As I reflect on my daily habits and lifestyle choices, I cannot ignore the fact that my carbon footprint is pretty high. From the amount of energy I consume to the transportation I use, I recognize that I am contributing to the negative effects of climate change. It is time for me to take responsibility and make changes to remediate this impact. I will commit to reducing my energy consumption, using public transportation or walking instead of driving when possible, and recycling as much as I can. It is essential that I acknowledge my role in this issue and take proactive steps to reduce my carbon footprint for the benefit of our planet and future generations.

I totally agree with you on reflecting on my own carbon footprint. I also feel a bit guilty for my carbon footprint being very high as well. I really like how you're self-aware and list ways to plan on changing it; I think that's very inspiring. I wonder how your experience in a different country varies from the experience with carbon footprints in the US?

Hi! I love how you are taking action for your high footprint! I wish I lived in an area that I could do the same but it is just not feasible for me to do so. I already help out with my footprint because I do recycle, but it is the transportation that is getting me.

That's a fantastic attitude man! You're right, we have to take responsibility for our footprints, even the smaller ones as it all makes a difference. We always have room for improvement so I'm sure that we all will be working on those areas of our lives that we can change to benefit our world.

Best of luck to you, Razvan. That is the first step that all of us as inhabitants of this beautiful planet must do if we want to see change for the better. We must admit to our mistakes and change and improve. If we all do that together, then there is still time to save the world.

I agree with you completely. In day to day life we all use our cars frequently and don’t recycle bear as much as we should. Due to this we are not benefiting our environment in any way. Also walking/biking is always a great way to get exercise and reduce your carbon footprint.

Congratulations, the dedication is the hardest part now. You have realized where you could to better now it is time to execute. I also see myself driving a lot or even just sitting in my car wasting gas and hurting the environment. I also will try to either car pool or ride a bike to somewhere that is close enough to ride to.

I love how you are able to realize a problem you are making and fix it that is very important to decreasing carbon emissions. I am sure after making these lifestyle changes that your carbon foot print will decrease greatly. I hope this path towards a more environmentally friendly lifestyle works out well for you.

Hello! I love the self awareness from your post. You could not be more right, if everyone could use that attitude we would start to see some real change in the world. It seems to insignificant to just try and live your life a little differently to make a difference in the world. If everyone thinks that it doesn't matter if they contribute in small ways where they can because not enough people care about it then no progress is made. All it takes is recognizing where you go wrong and what you can improve to start little by little.

I agree with everything you said about thinking about my carbon effect. I also feel bad that my carbon effect is so big. I like that you know yourself and have a plan for how you're going to change. That's very inspiring. I'm eager in learning how your experience with carbon footprints in another country is different from your experience in the US.

Very good that you know that you need to take action to reduce your carbon footprint. Keep up the mindset and you'll have that number down in no time.

This is a great way to see it! While one person making some changes in their methods won't save the whole planet, if enough people take action and work on their footprints, we will see a difference. It would be much better for our environment if more people carried the same mindset as you. Keep working on it!

It is very admirable to not only see you reflect on your impact, but take action too. To take initiative and change how you do something is something that I believe more people should do. It seems a lot of people nowadays expect scientists or researchers to simply find a solution to global warming but don’t actually see their how much their own actions mean, and how much of a difference it would make if they tried. It is very hard sometimes to recognize when you are doing something bad and then have to change your ways when you have grown accustomed to it. I myself have a high carbon footprint as well and this inspires me to make a change too.

It’s really cool that you are taking action to change your carbon footprint! All the things you mentioned are all really good ways to do so. I really like what you said about acknowledging your role too. I hope many more people choose to acknowledge their role so that we can slow or even stop climate change.

I understand I do have my fair share of contributing to this negative effect. I often try to recycle us as much as possible I also use public transportation to get home and school but I do notice I use a lot of electricity. I am almost always on my phone when I turn on the lights when it is not needed. My solution is to stop being on my phone and go outside  and pick up trash if I see some and stop wasting energy.

