Our Carbon Footprint

In March of 2022 we estimated the carbon footprint of St. Benedict Episcopal Church using the web based tool called Carbon360.

Based on our bills for utilities and the number of people driving to church and other known factors, it was estimated that on whole, we added an additional 12 tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year. At the time, the EPA estimated the social cost of each additional ton of carbon dioxide emissions to be $51.00/ton.

This year we have increased the number of people attending, increased the consumption of energy but we do have more hybrid cars in the parking lot. The total carbon footprint this year is estimated at 19 tons. This is also due to changes in the estimates of the “Average rate of CO2 emissions” in Washington State for each of the factors used in the model. The EPA now estimates the social cost at $190.00 per ton of CO2.

So the total social cost of St. Benedict’s carbon footprint in 2022 was $3,646.10

What seems a paltry impact in the global scheme of things is only significant when compared to other priorities of our time and resources along with the incredible rarity of the natural resources we depend on for life.

Global spending to protect our air and water in 2020 was estimated to be 0.125% of the Global GDP.

In that same year, 7.0% of the world’s GDP was from tourism revenue (that’s 2% more than all the money spent on the military around the world).