My Carbon Footprint

carbonfootprint.com defines a carbon footprint as:
"a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc."
The image above, from carbonfootprint.com, shows the percentages that daily activities and consumption contribute to carbon dioxide emissions.

There are a number of websites available that offer people the opportunity to calculate their carbon footprint based on their daily activities and behaviors. One such website is nature.org.

The Carbon footprint calculator calculates your individual or household carbon footprint in tons of CO2 eq/year. The calculator asked me questions about home heating, travelling, appliance use, energy efficient light bulb use, diet and meat consumption, and recycling habits.

My results were quite surprising and lower than I expected. According to the calculator my personal carbon footprint is 7.9 (tons CO2 eq/year). This is compared to the average American's personal carbon footprint, estimated at 27, and the world average, estimated at 5.5. I was also surprised to see how much higher the carbon footprint of the average American is in comparison to the rest of the world. It makes me think that policies need to be made to regulate our carbon emissions. What's the awareness of climate change has not seemed to decrease the CO2 emissions in this country.

The fact that I don't drive a car may have a lot to do with my low carbon footprint. I live in a very large city with an efficient public transportation system. Owning a car is neither necessary nor convenient. I reside in an apartment building which does not allow me to regulate the temperature in my apartment, however, all of my light bulbs are energy efficient as are the majority of my appliances. This may also contribute to my lower footprint.

Another thing nature.org does is breakdown your behavior and offer advice on how to reduce your carbon footprint. I think everyone should visit the website and have their carbon footprint calculated. Is it lower or higher than you expected?

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbonfootprint.html