Can anyone help me understand what the biome score portion of my carbon footprint actually means?
If my footprint share by biome of pastureland is 27% does that mean that 27% of the world’s pastureland is needed to meet offset my carbon use?
That can’t be right, it feels too greedy and wasteful.
Edited thread title to indicate subject.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
No, it means 27% of the area needed to feed your consumption would need to be pasture. I can’t really see from the data offered how it’s a meaningful number. Stick to the number of earths required for your level of consumption if you want to know approximately how greedy and wasteful you are.
naita thank you! I’m writing a paper and need to include the biome data as well as the number of earths, and your information has helped me make sense of it.
If you are using Carbon footprint as a shortcut for Greenhouse Gas Footprint, then it would depend on the application of the pasture land. If you are raising ruminants, such as cattle or sheep, then there is actually a negative offset because they are converting carbon dioxide to methane, which is a much stronger greenhouse gas.
I’ve seen estimates for Argentina which makes cattle raising their largest GHG component.
If you are raising a non-ruminant, such as Kangaroo, then the footprint is much smaller, since their digestive process produce much less methane. If you aren’t using the land to graze livestock, then technically it isn’t pasture.