1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi, 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm ruin vogel Bomb and this is another 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: classic episode from the incredible past. This one has to 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: do with your personal carbon footprint and how it may 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: stack up against your favorite superheroes. Hey, they're brain Stuff 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: luring vogel Bomb here. If you're out there saving humanity 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: from supervillains, doesn't matter how many pounds of carbon you 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: used to do it. Gotham City would have been obliterated 9 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: a hundred times over if Batman weren't constantly bailing it 10 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: out of trouble. But that batmobile sure is a gas guzzler, 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,639 Speaker 1: not to mention the Batwing airplane, and the electricity bill 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: for the bat Cave is probably astronomical. So is all 13 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: that do gooding really doing good after all? Some researchers 14 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 1: from Stanford University presented a poster at the American Geophysical 15 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: Unions Fall Meeting entitled Stop Saving the Planet Carbon Accounting 16 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: of Superheroes and their impacts on climate change. The point 17 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: of the project was to bring awareness to the fact 18 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: that everybody on this planet has a carbon footprint, which 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: is a calculation of how much carbon each of us 20 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: uses in our daily activities such as driving, eating, and 21 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: heating and cooling our houses. The average Americans carbon footprint 22 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: is around forty four pounds. That's about of carbon per year. 23 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: An average person in the United Arab Emirates uses a 24 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,559 Speaker 1: good bit more, and the average Peruvian uses considerably less. 25 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: But what about your average superhero Well, according to the study, 26 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: they're all over the map. Take Superman. According to the comics, 27 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: the Man of Steel is entirely solar powered, which nets 28 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: him a carbon footprint of zero. Bless him. Jessica Jones 29 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: probably comes in slightly below the average Americans carbon use 30 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: thanks to her small Brooklyn apartment and reliance on public 31 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: transportation and swamp thing, what with his power to make 32 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: plants grow, might actually have a negative carbon footprint. That's 33 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: not the case for every good Samaritan in a cape, however. 34 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: The Oracle firstwhile bat girl turned computer packer might weigh 35 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: in at a conservative estimate of one and fifty one 36 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: thousand pounds or sixty eight ms, but the figure might 37 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: be as high as thirty two million pounds or a 38 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: hundred and forty five million kilograms, depending on how many 39 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: servers she's running. Even Iron Man, who makes a concerted 40 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: effort to employ green energy sources would come in higher 41 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: than the average American because of the sheer amount of 42 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,399 Speaker 1: tech that he uses and the flash, who can run 43 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 1: near the speed of light, might require an insane number 44 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: of calories to accomplish this feat, possibly as much as 45 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: eighty nine million pounds or forty five million kilograms worth 46 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: of carbon. But isn't this kind of a silly question 47 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: for serious scientists to spend their time exploring? Poster co 48 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: author Miles trey Er, a post doctoral researcher at Stanford, 49 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: told EOS, if I calculate my own carbon footprint, that's depressing. 50 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: If I calculate Batman's carbon footprint, that's hilarious. So let's 51 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: go with the hilarious. It's a way of tricking people 52 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: into learning. Next, Trayer is setting his sights on the 53 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: carbon footprint of supervillains. One of my favorites, he said, 54 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: is Mr. Freeze, because refrigeration carries a pretty horrendous carbon footprint. 55 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Jesslyn Shields and produced by 56 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: Tristan McNeil and Tyler Klang. For more on this and 57 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: lots of other super topics, visit how Stuff works dot com. 58 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,399 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts. 59 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: My heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 60 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.