By Lindsay Damon

After all of our discussions surrounding fossil fuels and carbon emissions this semester, our class could not ignore the carbon that was emitted during our flight to Alaska over fall break. According to Our World in Data, domestic flights have the highest carbon footprint of all transportation options. Knowing this, I was hoping to find a way to offset the carbon emissions of our flight. I chose to create a data physicalization that shows the distance traveled and carbon emissions of our flights, but with this data, I found that it is extremely difficult to effectively offset emissions.

To create this visualization, I used the carbon emissions calculator from the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is the tool used by the United Nations to determine flight emissions and distance. Using this data, I used the Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator from the EPA to determine the equivalent tree sequestration and miles traveled by car. This method resulted in finding the carbon equivalency for our trip: 15 acres of trees and 33,706 miles driven. To physicalize this data, I created 3 pieces paper from past readings in our political science class. I carved linocut stamps to represent the carbon equivalences, which are stamped onto the paper shown here.