The 2008 Olympic torch relay hasn’t galvanized a lot of warm fuzzy feelings and hand holding this year. Opposition to China’s treatment of Tibet has inspired international protests, with some dissenters even managing to snuff out the torch and delay the tour. Friends of the environment have also taken issue with the unprecedented amount of CO2 the torch relay is leaving in its wake.

By the time the Olympic torch will have successfully reached all 23 international cities on its 85,000 mile global tour, it will have produced 11 million pounds of carbon emissions. Kind of ironic considering China claims to be hosting a “green” Olympics this year.

The jet-setting torch will travel via its own custom-painted private plane ” the Air China A330 ” which burns 5.4 gallons of fuel per mile. This amounts to 462,400 gallons of jet fuel, adding roughly 11 million pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. To put it into perspective, the 2008 Olympic torch relay will produce twice as much CO2 as the average American will in his/her entire lifetime.

Wired reports that London has plans to make the 2012 torch relay carbon neutral, but Sally Lu, the Olympic media relations rep in Beijing isn’t aware of any plans on China’s part to neutralize the torch-carrying jet’s carbon emissions.

and check out the interactive map that Slate has created, charting the total carbon emissions the torch produces as it travels to its individual destinations.