Hi Razvan,
I'm glad i'm not alone when it comes to my carbon footprint being higher than expected on things in my life i can easily work on not doing or using as much,your we'll both be helping our earth out a lot, We got this!

I am also ashamed that my carbon footprint is high but alas, with the conditions of living nowadays, it is impossible to stop using all of the stuff we need.

Hi Razvan,
I'm glad i'm not alone when it comes to my carbon footprint being higher than expected on things in my life i can easily work on not doing or using as much,your we'll both be helping our earth out a lot, We got this!

It's so gratifying to see someone reflecting on the consequences their habits have on the environment.
It's important that we all recognise our impact, every single step is essential for the well-being of the planet.

Your initiatives are all good ways to reduce your footprint, you are an example for all of us to follow.

I can completely understand where you are coming from! It's refreshing to see someone who sees the issue of their carbon footprint and wants to fix it. I think that a lot of people should be this way and try to help fix this issue of the large amount of carbon in their footprints. When I was calculating my carbon use, I realized that there are a lot of things I should try to cut back on to help lower my carbon use. I now often feel a bit guilty for the amount of carbon I use in my day-to-day life and I want to strive for a better environment and try to find myself in a good mindset set as you have shown. I wonder how my carbon use would be different if I had been more aware of carbon and why it's bad for our environment.

I am glad that you have seen the impact that us humans have on the world. Although many of us may think that other people will handle this problem it is truly up to us in order to better the world ourselves.I have also felt this way through seeing how much power I use to play video games or how many lights I leave on in the house and I have also devoted my mind to think more about how I can be more sustainable and better the earth. according to an article published by the European Youth Portal they suggest that we eat less meat and if your willing to give that up then I think that is a great way in order to lower your carbon footprint, this is something I have worked on aswell

This takes a lot for some people to admit. I often feel guilty as to my carbon intake as well, Personally i have been trying less but i still use a good amount. It is admirable though that you can admit this and really try to take bigger steps. While it is also important to do what you can its also important to remember the role big cooperations. One big step you can take to help with reducing carbon as well is spreading word of how much these corporations put out. Try spreading knowledge about it to your community, or getting people to sign petitions. These are some other steps you can take to help with our carbon footprint.

I definitely agree with your view on this and it opens my eyes to be more aware of my carbon footprint. Being able to own up to these issues at a young age is a skill many people don't have. When you are aware of it young, it will benefit everyone in the future. We are the generation that can make or break our earth. I found it very interesting that even thought you are in a different country than me, we have very similar experiences with our feelings toward this issue.

Planes are a huge contribution to carbon emissions. For me personally and my carbon footprint, my transportation segment was up to 13,626kg which is very high considering the average in my region is 2,557kg. I was below average in all the other categories but transportation is what seemed to trip me up. According to sierraclub.org, just 2 people in a fairly efficient (30 mpg) car generates lower emissions per person than the average plane. To put this into perspective, one gallon of gas produces 19.37 pounds of carbon dioxide, and one gallon of jet fuel produces 21.50 pounds. Although plane rides are sometimes inevitable and we cannot completely avoid them, it is important to sometimes think about alternative options to flying and really run through how much CO2 the plane you're onis emitting into the atmosphere.

Plane rides are one of the most carbon-emitting ways of transportation. From my personal carbon footprint, my transportation section was up around 6,000 kgs more than normal because I took many plane rides around the world. According to billiontrees.com, a plane emits around 90 kg of C02 per hour. To put that into perspective a normal car emits around 1 kg of C02 per hour. Planes emit way more carbon because they burn a lot more fossil fuels than any other type of transportation. A plane like a Boeing 747 uses approximately 1 gallon (about 4 liters) of fuel every second. Although it is hard to avoid plane rides, the next time you are on a plane think about how much carbon the plane is emitting into the

There are therefore profound ways in which students can adopt the following to help to reduce their carbon footprint. One of the ways of converting it is through the transformation of physical resources to digital resources for academic work. For instance: Instead of re-printing out numerous drafts of a potential dissertation students can use online platforms and services. Instructors who require assistance to complete their work can easily look for services and get quality services by simply searching Google for Buy Dissertation Uk to help you get the best services as an instructor while remaining environmentally friendly. Students also save trees when they use computers as they replaced the drain of energy and cutting down trees during the writing process.

