With climate change being such a hot topic these days, the only thing on every eco-friendly person’s mind is how to lower their carbon footprint.
At the end of the day, it’s impossible not to think about this, seeing as almost every news broadcast includes at least one segment about the environmental implications of fossil fuel usage.
Even though this is a global issue, your contributions matter, and they will pile on, eventually allowing others to follow your example and help make this planet a cleaner, healthier place to live in.
Of course, understanding what your carbon footprint even comes first, and we’ll try to educate you on the topic to the best of our ability.
Keep reading to find out more about what a carbon footprint is and what you can do to help lower yours to a point where you’re not harming the environment.
What is a carbon footprint?
Unlike a normal footprint, your carbon footprint isn’t one you’re going to be able to see, or rather, not directly.
In a way though, you are going to see the effects of your carbon emissions on the environment, and if you’re able to bring them down to a minimum, you’ll become part of the thousands of people working together to help preserve nature.
One’s carbon footprint is the sum of all the byproducts of our fossil fuel usage, whether it’s used for transport, manufacturing, or other purposes.
The gasses these actions produce, most notably carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and others, are classified as greenhouse gasses due to their ability to trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, which then raises the average temperature of our planet, contributing to the phenomenon known as global warming.
Driving less
Needless to say, using your car just a tiny bit less can do a lot, as fossil fuel-consuming vehicles are one of the greatest sources of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere.
Every single mile you choose not to drive is a mile you won’t be releasing these deadly gasses, and it’s also a mile that’ll be contributing to your health in a number of different ways.
If you organize your shopping trips in a way that’ll allow you to get as much in a single outing, you’ll potentially be saving hundreds of dollars on fuel while also being eco-friendly.
If you feel this isn’t enough, you could get a bike or walk to work, that is if your workplace is within biking/walking distance and if that’s not the case, you could just carpool with some of your colleagues.
Public transport is just as good, although it’s not an optimal solution, just like carpooling, considering you’re still using fossil fuels to get from point A to point B.
Go greener
While they may be costly, electric vehicles are one of mankind’s greatest contributions to preserving nature, albeit this has been brought up for contention several times before.
Usually, electric car opponents will make the wild claim that the electric energy required to power them consumes just as much if not more fossil fuels than is consumed to produce an equivalent amount of gasoline or diesel.
That being said, it’s hard to deny the fact that electric vehicles have no emissions at all, and even if you buy a hybrid, you’re still doing nature a huge service.
Of course, this will also call for a remodeling of your home/garage, as certain homes aren’t equipped with the wiring required to set up a charging station, but this is an expense you should be prepared for when buying these vehicles.
Avoid flying at all costs
Apart from heavy industry and motorized vehicles on our streets, planes are one of the most prominent polluters that mankind is responsible for.
A single trip around the US generates around 2 tons of carbon dioxide per passenger, which is practically 10% of the average American’s carbon footprint.
If you can afford to fly less often, you should do everything in your power to do so, as you’ll be helping heal this planet from a great deal of the pollution we inflict on it as a species.
The airplane industry has grown scarily fast, and it’s been one of the greatest contributors to climate change in the past 50 years, which puts this impending, global event into full perspective.
Bottom line
Everyone can do their part, and even if it’s the small things, doing anything that helps heal this planet is something worth devoting your time to.
This can also be done in your home, and by adjusting how you cook your food as well as which foods you eat, you could make some great contributions to saving this planet from climate change.
Keep doing things that promote a cleaner, healthier Earth, and if others follow your example, we may just be saved.