Carbon footprints huge and tiny

Photo: Port of Vancouver

Every hour of every day, humans move goods around, by truck and train, ship and plane.

In every port in the world, harbours are hubs of activity. Huge cranes lift containers from from train to truck to ship. Contemporary freighters are so large that they take days to load, even with several spouts simultaneously pouring the grain or other cargo into the hold.

Out in the bay, other ships wait to come alongside and take their turn. The carbon footprint of all this activity must be enormous.

Mass movement of goods by truck is now done even by charities. Following an automated voice message asking for donations, I called CDA and left some boxes on my doorstep for the truck, "soon to be in your area." Two or three weeks ago, the same thing happened with Big Brothers, who also provide the option of scheduling your pickup online.

A few years back, people dropped off their reusable goods at the Salvation Army; now, the "Sally Anne"  picks up donations too. Large charitable organizations appear to compete with each other for donations. Evidently they need huge fleets of trucks to function.

Today SPUD is going to deliver food to my door. This process is supposed to be greener than my having to drive around to the grocery and produce stores. The rationale of returning to grocery delivery is to reduce the carbon footprint, and of course, for convenience.

All this makes me wonder what it would be like to live as cultures like the !Kung of the Kalahari Desert still live in some areas: they eat what they hunt and find, and carry what they own on their backs.