If you haven’t heard, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear a global warming case that could have major environmental implications. California is a party to the case, which is being led by Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly.
In short: The court will decide whether or not greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are pollutants that should be regulated. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has so far declined to step in.
“Delay has serious potential consequences,” Reilly’s petition to the court says. “Given that air pollutants associated with climate change are accumulating in the atmosphere at an alarming rate, the window of opportunity in which we can mitigate the dangers of climate change is rapidly closing.”
In that spirit, we’re passing along this link so you can calculate how you’re contributing to those as-yet-unregulated gases through such things as driving to work and heating your home. Compare that with another link we found in The New York Times, which calculates and then prompts you to buy enough trees to offset your carbon footprint.
To give you a baseline: I’m responsible for 14 tons a year, according to the first link; 23.6 according to the link that wants me to buy trees – 18 to be exact. That many trees cost $99.72.