Does having a green job justify a large carbon footprint? No way, say our readers

We had an overwhelming response to our survey asking how you feel about the greenhouse gases you generate in your professional life. 147 of you responded, with some interesting and forcefully held opinions...

Most people do care about their carbon footprint at work

Overall, three out of ten of you said that you feel fully responsible for some part of your carbon footprint at work. A further six felt 'somewhat' responsible, with only one in ten not feeling any responsibility. People who travel a lot for work tended to feel most guilty.

People with 'green' jobs pollute less and feel more guilty

We also asked if you consider yourself to work in a 'green' job, which might be a corporate sustainability manager, a campaigner or an environmental journalist or researcher. Half of people with green jobs feel that their work creates a large carbon footprint, compared with two-thirds of everyone else.

Interestingly, a relatively small proportion of those with a green job feel their office is inefficient (21% compared with 45% of everyone else), people with green jobs fly slightly more for business (38% compared with 33%).

Although people in green jobs have smaller carbon footprints, they feel more responsible for them.

Do you feel responsible for your carbon footprint at work?

Many people would consider turning down a job because it was polluting

Perhaps the most interesting finding of this survey was that over half of respondents would consider turning down a job that they felt had a large carbon footprint.

Would you consider turning down a job if it involved a carbon footprint that you felt to be unreasonably large?

This pattern held for respondents from public, private and not-for-profit sectors, and for people with green and non-green jobs.

A green job does not justify a large carbon footprint

Only 29% of you feel that a green job is justification for a large carbon footprint at work. We received a lot of animated comments and emails on this question! One comment that captured the sentiment of most of your responses was:

"We are what we do, not what we say. The atmosphere doesn't care if the flights are for 'good reasons' or [bad reasons]. It is the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that matters and the arguments about who has the 'right' to put them there are a convenient way to avoid or delay taking action to reduce their presence."

Ashes vs X-Factor

Thanks for settling our office debate. The Ashes won, but only by a small margin - 52% of you would prefer to watch the Ashes over the X-Factor. We can also report that the charity sector is staffed by avid X-Factor fans, while the public sector would prefer to watch cricket. Intriguingly, cricket fans are more likely to feel responsible for their carbon footprint at work. Any idea why?

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