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How Bad Are Bananas? by Mike Berners-Lee
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How Bad Are Bananas? (original 2010; edition 2010)

by Mike Berners-Lee

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25911102,164 (3.65)15
There's a lot that surprised me in this book (for instance, bananas are not only okay, they have a smaller footprint than carrots or ice cream or a red, red rose) and a lot that made me think. The author points out that much of what we do in the name of saving the planet is foolish- the frequent flyer executive who wrote in to ask if he should use paper towels or the hot air dryer in public restrooms got the eminently sensible answer that hand drying is so minor in comparison to the airplane trips, it's silly to even contemplate changing the one and not the other.

Interesting, fairly well researched - there's a LOT of estimating and "roughly right" stuff here, but it's a fuzzy calculation, carbon footprint is- and every now and then the author says, "I guessed on this number" but he's guessing from a position of knowledge.

A lot of what I thought made a difference makes less of a difference than other things I never even thought about!

Well worth reading, if only for the ability to eat bananas and oranges armed with the knowledge that you are not ruining the earth by so doing. 3.5 stars. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
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It's interesting to read through this stuff, but how useful the numbers are is another matter. He is also not very consistent.

My doubts about this were confirmed when I got to the section on a pair of jeans. His guess that a pair of cotton jeans would fall apart and be useless after being worn for 200 days is ridiculous. That he thinks acrylic and polyester trousers would last much longer is even more so. His case that the synthetics are 'better' also neglects to include the microplastics that enter the water after every wash - OK, his thing is CO2. I know that, but there is more to sustainability than that.

In one place he lists the CO2 values for bicycle riding based on 'fuel'. in another he lists playing football in the backyard as not causing and CO2, apparently even if you fuelled it with a cheeseburger.

I read the German translation. In a few places the translator has added information for German-speaking readers. It would have been even more useful if charts about different countries had included information about Austria and Switzerland as well as Germany.

I read the revised edition (2020 in English, German 2021) ( )
  MarthaJeanne | Apr 29, 2022 |
The only negative that I can offer this book is that it was written in 2010 and ten years is a long time in a fast moving area such as climate change. Some technologies have improved - and some worsened but, this is still a well worth reading. It contains some surprises where areas that we all "know" to be very bad, turn out to be less of a problem and, some must do's are really only peripheral.

There is even a very eloquent section, at the end, for climate skeptics.

Definitely a five star book. ( )
  the.ken.petersen | Aug 25, 2020 |
More a reference book than a read. Unfortunately it's a bit boring, but one to dip into from time to time. How long will it be before each item of food have it's grams of CO2 equivalent emissions as well as it's calories on its label? ( )
  jvgravy | Mar 15, 2020 |
another good reminder of the many types of carbon footprints we can leave ( )
  lindap69 | Apr 5, 2013 |
There's a lot that surprised me in this book (for instance, bananas are not only okay, they have a smaller footprint than carrots or ice cream or a red, red rose) and a lot that made me think. The author points out that much of what we do in the name of saving the planet is foolish- the frequent flyer executive who wrote in to ask if he should use paper towels or the hot air dryer in public restrooms got the eminently sensible answer that hand drying is so minor in comparison to the airplane trips, it's silly to even contemplate changing the one and not the other.

Interesting, fairly well researched - there's a LOT of estimating and "roughly right" stuff here, but it's a fuzzy calculation, carbon footprint is- and every now and then the author says, "I guessed on this number" but he's guessing from a position of knowledge.

A lot of what I thought made a difference makes less of a difference than other things I never even thought about!

Well worth reading, if only for the ability to eat bananas and oranges armed with the knowledge that you are not ruining the earth by so doing. 3.5 stars. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
This is a very accessible and interesting reference book on the carbon footprints of things we do. It is a sliding scale from the smallest of activities (text messages) to the largest (World Cups, wars, volcanic eruptions). Some of the figures are very surprising, and you can learn a lot from just a brief glance. There are frequent comparisons and metaphors which help you understand the scale of the impacts.

The author makes some important points that are very useful: That a 'carbon footprint' isn't really a carbon footprint, but instead a 'full climate change impact', which includes methane and nitrous oxide - but the former sounds better.

Next, is that it's pretty hard to estimate these figures, so the author helpfully adds ranges of outputs for various forms of each activity. Recycled vs. 'virgin' goods, organic/local vs. flown/chilled/imported foods, and so forth. The analysis of various food products is particularly thorough and helpful.

