Introduction to a Book about the Assessment of Carbon Footprints

A As this book is about ways of measuring the carbon footprint of particular things, I should start by making it clear what I mean. I am using the word ‘carbon’ as shorthand for all the different global-warming greenhouse gases, and I am using the word ‘footprint’ as a metaphor for the total impact that something has. So I am using the phrase ‘carbon footprint’ as shorthand to mean the full climate-change impact of something. That something could be anything – an activity, an item, a lifest...