Carbon criminals reveal our carbon footprint

The RSC rendered the carbon threat tangible by building a giant black cube representing the three tons of carbon that each person adds to the atmosphere annually.

The block, placed in the Burlington House courtyard, was photographed, along with two carbon criminals also in black and masked. The cube will be taken onto a busy location in London later in November when passers-by will be invited to guess how much of the cube is made up of their own energy using habits, like holiday flights per passenger and filling up their petrol tank for one-person journeys.

The cube was built for National Chemistry Week run by the RSC around the UK and which provoked a good deal of coverage in the regional media, including a feature on BBC Look North.

The Daily Mail ran a Chemistry Week letter by RSC CEO Richard Pike discussing the Government's carbon reduction promises, pointing out that he wishes them better results than earlier Government undertakings on provision of more science teachers. The theme of Chemistry Week 2007 was Fuelling the Future.