His underlying thesis is that climate change is happening - at least from our carbon outputs. We have a role in it - although that is being debated. What is certain is that something can be done about it.

And a little spoiler from the title: Bananas are actually pretty good, carbon footprint wise. ( )
  HadriantheBlind | Mar 30, 2013 |
A very accessible book on the environmental footprint of our daily activities and products. Whenever there's a choice to make between rigour and simplicity, Berners-Lee chooses the latter. This is refreshing: he often encourages not to take his specific numbers seriously (he claims no precision), but rather to understand the rationale underlying all of his ballpark estimates. ( )
1 vote jorgearanda | Jul 30, 2011 |
An investigation into the carbon footprints of many everyday items. Interesting read for anyone concerned about their effect on the environment. In answer to the question in title...bananas aren't bad at all. ( )
  kelli413 | May 12, 2011 |
I love popular science books and programmes. As a trained scientist, who still does useful but not challenging science at work, (I’m a school lab technician), at best, these books are great at keeping the science bit of your brain ticking over while managing to also entertain, but it’s great when you learn new things from them and use that to spark off question and debate.

That was definitely the case with this book. Berners-Lee which I shall abbreviate to B-L, (by the way, I was unable to find out whether he is related to Sir Tim B-L, the creator of the interweb – does anyone know?), is a environmental expert in calculating the total carbon footprint of everything. The important word here is ‘everything’. His method factors in not just manufacturing, but the footprint of the ingredients too and the corporations that make and sell things, plus the footprint of the item in use through to its eventual disposal – ie the total contribution of an item to global warming (its CO2e - equivalent). This complete way of looking at things throws up some amazing results, but more on that in a minute.

After the explanatory introductions, the book is presented in increasing CO2e from under 10g to 1 million tonnes and beyond, and is compared against a target lifestyle of up to ten tonnes per year for the average human. One thing B-L is clear on is that in aiming to improve our own carbon footprints we should all apply a sense of scale. What good is choosing a better hand-drying option when you spend your life on planes? But having said that, he says we should pick our battles, and work out where we can get the best return for our efforts. It was fascinating reading, although I found the lower CO2e first half more interesting than the big emitters at the end as these small things have a daily visible impact. B-L has a style that is fairly serious and earnest, but with occasional jocularity to keep things light. I’d recommend this book to anyone thinking about what they can do to green their lifestyle in small steps – which all add up eventually.

Let me share just a few of the many surprising facts I got from this book

The supermarket plastic bag is not so bad! It represents around one thousandnth of the CO2e of a typical shop, and ironically has less impact than a paper bag. Paper uses more paper and glue for equivalent strength, and the manufacturing process has more impact too.
Bananas aren’t actually that bad as they’re usually shipped – on ships. It’s the air-freighted asparagus and continental out of season hothouse tomatoes that are amongst the worst fruit and veg. Out of season and air-freighted fruit and veg have around 100x the CO2e of locally grown in-season produce.
But what about cycling a mile? Assuming the cyclist burns around 50 calories per mile… If you’re looking at the total CO2e you need to consider what provides the energy that you put into cycling – ie what you eat! If you’re a fan of bananas, that’ll produce around 65 grammes of CO2. If you had a bacon butty – it’s around 200g of CO2. If you had a plate of air-freighted asparagus the CO2e is 2.8 kilogrammes.
It’s all good fun, but I’ve learned a lot and will put lots of little bits into action in the future . As the author suggests, it will, (now I’ve read it), make an ideal toilet book!
(8/10) I bought this book. ( )
3 vote gaskella | Aug 21, 2010 |
The carbon footprint of everything
  jhawn | Jul 31, 2017 |
From the back cover of the book: Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, said of this book, "Mike Berners-Lee knows more about carbon footprints than anyone else...[It is] a triumph of popular science writing. [The author] is founding director of Small World Consulting, a company specializing in climate change. He holds degrees in physics from Oxford University and an MSc (with distinction) in Organisation Development from Sheffield Hallam University." About the book: "We may know that driving and flying leave a big carbon footprint, but what about sending a text message or buying a cappuccino? Entertaining and solidly researched, How Bad Are Bananas? is packed with surprises: A paper bag has two to four times the carbon footprint of an equivalent plastic bag. A single red rose could have the same climate change impact as almost ten pounds of bananas." This book contains chapter notes, charts, graphs, maps and a good index.
This review has been flagged by multiple users as abuse of the terms of service and is no longer displayed (show).
  uufnn | Jul 14, 2015 |
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