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Is grossly underestimated by whom? Oh, by just random people off the street? I am not sure why we are surprised that people with no expertise on the topic have absolutely no idea what affects their carbon footprint.

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But surely that's the point of this study? i.e. to help communicate this fact to the masses? You know, with evidence instead of hunches and stuff?

To communicate what fact? That some random people on the street can't guesstimate carbon footprints very well?

To communicate the fact to people that they and others likely misunderstand their own carbon foot print.

This is the kind of thing that makes it on to the news because it connects something abstract with everyday people.

Apparently that is not what the study concluded, they only found that everyone (rich and poor) underestimated the carbon footprint of the rich. Anyway, I still can't find this surprising. It's just obviously a complicated question. How much energy does it take to heat a home in a year? Or to transport a mango from Bolivia to Germany? Or to fly 1000km vs 10000km? This is what we have experts for, is it not?

From TFA:

> The vast majority of participants across the four countries overestimated the average personal carbon footprint of the poorest 50% and underestimated those of the richest 10% and 1%.

Edit: are you an LLM?

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