Carbon Footprints
So how do you know how much carbon dioxide you emit? Most people call it your "carbon footprint." A carbon footprint, in the scientific sense, is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of Carbon Dioxide. This simply means your sum of Carbon Dioxide emissions that were induced by your activities in a frame of time. Most people measure theirs over the period of a year.
To calculate your carbon footprint, you can add all of your Carbon Dioxide emissions from the year. For example, burning on gallon of fuel in the United States is equivalent to 8.7 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide being emitted into the air. If doing all of this is a bit too much for you, there are many websites that can help you to calculate you carbon footprint. Here’s a helpful one:
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/
An average American releases 27 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide a year. That’s a lot when you think of the population of America. That puts the nation at around 8,663,942,655 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide, not attributing other factors such as jobs or age. Now you may be wondering how to reduce your carbon footprint.
There are a few easy ways to start reducing your carbon footprint. When you are driving your car, try to accelerate slowly, drive at the speed limit, and maintain a steady speed. Make sure your car runs correctly, keep tires inflated, and have a fuel-efficient vehicle. Cars, when they run, release Carbon Dioxide, so try to only use your car when needed. You can combine trips, carpool, or even try to take transits to work or school. You could ride a bike or walk, as well.
In your home you can use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to light your house. They release two thirds of the energy a normal light bulb does. You can conserve water. An easy way to do this is to turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth and only take one shower per day. For your appliances, you can use EnergyStar appliances. They are more efficient and use less energy. You can also unplug “vampire” devices. These are the chargers you use to charge your electronics. They continue to pull electricity through the wall outlets and if there’s nothing plugged in, the electricity is not used and is wasted.
For your life in general, you should always reduce, reuse and recycle. This will help to prevent new products from being made. To make a new product, it uses 4-8 pounds of Carbon Dioxide just to make one item. You can stop receiving junk mail with help from 41pounds, a company that will call the people sending you junk mail and tell them to take you off their mailing list.
When you eat, try to eat local food. Shipping burns fuels, which releases Carbon Dioxide. If the food is local, it doesn’t have to travel as far to get to you. You can also eat less meat. Vegetarians save at least 3,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide every year. Poultry is also less Greenhouse Gas intensive than beef.
To calculate your carbon footprint, you can add all of your Carbon Dioxide emissions from the year. For example, burning on gallon of fuel in the United States is equivalent to 8.7 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide being emitted into the air. If doing all of this is a bit too much for you, there are many websites that can help you to calculate you carbon footprint. Here’s a helpful one:
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/
An average American releases 27 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide a year. That’s a lot when you think of the population of America. That puts the nation at around 8,663,942,655 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide, not attributing other factors such as jobs or age. Now you may be wondering how to reduce your carbon footprint.
There are a few easy ways to start reducing your carbon footprint. When you are driving your car, try to accelerate slowly, drive at the speed limit, and maintain a steady speed. Make sure your car runs correctly, keep tires inflated, and have a fuel-efficient vehicle. Cars, when they run, release Carbon Dioxide, so try to only use your car when needed. You can combine trips, carpool, or even try to take transits to work or school. You could ride a bike or walk, as well.
In your home you can use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to light your house. They release two thirds of the energy a normal light bulb does. You can conserve water. An easy way to do this is to turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth and only take one shower per day. For your appliances, you can use EnergyStar appliances. They are more efficient and use less energy. You can also unplug “vampire” devices. These are the chargers you use to charge your electronics. They continue to pull electricity through the wall outlets and if there’s nothing plugged in, the electricity is not used and is wasted.
For your life in general, you should always reduce, reuse and recycle. This will help to prevent new products from being made. To make a new product, it uses 4-8 pounds of Carbon Dioxide just to make one item. You can stop receiving junk mail with help from 41pounds, a company that will call the people sending you junk mail and tell them to take you off their mailing list.
When you eat, try to eat local food. Shipping burns fuels, which releases Carbon Dioxide. If the food is local, it doesn’t have to travel as far to get to you. You can also eat less meat. Vegetarians save at least 3,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide every year. Poultry is also less Greenhouse Gas intensive than beef.