Carbon In The Life of a NOLS Student

Since 1965 NOLS has been teaching minimum impact/low maintenance camping and traveling techniques. Students travel into the backcountry with the essentials to thrive and after coming out of the field, no student has seriously recommended adding paper towels to their gear list. Comparing the classic Wind River Wilderness student with their front country counterpart, you can easily see a remarkable difference between consumption in the field and consumption in the front country. After checking out this data, you may decide to forgo the paper towel for a re-useable cloth next time a drink spills on the counter.

Water:
The average U.S. Citizen uses 250 liters of water a day
The average NOLS Student uses 5 liters of water per day
Most people in the front country use 50 times more water than a NOLS student does in the field.

Energy:
The average U.S. Citizen uses 33 kilowatt hours of energy per day.
The average NOLS student uses .02 kilowatt hours of energy per day.
Most people in the front country use 1650 times more energy than a NOLS student does in the field.

Trash:
The average U.S. Citizen produces 4lbs of trash per day
The average NOLS student produces 1/10th of a lb of trash per day.
People in the front country produce 40 times more trash than a NOLS student does in the field.

CO2:
The average U.S. Citizen produces 20lbs of CO2 every day through vehicle emissions.
The average NOLS student produces a 1/2 pound of CO2 every day through stove emissions.
People in the front country produce 40 times more CO2 than a NOLS student does in the field.

photo courtesy of Amy Rathke