The STS co-directors are in final planning stages for our trip to the Eastside to record interviews for a documentary segment on Mono Lake. We're going to look at the ongoing commitment needed to save Mono Lake through the perspectives of the many people involved in educating the public about the importance of Mono Lake and conserving water in the city of Los Angeles. It's a sprawling story that will have us driving a lot of miles. We're doing our best to reduce the carbon footprint of our project by driving a diesel VW Golf that runs on biofuel made from waste oil.
I used the Carbon Counter at carboncounter.org to figure out that a trip like this could generate .19 tons of CO2 emissions. The site recommends offsetting carbon emissions at a rate of $12/ton and provides a way for consumers to pay for their emissions.
It's a balancing act. Is it worth it? We drive to Mono Lake to tell the story of a water conservation success in a documentary about Sierra Nevada conservation while potentially spewing .19 tons of CO2 into the air. I can feel a little better knowing my high mileage car does much better than average (46 mpg) and that I'm re-using waste oil that doesn't spew like regular diesel does.
We humans sure have to make a lot of interesting decisions about our impact on this Earth, don't we?