I greatly agree with this statement. replacing physical resources to digital resources really could make a difference with reducing our carbon footprint by not using certain physical sources, like papers and such. Considering paper is more cheap than digital devices, do you think money could be a roadblock to this carbon footprint solution, considering some countries may not have the money to provide these digital resources? as stated in many sources, some countries do not provide money for education, like Comoros, where education spending is around 2.4% of the total GDP. In addition, At my old school, we could not afford enough computers for every class, resulting to most of our work being done on paper. Your idea displayed can definitely help many schools and students around the world reduce their carbon footprints, but I do think money could be a big factor between whether certain schools and students can or cannot switch to this decision.

source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/25-count … otal%20GDP.

In this world, people are still learning about the problems for combustion engines, and transportation such as cars planes and buses that have on the for the fossil fuels to our atmosphere. All transportation run by combustion engines releases mass amounts of fossil fuels into our atmosphere, which leads to climate change due to greenhouse gasses. Planes especially have a contribution to the fuels, since they are huge and need lots of power to take off and maintain speed while flying. Also, with millions of cars on the streets daily, fossil fuels are also being released at an alarming rate. Even electric vehicles require a lot of energy to produce which causes the release of fossil fuels. There are a few possibilities to where we can fix this problem. For one, taking public transportation is one of the best ways to begin shortening our carbon footprint. Two, buying electric vehicle takes a huge step from combustion engines, which will extremely shorten our carbon footprint. Although they require a lot of energy to produce, if used long enough, they are more efficient than combustion engines. And finally, making commercial electric planes will help reduce the carbon footprint of many travelers.

Clothing and purchases are a huge issue relating to carbon emissions. Not only do factories release harmful gasses into the air, but it is hard or almost impossible for the materials used to decompose. According to airly.org, factories emit lots of pollutants into the air, a main one being green house gases, which mainly consist of carbon dioxide. Especially this day in age, keeping up with the trends is super important, but at what cost? People need clothes, but many purchases people make are just wants to have more. But, the more people buy, the more impact it has on our environment. 10% of carbon emissions are due to fast fashion industries. This really has me thinking, is my next purchase worth it? What do you think? Next time I will try to think before I buy.

Schimbările climatice reprezintă modificări semnificative ale climei Pământului într-o perioadă lungă de timp. Există o mare consens în comunitatea științifică că schimbările climatice sunt reale și sunt cauzate în principal de activitățile umane. Emisiile de gaze cu efect de seră, cum ar fi dioxidul de carbon, provenite din arderea combustibililor fosili, precum cărbunele, petrolul și gazele naturale, contribuie la creșterea temperaturilor globale. Defrișarea masivă a pădurilor este, de asemenea, un factor important. Aceste schimbări climatice pot avea consecințe grave asupra mediului și societății, inclusiv creșterea nivelului mărilor, fenomene meteorologice extreme și pierderea biodiversității. Este important să conștientizăm aceste probleme și să luăm măsuri pentru a reduce emisiile de gaze cu efect de seră și a proteja planeta noastră.

Vehicles such as cars are a big part of getting around in the present day. But the carbon footprint they leave is huge. Gas cars release about 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, as more cars are bought and produced the number quickly climbs. About 60% of Americans don't take public transportation or other forms of more environmentally acceptable transportation. Instead choosing to take their cars to travel, around 79% being gas cars. Instead, promoting public transportation or other forms of eco friendly transportation can support the ecosystem. Replacing travel with a gas car with public transportation reduces 45% of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, doing the same with a bike or walking can further help.

