A way some people could get rid of gifts they don’t like after the holiday season is a gift swap. For some people the gifts they receive is actually what they want, but for some people they receive gifts that they probably won’t ever use, which is where this idea comes in. This can be a community event or a school event where everyone comes together after the holiday season and you place all of your gifts on a table or out in the open. Then you  swap your gifts with someone else’s gift they didn’t want. The way you swap your gifts is  adjustable to how  people are there and  what the people want, it can vary. In the end , this a good way to receive something you actually want and will use instead of letting it collect dust on a shelf or worse, throwing it away which would intern more carbon emissions. This idea is also customizable to where you don’t have to swap your gifts for someone. It could be where everyone brings the gifts they didn’t really want or think they’ll use and then you’ll collect all those gifts and then you  could donate them to some charity or organization that could use them.

This is a really fun idea!

When I calculated my carbon footprint I found that I was far above average because I travel a lot. Air travel is something I do quite often and traveling in planes releases a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere. There is little I personally as a kid can do about this but, some companies could limit their flights. A Some airlines fly extra empty flights just so that they can keep their status, but they are not thinking about the effects that has on the environment. Air travel amounts to about 2.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions which is a lot that most likely could be cut down. We can do our best to limit unnecessary air travel, but in the grand scheme of things we need to be careful and mindful of how the things we do change the environment we live in.

I agree its bad but we cant just limit flights

As a high schooler, I agree it is difficult to affect how you do your air travel, as that is mostly up to the parents. I find myself in the same situation. Another way you might be able to help with all that air travel is making up for it by instead of driving to some places, ride your bike, or walk. That's what I have been doing, and I find that helpful.

Train systems are an incredibly eco-friendly option for long distance traveling. In Japan, this form of transportation generates about 80% less CO2 per person. Very sustainable.

I ride the bus which releases carbon but that doesn't really change anything considering a bus has a designated route it drives everyday so me not riding it wouldn't matter

yeah cuh

Yes it wouldn't add to YOUR carbon footprint, it will still add to other so even if you don't ride the bus it will still add to the total carbon. Yes it does have a designated rout that doesn't change how much carbon it adds to the air.

It depends if you pay, as that gives them money to continue. City buses (at least in seattle, where I am) are generally more eco friendly though.

It doesn't change the amount of carbon releases which is what I said, all I said was me not riding the bus wouldn't change the amount of carbon it releases in all. I said me riding it wouldn't change the direct amount of carbon released

Riding bikes!

Our items and belongings that we have, clothes, technology and such should be kept if it is able to be used. For example, the clothes that I have are good enough and I do not need or want to buy new ones. There is no need to buy new clothes if the ones that I have are already good, and it would just be a waste of money and it would damage the climate. The fashion industry already makes up 8-10% of the total global carbon emissions, and me buying new clothes would make it go up even more.

you're totally right about this, the fashion industry is insane for carbon emissions. i never realized it was like 8-10% of global emissions until i started researching. honestly keeping the clothes you have is way smarter than constantly buying new stuff. plus most new clothes are fast fashion that fall apart anyway so you end up replacing them more often. if everyone just wore what they already had and took care of it, the fashion industry's carbon footprint would drop so much. it's crazy how simple the solution is but nobody does it.

I completely agree with you on this, I think that it will always be smart to keep your clothes till you absolutely can't fit them any more. I also think that many more people should shop at secondhand places and thrift stores when they need new clothes. Of course for some things you need to get them new but for most things thrift stores work just as well and are usually much cheaper. I knew the carbon admissions because of the fashion industry where high but I didn't know they where that high.

You're totally right  the solution is simple but nobody wants to do it because they're too lazy. the world needs to change people need to wake up and realize that we are causing global warming. I'm not saying you need to go all crazy and buy the stuff that is expensive, even the stuff that is good for the enviorment is bad for example electric cars how do the charge.they use fossil fuels to charge.

Turning off the lights when you leave the room

yes is completely is and its human cuased

Yes, it is absolutey human caused since everything we do releases co2

While I am under average in almost everything I am wildly over in the travel section and should probably cut down on that

Me too, i think that it might be from when i went on trips for fun over summer break. I could cut back on these to reduce my footprint.

I was also wayyyy over the transportation section and that's the only section I really need to improve more on

Me too, i flew way too much this year which really contributes to travel.

