Getting to Know Your Carbon Footprint
What is a Carbon Footprint?
Just like our footprints leave impressions in the sand, our activities leave impressions on the planet. Understanding your carbon footprint is crucial to getting to know your impact on the planet. It is only when we understand the effect of our actions, can we begin to change them in more effective and substantial ways and tackle the climate crisis.
Carbon Footprints Explained
A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gas produced by an individual, a group, or an activity. We each have own carbon footprint that is made up of all the emissions that are released as a result of any actions we undertake, from travelling, to eating, to staying in at home, or working. Each of our carbon footprints are unique to ourselves. Groups and events also have carbon footprints, such as the footprint of one particular office building, restaurant, or concert.
WHO explains a carbon footprint as “a measure of the impact your activities have on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced through the burning of fossil fuels and is expressed as a weight of CO2 emissions produced in tonnes”.
Carbon footprints are usually measured in tones of CO2, or another greenhouse gas that is being measured for, over a set amount of time.
Getting to Know Your Carbon Footprint
Understanding the effect that your actions have on the environment is crucial if you want to know how to can change your habits for the better.
There are a multitude of carbon footprint calculators out there and it can be tough to know if they really are accurate. They ask you about the type of energy your home uses, how you generally get around, any flights you may have been on, and the amount you spend on all kinds of goods and services. That being said, despite trying to gather as much information as possible to give you an accurate result, it is still incredibly difficult for a calculator to generate fool proof results. It would take years of research to work out the exact mileage travelled by every single piece of food, personal item or product that you use, and the work that goes into their creation.
Carbon calculators give an informed estimation about your footprint. That being said, they are still a useful tool we can employ when it comes to seeing what areas of our lives could do with toning down on the greenhouse gas production. It’s useful having these estimations about our output so that we have a reduction goal to work on.
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
WHO have identified 5 key areas within which mitigating actions can be taken in our everyday lives to reduce our personal carbon footprints: transport, food, energy use, water use and waste management.
1. Transport
For every litre of fuel burnt, on average more than 2.5 kg of CO2 is produced. Changing the way we think about travel is crucial to combatting climate change. Cycling, walking and using public transport are of course all-important measures we should be taking more often. But, when it comes to flying, WHO suggests offsetting the carbon emissions produced by our journey. Neutral Ignition is a British based company taking this one step further and offset vehicular emissions too. After all, 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from driving.
To offset your vehicle’s CO2 emissions, check out their handy offset calculator: https://www.neutralignition.co.uk
2. Food
Food produce is a massive generator of CO2 emissions globally. Buying local, reducing meat intake, and wasting less are all important for making out meals more sustainable. Simple, and often enjoyable, changes such as taking a trip to your local greengrocer instead of buying veg from supermarkets that are backed by massive food miles can make a substantial difference to your personal carbon footprint.
3. Energy Use
The ways we can lower our energy use are varied and extensive. Some actions are easy, and take a few seconds of our time, like changing our thermostat settings, turning appliances off when not using them, or using energy-saving lightbulbs. Some are more time consuming, like making sure our homes are well insulated, replacing singe glazed windows, and switching to green energies, but have massive pay offs in the long run – both for our wallets and for the environment.
4. Water Use
We all know we should be turning the tap off when we’re brushing our teeth. But we can increase our water savings by covering our pots when cooking avoiding plastic bottled water because of the energy costs associated with their creation and transport. We can also conserve water outdoors by gathering rainwater or conserving our household water and using this to irrigate outdoor spaces, to wash and to feed livestock.
5. Waste Management
Reduce, reuse, recycle. It’s as simple as that!
For more, you can read the full report at: https://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/factsheets/Kit2008_annex1_2.pdf
Towards a more Sustainable Lifestyle
Truthfully, the way we are living day to day is depleting the world of its natural resources at an alarming rate. Whilst it may seem impossible to reduce our carbon footprint completely, we can make changes by using resources more responsibly. A lot of the time, this can look like simply using products that come from more responsible sources, such as buying locally or supporting companies that act eco-consciously. Big businesses have a lot to answer for in regards to global warming, and by informing ourselves about the industries we are funding and choosing to put our money into companies that are taking strides in reducing their carbon footprints, we can in turn reduce our own.
Written by Estelle Clayton