One major habitat that is hugely impacted by an increase in temperatures is the coral reef. These groups of reefs serve as home to many incredibly diverse species. However, as the ocean temperatures rise due to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the corals go through a process called "bleaching." Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a kind of single-celled dinoflagellate called zooxanthellae. The zooxanthellae live inside the corals, giving them their vibrant colors and energy through photosynthesis while the corals protect the organisms. As the temperature of the ocean rises, the corals experience stress due to the shift in their environment, leading them to release the zooxanthellae. This rids them of their beautiful colors (hence the "bleaching" part) and their main source of food. So, as these corals starve and eventually die, all of the organisms that rely on the reefs as a habitat are also affected, effectively destroying an entire ecosystem. When such an important ecosystem is impacted so strongly, the rest of the world will be affected in some way, so it is vital that coral bleaching is stopped and measures are put in place to protect the reefs and other environments affected by climate change.

I agree, coral bleaching is a very serious problem impacting our oceans, and there needs to be action to fight the massive disruptions to coral reef ecosystems. For example, many species are getting pushed out of coral reef ecosystems or having to adapt to their changing habitats. Invasive species, like lionfish, are also becoming a problem in these habitats. Research by NOAA outlines the effects of invasive lionfish on coral reefs and how they add to the stress of coral reefs.

There is clearly a correlation between the two situations. in 1980 NOAA recorded an average ocean surface temperature of 0.25 degrees celsius. In 2022 the recorded an average of around 0.7 degrees celsius. Below is an image comparing images from the Great Barrier Reef from 1980 to 2020.
[img]file:///C:/Users/Findley/Downloads/338_2021_2144_Fig1_HTML.pdf[/img]

Degradarea mediului înconjurător este un proces lent, dar sigur. În prezent, poluarea și epuizarea resurselor naturale reprezintă probleme ce afectează o mare parte din populația planetei.
A venit vremea să conștientizăm faptul că resursele naturale NU sunt interminabile și că orice mică acțiune pe care o exercităm asupra mediului înconjurător, cum ar fi simpla aruncare a unui ambalaj pe stradă, va avea consecințe negative.
Iată cum puteți contribui la protejarea mediului înconjurător:
1. Nu mai aruncați gunoaie pe jos!
Pentru început, adoptați un comportament ecologic prin a evita să mai aruncați gunoaiele direct pe stradă. Există recipiente speciale pentru colectarea deșeurilor, amplasate în fiecare oraș. Fiți cetățeni responsabili și încurajați reciclarea materialelor din sticlă, hârtie și plastic, plasând deșeurile în pubelele corespunzătoare.
2. Dacă dețineți o fabrică sau o firmă care poluează mediul prin arderea materiei brute, asigurați-vă că apelați la serviciile companiilor care se ocupă de colectarea și reciclarea deșeurilor industriale, cum ar fi GREENGlobal, pentru a reduce gradul de poluare.
3. Conduceți mai rar!
Mașinile poluează EXTREM de mult prin arderea combustibilului și evacuarea acelui fum negru și toxic, care este atât de nociv pentru mediul înconjurător.

Although you may think that public transit can give off more carbon due to things like trains and subways being much bigger than the average car, that is actually not the case. Especially with big family cars like S.U.V.s, the standards car companies have to meet is much lower than the criteria that average public transit has to follow. Public Transit is made to have their vehicles emit less and less carbon every year, something that most companies do not follow. According to newyorker.com, car companies are able to classify S.U.V.s as trucks, making it so the window of carbon they are allow to emit is much larger than the average car. To conclude, yes more public transit is a solution to help stop climate change of carbon emissions.

If I had my own home, something I would do to make it more energy efficient would be remembering to turn the lights off every time I leave the house and I won't be back for a significant amount of time.  I would get my electricity from solar panels that I would put up myself attached to the roof, and make sure to put up just enough so that I would solely need the energy produced by the solar panels to survive successfully in my home.
My house would be located somewhere near a city, so it would take less carbon emission to go places every time I had to go somewhere. I would also live somewhere by public transit so that it would be more eco-friendly to take the bus or the bart train once in a while. I would grow my own food in a garden in my backyard, so I wouldn't be wasting food or money.

