The mayor of London has published his roadmap to saving the world. The work is available on:

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/climate-change/ccap/index.jsp

CO2 has been declared public enemy number one. And true to political form, and the usual absence of media scrutiny, the agenda is now in the hands of the fanatics.

Perhaps I should consider doing the London marathon next year. For once in my life take an active part in the annual emissions fest in celebration of margarine. Three and a half hours of hurtling myself down the streets of London, gasping my way through 8 m3 of air every hour - showing a finger to the environmentalists to the tune of 53 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

Perhaps I should just join up with a fellow runner, jump in the Prius and spend an hour and a half driving round the circuit. We would save two hours, our combined CO2 emissions would be lower, there would be no pain, and I wouldn't end up wrapped in tinfoil.

Consider this

A human beings CO2 emission levels are directly related to the level of activity in which the human is enganged. A few hours spent on the web won't reveal much, but it is possible to put together the necessary raw facts with a bit of patience.

Based on numbers published on the engineering toolbox website - the measured respiration and CO2 emission rates for a human is as follows:

See http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/co2-persons-d_691.html for reference.

Consider 30,000 people running the London marathon. The total amount of CO2 emitted by the runners themselves comes to:

30,000 [runners] * 3.5 [hours hard work] * 746 [gram of CO2/hour] = 78 ton of CO2

My personal emission level (that would the DPLA is guess) would be:

3.5 [hours hard work] * 746 [grams CO2/hour] / 46.195 [kilometers] = 53 [gram/kilometer]

No - to save the world I need to make some serious changes to my life:

1 - Skip the marathon, slouch down in front of the telly for the three hours. That would reduce my CO2 emissions from 2,200 g to 120 g. Three hours of TV would add another 50 g to the emissions resulting in a total of 170 g of CO2 for three hours. In one move I will have reduced my CO2 emissions by over 90% on the day.

2 - Cancel the gym membership and sleep for an extra hour. It will save me a bundle and my CO2 emission levels will drop from 2,515 g/day to 1,800 g/day. A 28% reduction - far in excess of the 20% reduction that the government is seeking.

3 - Perhaps there is a grant I could get my hands on. I wouldn't have to work and could spend my time sleeping or watching telly. That would be another 1,200 g of CO2 saved daily Monday to Friday. My carbon footprint would drop by over 40%.

In short

Human activity result in CO2 emissions - there is no zero emission option, unless you are willing to consider extinction.

When people offer you the earth, remember the old saying:

If something sounds too good - it probably is.