Author Topic: must be one big effin' carbon footprint  (Read 17015 times)

Gerard

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must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« on: February 14, 2012, 05:56:46 PM »
Not super-hilarious, but I was just calculating my carbon footprint at http://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
and under number of vehicles you can enter up to TEN. Seriously? Who has ten vehicles? Is polygamy more common than I thought?

arebelspy

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2012, 07:56:32 PM »
They might as well put it at a big number so someone doesn't get capped.

But you're right, 10 is ridiculous.

That's a fun link, thanks for sharing!
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keepingmobens

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2012, 08:30:50 PM »
I like how if you want to pay to plant trees in the UK to offset your carbon footprint, your payment must include "20% VAT tax." Nice to know that you can save the world all you want, as long as the gov't gets their 20%.

Brett

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2012, 05:08:11 AM »
That is an absurd number of cars. Your polygamy comment made me laugh there, it does make you wonder if they expect all 10 cars to be running at once, or if they just include costs of production etc.

I like how if you want to pay to plant trees in the UK to offset your carbon footprint, your payment must include "20% VAT tax." Nice to know that you can save the world all you want, as long as the gov't gets their 20%.

I don't know if this would work exactly as you intend, but there are charities such as The Woodland Trust and Trees for Life you could support which would go some way to offsetting your carbon footprint, and which can use Gift Aid to reclaim a portion of tax, so your money will go more to what you'd like. Though, as the Trees for Life website points out, the time taken for trees to absorb significant amounts of carbon is long and the CO2 from our lifestyles will already be damaging before they are able to balance it out.

MsLogica

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2012, 01:13:38 PM »
That is an absurd number of cars. Your polygamy comment made me laugh there, it does make you wonder if they expect all 10 cars to be running at once, or if they just include costs of production etc.

I like how if you want to pay to plant trees in the UK to offset your carbon footprint, your payment must include "20% VAT tax." Nice to know that you can save the world all you want, as long as the gov't gets their 20%.

I don't know if this would work exactly as you intend, but there are charities such as The Woodland Trust and Trees for Life you could support which would go some way to offsetting your carbon footprint, and which can use Gift Aid to reclaim a portion of tax, so your money will go more to what you'd like. Though, as the Trees for Life website points out, the time taken for trees to absorb significant amounts of carbon is long and the CO2 from our lifestyles will already be damaging before they are able to balance it out.

I work for a conservation charity here (in the UK) and we don't charge VAT on donations from individuals for tree planting - the VAT man (like Batman only meaner and not as cool) only charges VAT on things where the donor receives a benefit (if you receive a benefit then it isn't a donation).  Planting trees to save your future self doesn't really count as a benefit!  However, if you were a company then you would be charged VAT (you get the benefit of telling your customers how green you are).  It's weird that VAT is therefore included on that website.  I've just had a look and I can only assume it is a company doing the tree planting on your behalf, not a charity.

Petruchio

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2012, 01:36:02 PM »
Hmm, interesting about the ten cars. I'd have to agree with a previous statement that it is so that there would not be too small a cap, particularly for larger and extended families where the household could have 4+ cars between them. Also, it is useful for a small business which has a small fleet of cars, such as a pizzeria. To me, ten seems to be reasonable cap, as well as being a nice, round number.

What is the VAT tax anyways?

MsLogica

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2012, 01:53:02 PM »


What is the VAT tax anyways?

It's the British equivalent to American sales tax.  It's currently set at 20%.

(We usually pronounce it V.A.T., rather than the word "vat" if you're wondering!)

Guitarist

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2012, 02:38:02 PM »
Does it stand for value added tax?

And for all you Americans who think a federal sales tax is a good idea, let that 20% number sink in (that doesn't include local and state sales tax) for every purchase you make. Now, if they got rid of income tax, I would be ok with it, especially since I don't consume too much, but knowing our government, they would just add it to everything already on the books.

