My Lunchtime Footprint

Another item on my annual to-do list is to reduce my carbon footprint. While it is a noble cause that does concern me, I should admit that the only reason why it was included as a New Year’s Resolution was a random comment that my wife made last week. “Do you think we could reduce our carbon footprint?”

After three years of marriage, I know better than to guess at my wife’s inner-thought process, but I believe it was an earnest question. We don’t travel much. We don’t consume very much. We very rarely eat meat. Our biggest offence is arguably having a baby, who goes through a lot of diapers. Plus, I’m guilty of taking long showers… the water just feels so good.

I’m sure once I take a better look at my life I can make meaningful changes to reach my goal, but that’s not what today’s post is about. Today, as I often do, is about my lunch by the lake. Today’s Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich was surprisingly good despite my bread being the heels of the loaf.

This is my stock picture of the Lake Where I Eat Lunch Often.  It's not so green this time of year.

The Lake Where I Eat Lunch Often is a daily sanctuary away from the fluorescent lights and cubicled computer screens of my office. There are many days that I spend my morning working towards my lunch visit and spend my afternoon reminiscing about the glorious tastes of my peanut butter and jelly that linger in my mouth. It is however about two and a half miles from my office. That doesn’t seem like very much, but like everything, it adds up fast.

Let’s do the math: 2.5 miles each way makes for a 5 mile trip. I work a compressed schedule 4-day work week, with 52 weeks in a year for a total of 208 work days, but after factoring in holidays and vacation days and days I don’t go to lunch for whatever reason, let’s say I make the 5 mile trip to the lake and back 150 days each year. That makes a grand total 600 extra miles each year.

600 miles! 600 miles for a trip that I don’t even think about. That is a staggering amount… even to my 33 mpg Honda Civic eyes. Going further… 600 miles at 33 mpg is a little less than 20 gallons. A gallon of gas currently is a little over $3, so I’m looking at a $60 expense each year to go eat a lousy peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Woah.

I don’t even want to think about my 25-mile commute to work each day.

I suddenly feel the need to defend my daily visits to the Lake Where I Eat Lunch Often, and I can’t stress enough the need to remove myself from my workplace to recharge for the rest of the day. In my head, I have justified my lunch locale as simply enjoying nature. I have felt some guilt about the travel distance in the past, which I notice as I’m rushing back each day after my hour is up, but I tell myself that sure I’m hurting the environment a tiny bit, but otherwise I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

When I started writing this, that last line was going to be the central point I was trying to make, that I am all for saving the environment, but not at the cost of not enjoying the environment. That $60 expense, though, is nagging at me. And that’s just the cost to get there. If I were giving the park $60 to spend an hour a day in their peaceful environs, I would gladly pay up. Instead, I’m burning $60 of toxic fumes into the atmosphere each year.

I may have some more thinking to do on this subject before I do anything rash… I know the perfect place I can go to mull it over in peace.