What is a carbon footprint? According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it's the total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by someone's daily activities, both directly and indirectly. For example, driving a car adds to your carbon footprint, and so does choosing to eat beef.
Carbon footprint, a popular measure of one’s impact on the environment, is often used as a signifier of how well a person is doing in limiting actions that contribute to carbon emissions entering the environment — the lower, the better. Articles and websites detail many ways to reduce a carbon footprint, warning consumers about the consequences that their actions have on the planet. The EPA’s website even provides a resource for calculating a household's carbon footprint.
Yet, the prominence of individual carbon footprints in the public eye started not with governmental initiatives, but with an advertising campaign from oil giant British Petroleum (BP). In 2000, the marketing firm Ogilvy and Mather was hired to push the carbon footprint into the American lexicon. They succeeded and helped along the perception of blame for climate damage onto the shoulders of individuals rather than corporations. After all, BP created the first carbon footprint calculator in 2004. Companies are more responsible for pollution but they're trying to persuade individual consumers that they are responsible and that they can ultimately make the difference.
That's not to say that choosing a bike instead of a car or showering for a shorter length of time doesn't help the environment; it does. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many people had to alter or cancel planned trips and vacations. The decrease in travel, especially flights, contributed to the lowest measurement of carbon dioxide emissions for the United States in decades. However, individual actions are not nearly enough for controlling the rising temperature of the planet. That's where companies and collectives should step in, because consumers are not the main producers of greenhouse gasses either.
For example, take the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture or the beef industry. The burden of those emissions should not be placed on individuals. The emphasis on household or individual carbon footprints distracts from larger systemic issues which require governmental legislation and industry regulations to resolve. Those running corporations have more power than an individual consumer, and thus more power to effect change. The difference made between one person not buying a product and halting the production of that product entirely is quite large. The clothing industry provides clear examples where the company has much more control of environmental impacts compared to the consumer. According to the Smithsonian, washing a t-shirt with hot water instead of cold water is only around 1% of the total. Transport and production were much bigger slices of the pie, at 22% and 70% respectively.
Sadly, some companies engage in obfuscation tactics to appear like they’re invested in change. Greenwashing is when companies actively misinform about the environmental benefits of their product. It's an advertising tactic, and also occurs when an organization spends significantly more time and money on marketing being “green” than on environmentally sound practices. In 2019, it was revealed McDonald's paper straws were non-recyclable. Their customers think they're doing better, even though the replacement didn’t really make things better for the planet. In the fast-fashion industry, H&M was exposed for including “environmental scorecards” with items of clothing that portrayed their production as better for the environment than they actually were. Sometimes they reversed the impact entirely, claiming items that used 30% more water in manufacturing used 30% less, said Quartz.
It is unethical for companies to engage in these practices, but the lobbying they do for means of turning profits is even worse. In industries with a high carbon impact, companies attempt to influence political decisions regarding environmental policies to maintain current regulation. They hinder progress towards net zero, the goal of balancing greenhouse gas emissions with removal by carbon sinks.
According to the Harvard Business Review, companies in the automobiles and parts sector spent an average of about $1.8 million lobbying U.S. officials against climate change-related regulations. Shockingly, more than 1,500 American lobbyists work for fossil-fuel firms while also representing universities and green groups, the Guardian reported. And BP, the creator of the carbon footprint, has recently lobbied against European Union initiatives to reduce its use of natural gas. Unfortunately, lobbying is effective in stalling change. Thus, companies should stop doing so and redirect those resources into solving the problem that they’re creating.
It is disgraceful for companies such as BP to feign support for reducing carbon emissions through seemingly beneficial side projects like carbon offset commitments while funding opposition to policy changes that would mandate genuine transformation. If they do not uphold their promise, these efforts may as well be footprints in the sand.
The Boston City Council on Wednesday tackled two controversial issues, opting to give the green light to clearing the homeless encampment tents at Mass and Cass, as well as changing the name of the historic Faneuil Hall.
The Mass and Cass proposal originated as an ordinance set in August by Boston mayor Michelle Wu, banning tents and encampments on public property. The version brought at the City Council meeting by Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, District 5, was amended in several aspects, including requiring the city to provide transportation to public shelters and removing a $25 fine for violations of the ordinance. It was passed 9-3, with At-large Councilor Julia Mejia voting “Present.”
