Ways To Reduce Carbon Footprint
Industries around the world all produce carbon emissions. But many people also produce carbon! How can you reduce your carbon impact?
Carbon footprint is a concept used to quantify the impact of an activity, person, or country on climate change. Greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere as a result of the manufacturing and consumption of products and services. Consumption of food, travel, and home heating all add to one's carbon footprint. Many countries, institutions, and businesses have pledged to reduce their carbon footprints. For example, Starbucks has been implementing the strawless strategy in all its tea, iced coffee, and espresso offers, it is also expanding plant-based and environmentally friendly menu options, plus shifting from single-use to reusable packaging. Lego has also taken many steps to achieve the zero-impact goals. Sustainable packaging, adding heat recovery to air compressors used in their factories, installing solar panels in them, and making sustainable lego bricks are some of the steps the company has made.
Seven billion people live in the world, consuming the planet's resources. According to the United Nations, the world's population could reach 9.7 billion by 2050, and more than 11 billion by 2100. Growing populations contribute to increased carbon emissions and resource shortages in the world. Global warming is worsened by rising greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. Climate change involves all of the symptoms experienced as a result of pollution and greenhouse gas production hurting and altering our ecosystem, whereas global warming refers to a single process (increasing global temperatures owing to increased greenhouse gas production.) Researchers have discovered that rising global temperatures will surely result in more diseases and negative impacts on human health. Increased warmth, frequent heavy rains and runoff, and the effects of storms all contribute to an increased risk of sickness as a result of climate change. Gastrointestinal disease, such as diarrhea, effects on the neurological and respiratory systems, and liver and kidney damage are also all possible health concerns.
Anyone can gauge what approximate impact they have on climate change by using CarbonFootprint.com’s calculator.
This is where your trash could go. How can you stop this from happening?
Here are some steps to limit carbon footprint! Make sure to read them, take notes, and apply them daily!
Food: Consuming local and seasonal products, limiting meat consumption (especially beef,) selecting fish from sustainable fishing, bringing reusable shopping bags to grocery stores, avoiding products with excessive plastic, making sure to only buy what is needed to avoid waste, and by composting!
Clothing: Taking care of clothes you already own to avoid continuously buying new ones, washing clothes in cold water, avoiding fast fashion, trying to borrow, rent, or thrift clothing, opting for responsibly-made clothes if possible.
Transportation: Cycling, carpooling, or using public transport, avoiding air travel, as driving may emit fewer greenhouse gases than flying.
Energy and waste: Turning down heating by at least 1 degree, taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing or washing dishes, unplugging electronics and not leaving phones on a charge with a full battery, look for the blue Energy Star stickers while shopping for electronics/appliances/lighting, which shows that the product is certified to be energy efficient, opting for LED and fans instead of air conditioners during summer, and limiting + recycling wastes.
Doing all of this will help our only home, Earth!