Slimming Down my Carbon Footprint

By Sofia Peruzzi

We will all leave a mark on this earth, yet we hope it is a positive one. These days there is more and more talk about reducing our carbon footprint to combat climate change. What is a carbon footprint? According to The Nature Conservancy, “The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tonnes (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent.”  It reflects our impact on the environment and on climate change.

For me, calculating my carbon footprint was like getting on a scale. I did not want to confirm my suspicions.  I finally decided it was time. I went to The Nature Conservancy website and answered questions regarding our family’s lifestyle -questions regarding our recycling, driving and air travel habits as well as energy usage in our home. It even asked how often we eat meat.

As I suspected, it’s huge. Our carbon footprint is more than three times as big as the world average for a 5-member household. Yet, it is 73% of the carbon footprint of the average American family. Breaking the results by category, I find that roughly 57% of our carbon footprint is from driving and flying. We travel over 1500 miles each way to visit each set of grandparents. Multiply this by the five members of our household and you get the picture.  Although our family is not planning to move closer to us and moving in with them is out of the question, we can offset our air travel emissions by contributing to Sustainable Travel International (STI) based on the number of miles we fly. After doing this, I lost 40 Tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. I wish losing weight was this easy.

We have, little by little, made changes in our home to make it more energy efficient. Some have been inexpensive, like making our own solar screens and installing seals on our doors to reduce draft, and others more expensive. When our air conditioner broke down, we changed it for the most efficient one on the market.  All these changes will save us money and pay for themselves in the end. They also reduce our carbon footprint. The most significant change, however, is switching our electricity provider. These days, you can find competitive rates for pollution free energy with various electricity providers. By making these changes in travel and home energy usage, we were able to get our household’s carbon footprint to the world average without making lifestyle changes.

Our carbon footprint is more like a fingerprint; no two are the same. It depends on our particular lifestyle. What I need to do to reduce mine may not apply to you. When each one of us as individuals makes an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, we can have a tremendous impact on our environment. I challenge you to find out about yours. Here are a few things you might consider doing to slim down your carbon footprint:

1.       Reduce your electricity and gas consumption.

a.        Take advantage of tax credits and invest in energy efficient home improvements.

b.       Lower the temperature of your thermostat by one degree in the winter and raise it in the summer.

c.        Improve the insulation to your doors, windows, and attic. Purchase Energy Star appliances.

d.       Switch to a power company that gets most or all of its power from renewable energy sources.

e.        Insulate your water heater and/or lower the temperature of your water heater.

f.         Unplug chargers or place them on a strip and turn it off on the way out.

2.       Reduce the amount of gasoline you consume.

a.        Buy a vehicle that gets a higher millage than what you currently own, when replacing your vehicle. You can compare vehicles at this government website http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm.

b.       Reduce the number of trips to the store, carpool and use public transportation when ever possible.

c.        Ride your bike.

3.       Recycle.

a.        Learn about the recycling programs in your area and recycle when ever possible

b.       Compost your grass clippings.

4.       Consider local and organically grown food whenever possible.

5. Reduce the number of disposable water bottles you use. Use the water fountain whenever possible or bring water from home in a reusable container. Producing 1 kilogram of PET, the type of plastic used to manufacture most water bottles, requires 17.5 kilograms of water and results in gas emissions into the air of 40 grams of hydrocarbons, 25 grams of sulfur oxides, 18 grams of carbon monoxide, 20 grams of nitrogen oxides, and 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide.