While demanding “urgent action” against “man-made climate change,” Pope Francis is flying around on a Boeing 777-200 which spews nearly 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile.
The Boeing 777-200 uses slightly over five gallons of jet fuel per mile, and given the density of the hydrocarbon dodecane used in jet fuel at 2,839.06 g/gal and that one gram of dodecane produces around 3.1 grams of carbon dioxide, we have:
5.15 gal/mi * 2,839.06 g C12H26/gal = 14,621.16 g C12H26/mil
14,621.16 g C12H26/mi * 3.096 g CO2/g C12H26 * 1 lb/453.59 g = 99.80 lbs CO2/mi
The pope’s flights from Rome to Cuba, Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia and then back to D.C. and to Rome will total around 11,500 miles, so overall the pontiff will emit around 572 tons of CO2 during his trip.
To put that into perspective, 572 tons is the same carbon footprint as burning over 557,000 pounds of coal or over 1,200 barrels of crude oil.
It’s also the equivalent of over 1.2 million miles driven by a car that gets 21 miles per gallon and it’s 47 times the amount of energy a single, middle-class household uses annually.
Yet the pope is demanding that Americans cut back on their lifestyles and pay carbon taxes to fight so-called “man-made climate change.”
“It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation,” he said at a speech outside the White House on Wednesday. “When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history.”
“We still have time to make the changes needed to bring about a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.”
So if Francis actually believes in so-called “global warming,” why doesn’t he start by cutting down on his international flights and by turning down the air conditioning he enjoys at the Vatican?
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