Carbon footprints

I just calculated our family's carbon footprint for our life in the U.S. vs. in Sweden and, no surprise, Sweden kicked our U.S. butts. Our total U.S. footprint was 32.605 tonnes, thanks to 2 well-used cars, a single-family home, low use of public transportation and me not buying enough locally produced food. In comparison, our Swedish footprint was 11.700 tonnes. Sadly, the calculator didn't even want to know about our groovy Soda Stream machine that lets us make our own bubbly water so we don't buy drinks in plastic bottles anymore (I was feeling really good about that one) or the fact we've stopped ordering random crap from Amazon.com every other day just because it's so cool that it shows up the next day.

A big part of the footprint reduction over here is thanks to great public transportation. The service network is excellent, so you can get almost anywhere. The trams and buses run frequently and are on time (or early, believe it or not, which is actually really annoying). And you can wheel your big 'ol stroller easily onboard and park it next to the other huge strollers in the special places marked for "barnvagn." The monthly all-access pass is 415 SEK or about $70. I have no idea how much the state subsidizes public transport (I'll put it on my long list of questions entitled "How on Earth Does Sweden Do It?"), but can you imagine this in the SF Bay Area?? For $70?? Sigh.