I am quite the opposite because I rarely ever take flights for trips. Driving, yes, but if I were to fly more my carbon footprint would skyrocket.

Maybe its not that we should travel less, just less by car and airplanes.

use more public transport and/or carpool.

Protect our planet

keep our wildlife safe and respect animals habitats.

we need to limit ai/ google search use too, the carbon foot print challenge doesn't calculate it but it still produces a lot of co2.

All internet use of any kind effects the climate change and student carbon footprint.

ai uses a lot of water to cool down its system causing places to have less water. it also impacts global warming.

A sustainable city should have good public transport so people don’t need to use cars as much. It should also have green areas like parks and trees. This helps reduce pollution and makes the city healthier for people.

I want to go a step further and just eliminate cars. Public transportation (if it works well) could be faster than lots of individual people stuck in traffic, and it would definitely take up a lot less space.
The city could have a mix of wind, solar, and water powered energy sources so that it could still store energy in any weather. Instead of a power plant, energy could be taken from a bunch of different sources and then spread evenly across a grid.
This is a very far-fetched idea with current technology though.

Malcom your idea isn't far fetched we have ways to make fast public transportation. We have the technology we just need people to do it.

Another way to reduce car use is to make more bike lanes to encourage people to bike more.

Good luck NYC

I personally think that you do not need the latest tech. Sure it might be funner or a little more efficient in the long run, but in no way do you need it. I do not get a new cell phone unless mine is outdated to the point I can’t use it, or I break mine (Luckily hasn’t happened!). I have not personally thought of the effects this has had on the environment until I did this. I think if you’re addicted, it’s helpful to look at nature, and remember why the world around us is so beautiful! You know? Thanks for reading!

Its so wastful to get new devices everytime a new model comes out

We get a lot of new models and it seems that there is a very small difference between them and the older models.

The production and use of new tech so often greatly increases your carbon footprint, so it is best to limit that.

Before purchasing something new, I check if i already have something like this. Getting the new model isnt just bad for your footprint, its also expensive.

It depends on whether or not your current model is sufficient for what you do with it.

Climate Change is a consequence of the rapid industrialisation of the world and human neglect/unawareness of pollution. The industrial revolution, while an important event in modern history, also kickstarted industrial pollution and as a consequence caused climate change. Are there any real ways to prevent it, or does the current political landscape not allow any such preventive actions to be put in effect due to the favoritism showed to corporations, industrialists and how they see these preventive actions as 'non-beneficial'?

this makes a lot of sense and i understand what you mean by "are there any real ways to prevent it..." i do think there are at least a couple but they might not be possible at this point in climate change.

"STOP" and "NOW", absolutely not, "lower drastically" and "over the next decade or so", very possible.
if all of humanity managed to agree to some policies and promises then we could likely meet the goal of less than 2°C by 2030 (maybe 2040)
1st we need to stop all burning of coal NOW,
coal is by far the worst, dirtiest, and least efficient fossil fuel, its a technology that belongs in the industrial revolution.

2nd we need better public infrastructure,
while one train (even electric) produces more co2 by itself than a car, if a hundred people are in that train then that train produces much less greenhouse gases per person than a car, so the answer is more electric trains, subway systems, electric ferries to islands, and electric busses where applicable, its also not just enough to have these things we need to

2.5lf encourage people to use public infrastructure and discouraging use of cars
cars are convenient sure but they pollute a lot, if we could make parking harder to find, more walking streets, one ways, reduce the number of lanes on highways, trains that run on time, and better accommodations, for example on one of these points, LA opened a new lane on one of their highways a few (dozen) years ago, and congestion got worse over the entire city, because people found it more convenient driving they would drive more and thus more cars on the roads, and that has lead to a joke in civil engineering "just one more lane and that will solve it"

3rd the world needs to transition away from coal, oils (petrol, diesel, crude oil), biofuels, and natural gas,
some fuels are less bad than others, for example crude oil and coal are much less preferable over the RELATIVELTY clean natural gas and biofuels, still not ideal fuel sources but just better if for example cargo ships run on biofuel over crude oil.
so we need to adapt industry away from that, foundries need to use preferably something like hydrogen gas or induction heating ovens,
ships need to use more efficient fuels or even hybrid ships (electric ferries for shorter trips are amazing (trust me, I'm on one right now))