Now it lands on Mayor Wu's desk. If signed, the ordinance will take effect seven days later. Mayor Wu is likely to sign, having expressed strong support of similar policies during her time as a Boston City Councilor.
Calling the impact of the violence and drug dealing on the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard a "tremendous amount of harm," At-large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune said, "the tent situation is untenable."
She added that while she doesn't think Mayor Wu's idea of clearing the tents — where people suffering from homelessness and drug addiction camp out — is a solution to the problem, Louijeune voted to clear the area, because she said, "I believe it is a step."
Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, District 7, agreed that it was "the first step" to resolving the issue at Mass and Cass, but remained unconvinced that the bill had a "comprehensive plan."
However, Councilor Frank Baker, District 3, who called the measure “handcuffing us into housing first,” said addiction treatment should be the priority.
“Low threshold housing says there’s no need for sobriety,” said Baker, who voted, “No.”
Council President Ed Flynn, District 2, stated that he would be voting yes because "We can't allow them to continue [illegal] activity in people's neighborhoods." He added that his major concern was improving the quality of life for people living in the area.
Councilor Arroyo, although he voted “Yes,” had some of the harshest words against it. In his opening remarks introducing the bill, he commented, "There is no study or test case that anyone can hold up to say that the clearing of encampments is successful," and that sweeps and clearings have "failed in every single city." He declared, "I hope that if this goes through, it goes through in its amended form," closing the discussion.
In other business, the councilors voted 10-3 to change the name of the famed Faneuil Hall; however, the final decision is under the jurisdiction of the Public Facilities Commission.
Councilors spoke passionately about the impact of having one of Boston's most famous buildings named after a slave owner.
Calling the hall one of many "anti-Black symbols prevalent in Boston," Councilor Fernandes Anderson said Peter Faneuil was a "white supremacist" whose name should be stripped from the hall "so we can all thrive together in Boston," receiving sustained applause from the audience.
Councilor Brian Worrell, District 4, voiced that "these landmarks in our community, our city of Boston, should reflect our values," and voted “Yes.”
Councilor Baker rebutted, saying the resolution was "ambiguous at best" and taking Fanueil’s name off would not preserve historical context. Councilor Fernandes Anderson shot back, saying historical context can be preserved “without honoring a rapist."
In support, Councilor Louijeune cited her experience of attending Harvard Law School with the Royall family’s arms (used on the law school’s crest) on her folders for class, and how discomforting it was because the family had built their fortune from slave trading. She mentioned how people have told her that they didn’t know Faneuil was a slave owner, and said, “Once we do know, it does spark an opportunity for us to do better.” Harvard Law School scrapped the crest in 2016.
Councilor Mejia, who voted “Yes,” noted that Mayor Wu supported the proposal in 2019, when she was then a Boston City Councilor. She added, “I'm encouraged that Mayor Wu now has the ability to say ‘Let's go.’”
Armina Parvaresh Rizi works at EXP's Makerspace — a community resource open to everybody at Northeastern to work on their projects, whether personal or for classes. She leads orientations, makes sure machines are in working order, and trains people to use the wide variety of equipment.
In the video below, she shares more about the makerspace's possibilities and being an explorer.
The day before the NHL season began, I interviewed Taylor Haase, Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer for DK Pittsburgh Sports. We talked about her experience as a hockey reporter, what it's like to be in the sports journalism business, and the season ahead. Listen to a few snippets from our conversation in the podcast below.
Transcript
Anzhuo: Imagine chatting to Sidney Crosby about his favorite restaurants, interviewing Evgeni Malkin after a game-winning goal, and visiting every city with an NHL rink.
Taylor Haase is the Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer for DK Pittsburgh Sports, covering all of those and more. This is her sixth year on the job. Before the start of the 2023 NHL season, I spoke with her to learn more about what it's like to work in sports journalism and the day-to-day of covering a professional hockey team like the Penguins.
Taylor: I really cover all aspects of the team; all the day to day stuff like practices and games and travelling and on the road and writing a lot of like analysis type pieces and keeping up with the news and as part of my job I also have to do a podcast, too.
Anzhuo: Since there’s so many things that her job entails, I asked if there’s a particular topic she likes to write about most.
Taylor: I tried to pick an avenue that I think other writers don’t really pay a lot of attention to, and so for me that’s prospects. So one of my favorite things to do is to get to know those players when they’re very young, maybe rookies at the pro level, and then covering them as they come up. That’s super helpful, too, because then if they ever do make it up to Pittsburgh that I’ve known them for years and they’re comfortable talking to you.
