Carbon Weight

I'm perplexed by a very basic challenge: 'Carbon Footprints are impossible to calculate for mere mortals'. Yes, we can estimate one's gas consumption, air miles and heating bills, but what about the rest of what we do. Every product we buy has a Carbon Footprint. The reality is that companies even, with the best intentions, are discovering it very hard to figuring out a Carbon Footprint for their products. A Carbon Footprint is a value chain, a series of steps, which go into creating each product. This means that we need to know the Carbon Footprint for each step in that value chain. To compound the problem, unlike something like tracking dollars spent, what actually goes into that Carbon Footprint is a subject for debate and a bit of philosoply. Is it just fuel consumption or do we include the Carbon Footprint for labor. Which Carbon Calculator do we use? So we have a complex set of steps, each of which may also be impacted by which philosophy one believes. Quit frankly, we need to break the problem down into smaller pieces, meaning first we need to uncover the Footprint, or what I call the Carbon Weight, of the steps, which allows us to begin to build a products overall Carbon Footprint. 

Carbon Weight of Everyday Things

Can I get the Carbon Weight of a cup of Starbucks coffee? What is the Carbon Weight of this keyboard I'm typing on or the bag of apples I just brought? The problem is that the carbon weight of everyday things is nearly impossible to get. And if we get it, it is very hard to use. What we needed was something like reading salt content on a food label or printed on our receipt at the checkout stand. We could push for government mandates, but I live in a country where people are quoting climate change on Mars for a reason that global warming its not our fault.