MsLogica

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2012, 03:19:30 AM »
Does it stand for value added tax?


I had to Google that, but yes it does! :)

Brett

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2012, 02:25:34 AM »
Does it stand for value added tax?

And for all you Americans who think a federal sales tax is a good idea, let that 20% number sink in (that doesn't include local and state sales tax) for every purchase you make. Now, if they got rid of income tax, I would be ok with it, especially since I don't consume too much, but knowing our government, they would just add it to everything already on the books.

20% is high. Our taxes on petrol are massive too. You guys think that $4 a gallon is bad right? We pay for petrol by the litre. A gallon is 4.5ish litres. So that'd be 89 cents a litre, or 56 pence. Our petrol prices are hovering around the £1.40 mark at the moment, about 2.5 times higher. $10 a gallon.

I'm sure you must make up for those taxes elsewhere, but your petrol is cheeeeaaap!


I work for a conservation charity here (in the UK) and we don't charge VAT on donations from individuals for tree planting - the VAT man (like Batman only meaner and not as cool) only charges VAT on things where the donor receives a benefit (if you receive a benefit then it isn't a donation).  Planting trees to save your future self doesn't really count as a benefit!  However, if you were a company then you would be charged VAT (you get the benefit of telling your customers how green you are).  It's weird that VAT is therefore included on that website.  I've just had a look and I can only assume it is a company doing the tree planting on your behalf, not a charity.
[/quote

Which website charges VAT? Sorry, I must have overlooked it. Both those organisations are charities, I didn't even think to look for VAT on them.

mugwump

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2012, 10:09:41 AM »
"I'm sure you must make up for those taxes elsewhere, but your petrol is cheeeeaaap!"

No, we don't make up for those taxes elsewhere.  That's why we don't have decent healthcare and our national budget is a mess

Brett

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2012, 01:54:59 PM »
"I'm sure you must make up for those taxes elsewhere, but your petrol is cheeeeaaap!"

No, we don't make up for those taxes elsewhere.  That's why we don't have decent healthcare and our national budget is a mess

Well that sucks. We're getting off topic now but I will say I hope you guys get that lot sorted out asap. I watched a documentary the other night in which a really poor guy wouldn't even go to the ER to get his hernia checked because of the cost despite the risks it posed him. I find that pretty horrific.

MsLogica

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2012, 07:32:58 AM »
"I'm sure you must make up for those taxes elsewhere, but your petrol is cheeeeaaap!"

No, we don't make up for those taxes elsewhere.  That's why we don't have decent healthcare and our national budget is a mess

Well that sucks. We're getting off topic now but I will say I hope you guys get that lot sorted out asap. I watched a documentary the other night in which a really poor guy wouldn't even go to the ER to get his hernia checked because of the cost despite the risks it posed him. I find that pretty horrific.

I saw that documentary too, it was shocking!  I felt sorry for him, but even more sorry for his wife.  She seemed resigned to the fact he would die eventually because he couldn't get the medical care he needs and he won't stop working.  Sad.

velocistar237

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2012, 09:15:15 AM »
I've punched my info into a few of these carbon calculators, and they always come up with the answer, "If everyone consumed like you, we would need 2.5 Earths!" This is with no car and 4 people living in 1000 sq ft. How can this be?

Guitarist

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2012, 12:44:52 PM »
"I'm sure you must make up for those taxes elsewhere, but your petrol is cheeeeaaap!"

No, we don't make up for those taxes elsewhere.  That's why we don't have decent healthcare and our national budget is a mess

Every western country's national budget is a mess.
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Mike Key

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2012, 12:54:07 PM »
Every western country's national budget is a mess.

Actually that problem seems to be a global thing when you look at the numbers.

Guitarist

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Re: must be one big effin' carbon footprint
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2012, 12:55:31 PM »
haha, excellent point. The talk about Greece and the rest of Europe has been so constant I've lost site of countries like Japan.