The carbon costs of campaigning

The results are in - no, not the linkurl:election,;http://www.the-scientist.com/election/ but the total carbon footprints. In the past two years linkurl:John McCain;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55012/ and linkurl:Barack Obama;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54995/ have crisscrossed the country on private jets, they've printed out piles of party literature, they've sent their vice presidential picks and significant others on their own circuits, and they've staffed thousands of field offices. All of these activities consume energy, paper, and other resources. And it all boils down to linkurl:carbon dioxide emissions.;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/24462/ The total carbon footprints of these campaigns? McCain - 58,568 tons CO2 Obama - 77,894 tons CO2 These numbers represent estimates based on total campaign expenditures. Obama spent more than $400,000,000 while McCain spent less than $227,000,000 on travel, campaign events, printing materials, and the other necessities of modern campaigning. linkurl:Standard Carbon,;http://www.standardcarbon.com/ a carbon offset provider and consultancy, conducted the linkurl:calculations.;http://standardcarbon.com/resources/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/us-presidential-election-carbon-footprint.pdf The average two-person US household emits just under 21 tons of CO2...