andy_ross |
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Hi folks
Sarah Krakoff from the University of Colorado Law School is keen to canvas CRAGger’s views about themselves and their groups. If you would like to help her out, I have posted two files on the files pages that you can download, fill in and return to her at her email address that she supplies in the files:
http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk/file
It has been a while since I last filled out a questionnaire about CRAGs and I found it a useful way of gathering my latest thoughts about what we are doing.
Our CRAG in Glasgow is approaching the end of its third year (how time flies!) and we have just had our end of third get together of the year. These are principally social occasions – a chance to have enjoy some food and chat at someone’s house – although they also serve as a useful excuse for me to bug people for their quarterly carbon figures! We seem to be doing OK this year, hovering just above our rather severe 9 month ration of 1.3 tonnes. This figure is based on an annual allowance that is an estimate of the global average minus 10% for the things we are are counting – i.e. home energy and travel.
A new prospective member was keen to know how we might bring food and bought stuff in general into our carbon measurements. While in a national rationing framework these indirect emissions could be accounted for by allocating allowances to businesses by auction (a la Mayer Hillman), this is no longer a good enough reason for some not to try to count them within a CRAG context, perhaps because, as our direct emissions reduce, our indirect emissions become a more and more important part of our overall footprint. Indeed, it was for this reason that our group decided to try to count bus and train travel (outside greater Glasgow at least) to capture a part of our direct emissions that was growing fast as our car and plane use reduced.
I look forward to finding out how other groups have got on with counting indirect emissions
best wishes to all
A bit more about me and the study
sarah k
Thanks Andy. I thought I would share a bit more about who I am and what the study is about. First, I realize that many of you have been surveyed multiple times, and I apologize for being yet another nosy academic! My particular interest is in individual motivation— how people think about and describe their commitments to alter their individual behavior for a goal as abstract and other-oriented as reducing carbon emissions. In addition, I am interested in the role of community-building in environmental movements. For what it’s worth, I am a fellow-traveler, with solar p.v. on my roof, cfc light bulbs, and a non-car focused life, etc. Feel free to google me or check out my publications to verify that I am legitimate. Thanks for any assistance with this study.
Best regards,
Sarah Krakoff, Professor
University of Colorado Law School
Boulder, CO 80309