4th we need cleaner powerplants to run this new industry. lets say we get every company and industry on the planet to somehow go fully electric, we still need the source of that electricity to be clean or we are just moving the problem from the production to the source. solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal, are obviously the goal and the best for this, but we need a ton of electricity it in a very short time, so might I suggest nuclear energy,
nuclear energy is much safer than people imagine (I mean global warming kills more people per year than nuclear energy ever has,) fossil fuels also contaminate more than nuclear and produce waste that goes into the air and is harder to manage than barely radioactive rocks that you can reuse 97% of and then throw the waste into a hole. because nuclear energy is so scrutinized that means that like airplanes its one of the safest forms of doing what they do, any time anything goes wrong everyone is talking about it so they have to hire the smartest people they can to make sure everything is safe.
another benefit of nuclear energy is that the only waste is a rock you burry a few kilometres underground to safely decay, and some water vapour that condenses back into safe water.

After all of the damage that humans have done to earth is is true That it cant be fixed now but right now we can take steps to save the future earth even small thing like turning off the lights  make a difference however small. But if the entire world turns off lights when not in use it can make a huge difference.

It is very true that we can't make climate change disappear overnight, but we can reduce carbon emissions. Even if everyone only did a little bit, it would still make a huge difference.

People believe that climate change is fake because they argue that it's still -10 degrees outside. That's the weather. Weather and climate are two very similar, but different things. Weather is the temperature of the current day. Climate is the temperature, precipitation rates, storm possibilities, and more. Climate tells us what the average weather will be for a certain time period. Over the years, we have seen the climate increase and more and more carbon dioxide gets released into the atmosphere.

If climate change is fake, then are the ice caps melting? Why are coral reefs going extinct? You may think that increasing the sea levels by 2 meters is nothing, but the effects are catastrophic. Many parts of the world including Florida, Miami, Bangkok, and more will be underwater. So what? Who cares about these cities? It's not about the cities. It's about the people. Who will pay for all the damage caused by these floods? Where will all the people populating the cities go? If we do not do something now, it will become much harder later to fix these problems.

Exactly, People really need to open their eyes nowadays, we are heading into a dark future. I hope to live in a future where my future grandkids will be able to see snow. I have a half-sister that dreams of seeing snow someday. As our carbon emissions go higher than ever recorded, I don't think it will be possible in the future unless we act now. Can you believe that after the industrial period, we have produced over 1,800 GtCO₂ which is 37.8 billion metric tons. How will we ever recover from this. As sea levels rise, i feel like more people are covering their eyes and ears as they don't believe this is really happening. 99% of scientists believe that climate change is real, but why don't the people believe? I'll tell you why; they are too scared to realize that us humans will go extinct in a matter of a few decades if we keep up our carbon emissions. There are ways we can reduce carbon, A bunch actually, but people live too lavish to care. If we can't do something about this right here and right now, our species is done. Mother nature can live without us. But we can't live without her.

Yeah, I strongly agree with what you guys are saying. We need to wake up to what climate change is doing to our planet,and not just in small places, like the pacific islands or the Maldives that don't really affect a large number of places, but everywhere. People have ignored the problem for so long, only because it didn't DIRECTLY impact their daily lives.And only now are people realising that this is real and they suddenly have to do something about it. But what about the people who have already been suffering for years, who had to move because rising sea levels made their country go extinct. These people have been trying to tell us for years that climate change is real, we are the problem, but we haven't listened until now. We all have to do something now to stop climate change before it's too late.

I like what you are saying about how it affects small islands more than other places and in those small islands they can actually see climate change affecting their lives but without the help of the whole world change is harder in small places even though larger countries may not be directly affected by the climate change if they don't do anything in the next century it might be too late for some places and a wake up call is needed for the whole world to take action

I am curious to learn about ocean acidification as i know little about it. It doesn't really seem like a problem caused by the increase of greenhouse gasses yet it is and could be just as much of a problem as increased temperatures or water levels. I want to learn more about how carbon dioxide can cause this issue.

I too am curious as to how ocean acidification because I don't know a whole lot about it but i do know that it is somehow affected. It affects Calcifying organisms—including oysters, clams, sea urchins, and corals—rely on carbonate ions to build and maintain their shells and skeletons. I also know that when CO2 dissolves in water, it forms carbonic acid, which breaks down into hydrogen ions.
So it is affected and could become more of a problem in the near future if we don't stop it.