There is a big difference between the wants and needs. Stuff like water, shelter, food, clothes, etc. Needs are flashy shoes, high end computer, the newest phone or devices. Buying excess wants can lead to waste of resources and cause pollution because of the creation of our wants. Needs are the things we need to survive in our life. Wants can cause extra things that we don't need which becomes a waste. Having a lot of waste can cause unnecessary pollution to our Earth.

Pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death. Pollution causes more than 9 million premature deaths, the majority of them due to air pollution. That’s several times more deaths than from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Air pollution is the leading environmental risk to health, causing 7 million premature deaths each year. This is equivalent to the number of people that have died from COVID-19 since March 2020. Pollution of all types hinder development outcomes. Air pollution, exposure to lead and other chemicals, and hazardous waste including exposure to improper e-waste disposal, cause debilitating and fatal illnesses, create harmful living conditions, and destroy ecosystems. Pollution stunts economic growth, exacerbates poverty and inequality in both urban and rural areas, and significantly contributes to climate change. Poor people, who cannot afford to protect themselves from the negative impacts of pollution, end up suffering the most. More than 95 percent of deaths caused by air pollution occur in low- and middle- income countries. In individual countries, the economic burden of pollution associated with premature mortality and morbidity is also significant, equivalent to 5 to 14 percent of countries' GDPs. Recent evidence points to the similar devastation caused by exposure to harmful chemicals, such as lead. In 2019, more than 5.5 million adults died from cardiovascular disease arising from lead exposure. 90% of these deaths occurred in lower- and middle-income countries. In the same year, children younger than 5 years of age lost 765 million IQ points. Lead exposure costs countries $6 trillion, equivalent to 6.9% of global GDP. It is critical to address pollution because of its unacceptable toll on health and human capital, as well as associated GDP losses. Pollution management can also make substantial contributions to climate change mitigation through actions such as reduction of black carbon and methane emissions, which contribute to both air pollution and climate change. In addition, pollution management can enhance competitiveness, for example, through job creation, better energy efficiency, improved transport, and sustainable urban and rural development.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poll … 20combined.

It really depends on what the want is.  For example, electric cars (Teslas) are made to lower the amount of carbon emission out of cars.  But the trade off is that when the lithium for the batteries is mined, then it emits 15 tons of carbon as well.  Sometimes it is alright to pollute if it will help the earth in another way but most of the time we should not pollute our planet for our material wants.

Needs are something that every person has, and as time goes on these needs will be completely different from 100 years ago. Everyone needs water, shelter, and food, but as time goes on it becomes more necessary for adults to have things such as smart phones and cars in order to keep their other basic needs. While these things do cause extra waste they still are necessary for people to have in a modern society. So to combat this it's important that people make use of these things for long periods of time making sure they use their phones for multiple years and possibly utilize electric cars in order to reduce their carbon output.

Clothing and fashion are two of my biggest interests, yet what is happening behind the scenes? According to NRDC anywhere from 4-8.6% of carbon emissions are from clothing production. I love to go thrift shopping and try to reuse clothes as much as possible, due to the fact that the fast fashion industry is a significant contributor to the climate crisis, responsible for as much as 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions; and waste nearly 97 million tons of clothing. Are these trends so important that you should value them more than mother earth? NO! Next time you walk into a store to purchase a clothing item, think of how much carbon has been emitted to create it. Is it really worth it?

Over the past couple of weeks I have been learning about carbon and the atmosphere, but this calculator really put the amount of CO2 into perspective for me. Our lifestyles, especially in America, are so damaging to the atmosphere and most of the things we do to contribute in this way are not worth the effects. Things such as buying unnecessary clothes, eating at fast food chains such as mcdonalds and starbucks. I, like most people my age, enjoy these things however, when I calculated my carbon footprint a big portion of it was due to shopping or driving an unnecessary amount. When everyone has as big of a carbon footprint as me, and I am sure most do, we cause tremendous damage to our atmosphere and everything on this Earth. So I ask again, is it worth it?

The problem of food scarcity for many people has persisted for at least 50 years, if not longer. There are areas on Earth where people literally die of hunger and receive aid only from humanitarian organizations, which, of course, cannot solve this huge problem on their own. Additionally, in recent years, even in the wealthiest countries, there has been an increase in poverty, which, of course, leads to difficulties in accessing food.

