Targets
Mid Green Family's goal is to outperform the 2 tonnes of CO2e emissions per person needed by 2050 to achieve 'netzero'. We want to get there by 2030. Possible? We hope so!
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We also want to get there in a way that is sustainable for us - meaning keeping up the good habits even when life's kinda busy. With two kids in school and as a working mum, we want easy to make habits that don't break the bank or keep me prepping until midnight.
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What even is netzero?
Why do we need targets?
Netzero is the net of all our emissions versus all the carbon sinks or capture. We take our estimated total greenhouse gas emissions and then offset them by anything we are doing to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere (like planting trees or paying others for offset initiatives). We want to be part of a global solution to keep temperature rise under the 1.5 degrees Celsius that scientists predict will prevent much of the worsening impacts of climate change.
A target is just a number, and it may be changed over time (such as by scientists informing the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC). Measuring emissions and setting targets (however imperfect) guide us to know our efforts are making a difference. Targets focus choices - what has a bigger impact compared to something else? Where should we put our time or resources to make a bigger difference? Even rough estimates will help us rank categories of emissions to tackle.
Using easily available carbon calculators from the internet, I've calculated baselines of 6.5tCO2e, 14.6tCO2e and 15.2tCO2e. What!! To be fair, the first one estimates me as an individual and the second two estimate the household (one adult and two kids). I've decided to go with the third tracker (not because it's the highest!) but because it has the best breakdown to use as starting points across a range of categories like transport, food and waste production.
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I'll be using the Carbon Positive baseline of 15.2tCO2e (to which I added in my fashion footprint) of 0.7tCO2e, giving us a total starting point of 15.9tCO2e and a target to shave at least 2.5tCO2e of that in year one.
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Our 2023 target: save 2.5tCO2e
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In the graphic below are the key areas Mid Green will tackle in 2023 on our road to sustainable living.
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Tracker comparison
You can find my comparison of the trackers and fashion footprint in the blog, A Bit on Trackers.
Greenhouse gases, also referred to as GHGs, are gases emitted into the atmosphere which trap solar energy and prevent the sun's energy from bouncing back into space. That trapped heat (energy) causes a greenhouse effect.
That can be a good thing in moderation (hey, we wouldn't want to freeze here on Earth) but human activities (sometimes referred to as anthropogenic emissions, aka caused by humans) have contributed to very high concentrations.
GHG's are mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20) and what are commonly grouped as the fluorinated gases - hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
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Because CO2 contributes the most to GHGs (around 76%) and it stays in our atmosphere for thousands of years, we shorthand greenhouse gas emission to 'CO2e', meaning carbon dioxide or equivalent GHGs. It's often measured in tCO2e, meaning tonnes of carbon dioxide or equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
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What does climate change do? Our glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking (melting), raising sea levels are causing irreversible loss to low-lying nations. For Australia, we are having more heat extremes and less cold extremes in temperature. We will experience more severe droughts, with less average rainfall and be impacted by more extreme and prolonged bushfire seasons. Supply chain instability (think worsening storms impacting global shipping routes) and a global food crisis (think famine, social instability and 'have' and 'have not' nations) will be our global future. For many these climate lessons have been learned firsthand, in the devastation of the eastern NSW and Victorian floods in 2022, or the red fires of early 2020.
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CO2
Last thousands of years
Around 76% of emissions
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NO2
Lasts 121 years
Around 6% of emissions
Warming potential 265 times more than CO2
CH4
Lasts around ten years, then turns into CO2
Around 16% of emissions
Warming potential 28 times more than CO2
F-gases
Around 2% of emissions
Super potent warming potential
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