Climate change causing temperature rises

Climate change is real and we only make it worse by disrupting the natural order.

After doing this carbon footprint test, I was honestly very shocked by my results. I did not expect my total footprint to be so high, especially when I compare it to the sustainable level mentioned in the results. What surprised me the most is the "home" category, which is extremely high compared to my region. It made me realize that things like electricity, water use, or even air conditioning probably have a much bigger impact than I thought. The
"food" category is also quite high, which shows that my diet and consumption habits play an important role in my environmental impact. Even if my "purchases" category is relatively low, I think it still shows that buying products has a hidden cost for the environment. As for transportation, my result is lower than the regional average, which is a bit reassuring, but it is still not low enough to be considered sustainable. Overall, this test made me understand that my lifestyle is more polluting than I imagined. It is quite worrying, but at the same time, it helps me see where I can improve, especially by reducing my energy use at home and being more careful about what I eat and consume.

i agree and my largest section for the foot print was home as well and was mostly contributed to by the light bulbs. to ensure our planet is not destroyed by us everything counts even turning off the lights when you leave the room

Stop wasting food, its bad for our carbon footpring

I agree with this, when we waste less food it can help climate change.

If my family has and uses less lightbulbs, it could decrease our carbon impact.

travel less or go on planes less

Stop wasting food

our planet is changing fast because of pollution and waste. if we all reduce trash and save energy. we can protect Earth for the future. small actions from everyone can make a big difference.

I 100 percent agree with what your saying because its true that our planet is changing fast due to all the pollution and waste. I think that if we all took climate change seriously we could make a big difference because we did start climate change so we can also finish the ongoing increase in carbon dioxide. If we don't stop climate change we could be majorly affected as humans in the future and also affect other populations (Animals). All of our small actions can make a difference but only if we all corporate.

Anybody have any ideas to reduce trash other than burning them or recycling?

We should start making all natural grocery stores that dont use plastic containers

That's a good idea. Maybe instead of plastic maybe some non-plastic mesh bags? Kind of like the ones at Michaels, you know what I mean?

Or like brown paper bag type of thing? I don't think that would cause that much of a cost difference and it would be SO MUCH BETTER for the environment. There are so many places that use plastic paper bags. I looked it up- 1-5 TRILLION plastic bags are used per year. That's so sad. Humans need to do better.

we should use compostable items or reusable items. i use reusable bags instead of plastic or paper.

Use reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones.

Climate change is caused by humans, fossil fuels and other things are causing climate to change

It is sad that all of it relates back to us. We should really be doing better.

Using gas stoves and the use of gas products like many things in the world cause major amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Also with the use of coal and natural gases it's even worse.

How much do my long showers affect the environment and my footprint?

I take hour long showers every day personally and don't see any problem with that.

jesus christ that wastes so much water, try to shorten it

I am not totally sure I think it wastes energy especially for heating hot showers.

you can save a ton of water even by shortening it by 10 minutes

Heating water uses most of the time gas.   
When burned it emits CO2 which traps heat. The most you should take is probably 10 minutes or less.

Hour long showers will use alot of water and electricity/gas, try setting a goal for shorter showers

I think 10-15 minute showers are the most reasonable. Taking up to 1 hour long showers is not the greatest idea because it wastes water and emits a lot more CO2 then you think.

Although some aspects of generative AI can appear to be very useful to our everyday life,  it’s benefits still should not overshadow the overall destruction it has caused to our planet. Of course, we can’t blame it all on the AI (a survey conducted in August of 2024 and ended by August of 2025 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that 44.6% of adults in the US use Generative AI regularly)as the many users on platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora AI, are the reason why AI takes up so much resources. According to the UN Enviorment Programme regarding what AI does to our environment ,“they use massive amounts of electricity, spurring the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases". We should focus on finding ways to decrease the amount of resources that AI uses to function, or better yet, we should minimize how much we use AI.

I see what you're saying, DANNYTHEOG, you also make some strong points. Generative AI is really helpful in our everyday lives, but its true that it also has a big impact on the environment. With so much people using AI tools nowadays, it makes sense that they use a lot of electricity. And like the UN Environment Programme said, all that energy use goes to more greenhouse gas emissions, which is not good for the planet for sure.

yes exactlyyy! it also discourages people from thinking for themselves, which only further prevents them from thinking abt sustainable solutions.