Anzhuo: She also shared more about her unexpected start in the journalism business.
Taylor: So I started out, the company that I work for now, I was running their social media and that’s all I was doing, it wasn’t really writing at all. On the side I was really into following Wilkes-Barre and Wheeling and all the Penguins prospects. When there was an opening for a Wilkes-Barre writer, I honestly didn’t want to do it. I liked what I was doing with the social media, but my boss had basically said we don’t want to hire someone new, and you’re the only one on staff who really cares about any of this, so you’re gonna do it. And so that was really my introduction into reporting, writing articles like that. It wasn’t really something I did in college. I was kind of forced into it that way and I realized I liked reporting, writing features, that kind of stuff. It wasn’t my choice but I’m glad the choice was made for me.
Anzhuo: So did you have the love for hockey before any thoughts of sports journalism?
Taylor: I grew up a fan of all things hockey. I knew I wanted to work in sports somehow, I didn’t know exactly what that would be and eventually I settled on social media. And I realized I didn’t actually like that too much after all so I got into writing but yeah definitely just wanted to do something in hockey.
Anzhuo: I asked about how she gathers the information that she writes about, and if it’s mostly interviews or more observation.
Taylor: It’s a mix of both for sure. We don’t really do straight game recaps because people can get that kind of stuff anywhere. What you tend to do is pick something from the game, so if Jarry has a shutout, then lead with that and really focus on that and the other stuff is kind of secondary. So I’m writing about the stuff you observe but then, you know, you talk to people after in the locker room. Practices, it’s the same way. You watch what they’re doing in practice and if they switch something up like the line combinations or the power play and you notice that then you go down to the locker room and talk to people about what happened or sometimes it’s just like nothing new happens in practice so then really I’m not working off observation at all, I just have to come up with an idea. Today I’m gonna write about how Noel Acciari’s been doing on the fourth line and just talk to people in the locker room about that.
Anzhuo: As we concluded our conversation, she gave some advice for aspiring journalists.
Taylor: The biggest thing for me is that you gotta be able to diversify what you’re able to do. I feel like no one that gets into beat writing just writes anymore. You have to know how to shoot interview video even if it’s just your phone and what to do with it and doing a podcast. I feel like every writer has a podcast now and you just kind of have to because that’s where the ad money is. I know like years and years ago, the way that people get into beat writing is you start covering high school sports and maybe you get into college sports and maybe you get into the pros and you kind of work your way up that way. But what people do now, I didn’t do that, I started out doing social media and that was my foot in the door. There’s just all kinds of ways to get into it now and it helps if you can do a bunch of different kinds of things because it’s that much more valuable.
Anzhuo: Reporting for Northeastern University, I’m Anzhuo Wang.
When searching for a newsworthy topic to take photos of, I picked Fenway Park. I was able to visit and take pictures the same day that the Red Sox announced they'd fired general manager Chaim Bloom. The immediate response from fans? Excitement.
One of the most striking features around the ballpark are the World Series banners that celebrate each of the years that they've won. They are also a symbol of the pride that fans hold in the team and serve as a reminder of what the Red Sox aspire to achieve each season.
While walking down Jersey St, I spotted a fire hydrant that was dotted in stickers. It was right outside of the team store, and the stickers were the kind that would be taken off hats and sweatshirts after purchase. One of the indicators of how much fans are liking their team is merchandise sales. Recently, the Red Sox haven't been doing so well, which most likely prompted the leadership change.
Afterwards, I visited Chinatown to take photos for Boston history. Chinatown is one of the cultural centers in Boston, and has its roots in the old garment district. When I looked for things that caught my eye, I was drawn to the murals and artwork splashed on the walls of many buildings. The banners and decorations across lampposts were also present on many streets.
This weekend happens to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there's always lots of events to celebrate. The atmosphere in Chinatown will be bustling with excitement, and there will be mooncake and strings of firecrackers aplenty. Also, lots more decorations.
This mural of hot pot was originally created for a restaurant, and since it was put up there have been several (unauthorized) additions, which I discovered by comparing my picture to a past picture of the mural I found online. I thought that the layering of artwork created was interesting, and how the original mural's foreground was not covered by tags even though it was clearly added to by rogue graffiti artists.
