Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is the amount of left over carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere through simple every day choices we make as consumers. Greenhouse gases have been shown to have a significant impact on global climate change.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This figure shows the history of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations as directly measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. This curve is known as the Keeling curve, and is an essential piece of evidence of the man-made increases in greenhouse gases that are believed to be the cause of global warming. The longest such record exists at Mauna Loa, but these measurements have been independently confirmed at many other sites around the world [1].
The annual fluctuation in carbon dioxide is caused by seasonal variations in carbon dioxide uptake by land plants. Since many more forests are concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, more carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere during Northern Hemisphere summer than Southern Hemisphere summer. This annual cycle is shown in the inset figure by taking the average concentration for each month across all measured years.
Own work, from Image:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide.png, uploaded in Commons by Nils Simon under licence GFDL & CC-NC-SA ; itself created by Robert A. Rohde from NOAA published data and is incorporated into the Global Warming Art project. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Author, Sémhur
Some examples of these simple every day choices:
Impacting Climate Change |
Minimizing Impact on Climate Change |
Travel by car when alternative transport is available.. |
Travel by bike, public transportation or carpool if possible. |
Using highly processed materials when improving the home. |
Choosing recyclable or renewable materials when building or remodeling your home. |
Purchasing produce from a grocery chain. |
Purchasing produce from a farmers market or local grower. |
Dumping your organic waste with all other garbage. |
Utilizing a compost bin in the home. |
Using incandescent light bulbs. |
Choosing LED or fluorescent light bulbs. |
The goal is to leave no footprint which has a positive effect on the environment in terms of sustaining a balance with our natural resources and our ever increasing population. Taking steps that make sense and go easy on the earth minimize the addition of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere and can save you money.
Visit this carbon footprint calculator to determine what kind of footprint your household is making and explore our site to learn how to minimize your footprint and save money while doing it.