I feel like all generative AI is bad in the long run. Even for the useful, mundane, everyday tasks like replying to emails, the line still gets blurred--what defines how far we're willing to go to substitute human art of writing. Generative AI overall is overtly negative, and it's just not an expenditure that is affordable when we have less than ten years to get carbon emissions down below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. Unfortunately the easiness and comfort of AI has really put a spell on people.

Bro, what did Generative ai do to deserve this?

?ai data centers are using clean water to cool their machines, which is bad because it's wasting CLEAN water that could go to people that need it

I agree with Elijah ai was made by people and then imediattly got shamed for it. It has been nothing but useful for us

Ai is also bad for art and creativity.

I've been trying to use AI less because I feel it removes the accomplishment you get when you finish something

Sustainable City
I think sustainable cities are important for the future. Cities can do a lot to reduce carbon emissions, like improving public transportation and making it easier for people to walk or bike. If it’s easier and safer to bike or take the bus, more people will choose that instead of driving.
I also think cities should focus more on green spaces and renewable energy. For example, using solar panels and making buildings more energy efficient could help a lot. Small changes in how a city is planned can make a big difference over time.
In my opinion, both the government and the people living in the city need to work together to make it more sustainable.

Transportation and Flights
Transportation is a big part of carbon emissions, especially cars and airplanes. I realized that even if I don’t travel a lot, it still adds up. Flying is especially bad for the environment, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid.
I think I could make some small changes, like walking or biking more instead of always using a car. I could also try to use public transportation more often.
Even though these changes seem small, I think they can still help. If more people do the same, it could make a bigger difference.

I think improving public transport is very important because I live in a city with good and electric powered bus systems and I use the bus a lot.

With the rise of generative AI data centers, I worry that they could be bad for our environment. They use a lot of electricity and water to keep the computers running and cool. They also only are made in neighborhoods with more people of color, and I think our community should think more carefully about whether we really want more of these data centers being built. I think we should speak up and make sure both our environment and communities come first.

As summers get warmer, our wild life gets more and more scarce as we live large; and even if you don't someone else might be living large enough to cover the space you've tried to save. Which is why we need to start focusing on our individual actions, not collective. Think of it as 12 people write their names on bottle caps and throw them into a room then get sent to look for them, if each person looks for only their name it'd take hours! But if they all picked up each one they saw and handed it to who it belonged to, they'd be done way quicker. Like the example, if we all work together we'd get to reverse what we've already done so much more quicker.

Look up what your city's mayors email is and it should be there, then email them that YOU do care about our climate.

Why is plastic bad for the environment

Plastic doesn't decompose for a very long time.

Plastic is awesome i love what it does for the enivironment and how it decomposes. I personally drive a car with 5 mpg and have set two forest fires in my state. I love climate change

Plastic is really bad for to environment. It takes thousands of years to decompose and ends up as litter on land and in our oceans.

I feel like people who are not directly affected by severe weather events do not fully grasp how much of an effect climate change has on natural disasters. Seasonal hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes have become so normalized that unless they are destroying your city, most people will ignore the media coverage because they do not want to accept it as a result of climate change.

With climate change weathers are getting more extreme. Rainy days are getting rainer, windy days are getting windier etc. Which climate change creates more heat and faster cycles.

Climate change causes more extreme weather. Makes warmer oceans which causes hurricanes and dryer earth and soil which causes wildfires. Fires emit CO2 which traps heat and makes our earth warmer.

I think the UN had a great idea by setting those goals of improving universal welfare and making everyone's lives better. But I also think 2015 was a little greedy, by 2026, 11 years after the goal, pretty much none of these goals have been achieved.

if people like elon musk decided to invest in stopping world hunger, he could do it because he has enough money. we could also stop wasting food and give unwanted food to those who need it

I think otherwise because although his networth may be 1 trillion doesnt mean he has enough to spend and if he does it could negativly impact the world like extreme inflation and much more Co2 released

what foods require the most carbon footprint that are easy to cut out of your diet?

I didn't relies how much my food causes co2. if I eat less red meat and dairy it could have a big impact.

Climate change is very much real, but this topic does get me wondering. How much of climate change is truly caused by humans? What specific things cause the most climate change?

Yes, over 99 percent is caused by humans becuase of all the gas cars, stoves, and etc we use.

I learned that my carbon footprint is heavily impacted by travel, and I still wonder how much of the Co2 released is because of travelling