial things we're "supposed" to do will make absolutly NO measurable impact unless the entire world takes similar steps. China lights up 5 new coal plants a week and we're debating whether walking 1.5 miles is better than driving 1.5 miles.

I work in a utility that has nearly 50% hydro power but WA rules now say we are not using renewable sources of power. So we're forced to adopt more wind gen in our portfolio. But for every megawatt of wind gen we put in, we are forced to also include nearly the same amount of fossil-fueled power because wind gen is completely unreliable and cannot be considered for base load applications. Welcome to the greener world!

[alaskaguy]

Originally Posted by markshir

Does that include the emissions from transporting the gasoline and manufacturing the car, tires, as well as building and maintaining the roads and other extensive infrastructure that is needed to sustain our level of traffic? I doubt it.

The carbon footprint related to gasoline and car manufacturing is addressed by the analysis.......

"Just a couple of further points. In the UK, the CO2 cost actually of making gasoline adds about 15% to the total CO2 impact. Similarly, a European car will typically create about 3 tonnes of CO2 in its manufacture. These numbers are not enough to remotely affect the conclusion that car travel is less carbon intensive than walking, if the walker replaces lost energy with animal products. A home grown potato would produce the reverse conclusion if cooked efficiently. A raw carrot would be even better."

But I don't see where the infrastructure costs are addressed (road construction and maintenance).

[Cyclonepride]

Someone said carbon footprint again. I must go throw a handful of batteries out my car window.