Bigfoot v. The Shadow

Michael and Kimberly consider their Carbon Footprints, how to cast a wider Climate Shadow, and suggest that we should probably cut Bill Gates some slack for flying in his private plane.

Episode 5

5/2/2024

Michael and Kimberly trace the history of the 'Beyond Petroleum' campaign sent us all off to calculate our carbon footprint, how to cast a wider Climate Shadow, and suggest that we should probably cut Bill Gates some slack for flying in his private plane.

Key Topics

  • How British Petroleum's campaign to rebrand itself as ‘Beyond Petroleum’ has us wondering whether foregoing air travel or counting our produce consumption will help us to lower our impact

  • Why Emma Pattee decided that our shadow casts much bigger than our footprint, so we should consider not just our quantifiable consumption, but our choices and actions that impact climate change

  • Whether celebrities should get a free pass to jet-set around the world on their private planes while drinking bottled Fiji brand water

  • Why Kimberly thinks people on the future Earth we’ve destroyed will be wondering why we tossed so many useable resources into landfills, cursing us, as they scavenge to survive

  • How Michael lost the battle of the thermostat in the household search of the lowest hanging fruit to decrease our carbon footprint, but won the climate shadow battle at the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents meetings to ditch bottled water

  • That personal impact and collective action are important to save the world not just from climate change, but all those other pesky environmental and humanitarian issues we’ve caused

Recommended Resources

  • Earth Overshoot Day

  • The BP campaign 'sham' reminded someone else of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, but for different reasons

  • For low-hanging fruit suggestions for every aspect of your life, check out Give a Sh*t or this interview with author Ashlee Piper

  • Unless it's necessary, be a trendsetter and ditch the bottled water

Which is bigger: Your carbon footprint or climate shadow?