Pop Song Carbon Footprints
by Jim O'Loughlin
by the Doors
The time to hesitate is through.
No time to wallow in the mire.
Try now we can only lose,
And our love become a funeral pyre,
Come on, baby, light my fire
Carbon Footprint: A traditional open-air funeral pyre burns for around six hours, using approximately 385 lbs. of wood. A single funeral pyre produces 362.25 lbs. of CO2, though in India four million tons of wood are used annually for traditional cremations.
"Rock 'N Me"
by Steve Miller Band
I went from Phoenix, Arizona
All the way to Tacoma
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.,
Northern California where the girls are warm
So I could hear my sweet baby say
Keep on a rock'n me baby
Carbon footprint: 2358 lbs. of CO2 emissions (all flights economy class). The overall footprint would be less if a car was used, but Steve Miller Band also released the song "Jet Airliner."
"Midnight Train to Georgia"
by Gladys Knight and the Pips
L.A. proved too much for the man,
So he's leavin' the life he's come to know,
He said he's goin' back to find
Ooh, what's left of his world,
The world he left behind
Not so long ago.
He's leaving,
On that midnight train to Georgia.
Carbon footprint: Only 132 lbs. of CO2 emissions (Amtrak from Los Angeles to Atlanta via New Orleans). Note: there currently is no midnight train to Georgia from Los Angeles. The above calculation is for the 3:00 p.m. Sunset Limited. There is a 6:15 p.m. departure from Los Angeles, but that train is less direct, connecting through Chicago and Washington D. C.
"I Can't Drive 55"
by Sammy Hagar
One foot on the brake and one on the gas, hey!
Well, there's too much traffic, I can't pass, no!
So I tried my best illegal move
A big black and white come and crushed my groove again!
Go on & write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive
Take my license n' all that jive
I can't drive 55! Oh no! Uh!
Carbon footprint: A 1983 Ferrari 512 Boxer (the car used in the "I Can't Drive 55" video) that gets an average of 14.7 miles per gallon highway and is driven a typical 12,000 miles per year uses 816 gallons of gasoline and produces 15, 836 lbs. of CO2 emissions. If driven at 125 miles per hour, the Ferrari 512 Boxer would get an estimated average mpg of no more 5.0 miles per gallon. Over a year, Sammy Hagar would use 2400 gallons of gas and produce 46,560 lbs. of CO2.
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