Carbon Prudence

Up till now carbon prudence is hardly a clear and widely used terminology, and probably is rarely practiced in normal life. As an example, while considering whether to spend a weekend in a foreign resort, a lot if not majority of people would only check for things like local attractions, plane fares and hotel room charges. A carbon prudent person would also include the amount of carbon footprint of the trip into the equation.

At LivGreen, we would define carbon prudence as the deliberate inclusion of carbon footprint as a factor of considerations while assessing the value of engaging in an activity. In most cases, the process will take place prior to carrying out the activity so that it can become part of the decision process on whether to engage in the activity in the first place.

The key is the active effort of taking carbon footprint into the decision, without favouring a particular course of action as a result of that process. That decision will always be dependent upon the circumstances of the activity and values of the individual. A carbon prudent approach would ask that individual to assess whether that activity in question is worth the amount of carbon released and thus contribution to global warming according to his or her values. The process is not judgmental.

Addressing privacy has become almost universal when considering distributing information related to other people even in our personal lives. One of the missions of LivGreen is to promote the concept of carbon prudence and make it become a similarly indispensable part of day-to-day decision making.