This year, humanity has emitted about 38 gigatons of CO2.
38 gigatons of carbon dioxide, or 38,000,000,000 metric tons, is equivalent to about four and a half tons of carbon dioxide per person per year for 7,838,000,000 people. Germans come to 11.5 tons of CO2 equivalent per year (1).
It is therefore somewhat contradictory to speak of an ecological rucksack. An ecological heavy-duty truck would be more accurate. Because we still have to add four to five tons of gravel and sand, two hundred kilos of plastic, just as much paper, not to mention the hidden, “gray” portions: To make my laptop, which weighs just a few kilos, vast quantities of ores had to be sifted through, heated, prepared and processed: Aluminum, gold, copper…
But resource consumption does not play a major role in everyday life. It is perfectly legal. It is extremely cheap. It is normal, and to such an extent that it completely disappears into invisibility.
This is normal.
1 EU-Kommission: Fossil CO2 and GHG emissions of all world countries, 2019 report. Bezugsjahr: 2018