Carbon Footprint
What is a carbon footprint?
How do I reduce my carbon footprint?
What is a carbon footprint?
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced. The GHG emissions are expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), which is the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming potential as the GHG.
The main sources of GHG emissions are fossil fuel combustion, land use change, agriculture, and waste. Some activities that contribute to a high carbon footprint are driving, flying, eating meat, and using electricity from non-renewable sources. Reducing it can help mitigate climate change and its negative effects on the planet.
There are many ways to reduce it, such as:
– Using public transportation, biking, or walking instead of driving
– Choosing renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, or hydropower
– Eating more plant-based foods and less animal products
– Buying local and organic products and avoiding packaging and plastic
– Recycling, reusing, and composting your waste
– Planting trees and supporting conservation efforts
By taking these actions, you can lower your carbon footprint and make a positive difference for the environment. To learn more about that and how to reduce it, visit environmentals.net
In other words: When you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. (CO2 is the chemical symbol fo carbon dioxide). When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO2. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. When you buy food and goods, the production of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO2.
Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame. Usually, it is calculated for the time period of a year.
The best way to calculate carbon dioxide emissions is to base it on fuel consumption.
Source: Time for change (timeforchange.org)
URL: https://timeforchange.org/what-is-a-carbon-footprint-definition
How do I measure / calculate my Carbon Emissions (Footprint)?
There are several free carbon calculators out there on the internet, but I will just list two here that we are most familiar with:
Carbon Calculator
URL: https://www.carbonfootprint.com/measure.html
How do I reduce my carbon footprint?
Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel (so to speak) we thought it would be helpful to cite some resources that contain valuable information about energy usage / pollution and many, many different options for lifestyle changes. Take whatever steps seem reasonable and sustainable to you; every bit makes a difference!
Global Stewards
Top 20 Ways to Reduce It:
http://www.globalstewards.org/reduce-carbon-footprint.htm
National Geographic
14 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE IT:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/before-the-flood/articles/14-easy-ways-to-reduce-your-own-carbon-footprint
Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook
Climate-conscious individual choices are good – but not nearly enough to save the planet. More than personal virtue, we need collective action.
Personal virtue is an eternally seductive goal in progressive movements, and the climate movement is no exception. People pop up all the time to boast of their domestic arrangements or chastise others for what they eat or how they get around. The very short counterargument is that individual acts of thrift and abstinence won’t get us the huge distance we need to go in this decade. We need to exit the age of fossil fuels, reinvent our energy landscape, rethink how we do almost everything. We need collective action at every scale from local to global – and the good people already at work on all those levels need help in getting a city to commit to clean power or a state to stop fracking or a nation to end fossil-fuel subsidies. The revolution won’t happen by people staying home and being good.
By: Rebecca Solnit
The controversy of carbon footprints,
How do you feel about carbon footprints?
What’s the story?
- In the fight against climate change, carbon footprints have been a way to measure an individual’s environmental impact and pinpoint exactly which habits or activities they can change to lower their effect on the crisis. Carbon footprint calculators were created by several companies and organizations to make this concept more accessible.
- Recently, activists and researchers have been questioning the credibility of carbon footprint calculators and wondering why individuals are more concerned about their personal emissions instead of the 100 investors and fossil fuel companies responsible for 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
What is a carbon footprint?
By: Jamie Epstein