To solve this problem, both internal and external, there should be a massive economic commitment from the wealthier countries. While they work to address the internal issue of poverty and food shortages, they seem to completely ignore those countries where people are dying of hunger. Only the wealthy part of the world could currently make a difference by providing real economic aids and educational support to help these countries make the most of their limited resources.

In some of these countries, it is also unfortunate to note that the political situation plays a role, with extremist governments refusing foreign aids.

I totally agree with these statements and believe that these government officials should be doing something about the amount of food waste, and amount of hunger that is contributing to the overall human carbon footprint. According to a recent study done by CarbonBrief.org, it says that about ⅓ of the world’s carbon emissions come from food production through to consumption. Also, about half of one-third comes directly from food waste. It is absolutely crazy to me that so many people in the world are starving, while others throw away so much food. Also the ISCFC website under the food waste and hunger category, it says that about 1 in 7 people in the entire world are affected by malnutrition and do not have enough food or access to food. Many large countries such as the United States contribute a lot to food waste as it says, on average, the US wastes 60 million tons of food each year. That is simply not okay. In contrast, many countries in Africa are affected by starvation and malnutrition. People need to stop ignoring these facts and help out so that we can make a difference. If we stop wasting food altogether, others who truly need the food can have it, which would lessen the carbon footprint of food waste.

I agree with your statement, world hunger is a real problem and it is scary knowing that people don't acknowledge the plight. Food waste contributes to major problems like world hunger and carbon footprints contributing to Global warming. The ideal carbon footprint is 6000-16000 pounds of greenhouse gases per person per year, due to global warming this isn't a realistic number for us but with food waste the production of gases is the same as 32.6 million cars worth of harmful greenhouse gases. I feel like people should be more aware of this problem because one of the many steps that will lead us to try to end world hunger/food waste is to freeze our leftover food if we don't eat it completely. Once we learn how to save our leftovers and not discard them right away, we will not only be able to stop food waste but also take advantage of the precious resources that sometimes we take for granted and help stop emitting greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Bringing awareness to this topic is major because a large population with fewer resources are not able to get food which can lead them to hunger.

I agree that food scarcity is a growing issue that we need to combat. According to worldvision.org 45 million children are dangerously malnourished. This issue is especially prevalent in Asia and Africa. Wealthier countries should be focused on helping these less fortunate countries in providing food to people because together we can solve this issue. According to usda.org production, transportation, and handling of food contributes a significant amount to Carbon emissions. Living in a more fortunate country, we often waste food or take it for granted.

I agree that food scarcity is expanding in places of the world and it is effecting a lot of people leaving them in jeopardy. For example in Sudan 20.3 million people are starving and it has doubled since last year. Along with that, since 2019, the number of people facing acute food insecurity has tripled from 5.8 million to almost 18 million. But some of the saddest reasons is how the International aid is arriving in Sudan but it's being blocked by the military from reaching areas where starvation is severe.

-Christian Sanchez BOD27

I completely agree! World hunger is such a layered topic, especially since it seems there is not much we can do to stop it. I think people have this idea that big issues cannot be affected by one singular person, and while I totally agree with this, I also think that if everybody chooses to ignore this and instead work towards creating a better, more sustainable world, then we can reverse the effects of climate change. World hunger is a big issue because it is one that negatively impacts both people and the planet. According to the World Health Organization (or WHO), in 2021 alone, 828 million people faced world hunger. That's almost 10% of the world's population. To deal with this issue, many people think that we should produce more food because not enough food is being produced to feed everyone. This, however, is false. The World Counts stated that roughly 30% of the food that is produced is wasted. Thats 1.3 billion tons. In other words, if we redirected the food that was previously going to be wasted to hungry individuals, we would be able to feed everyone who is hungry around the world and still have some left over. In order to get to the root of this issue, we must change the way so many of us live. This means committing to purchasing only what you are sure will be consumed. Lowering the demand for food results in lower prices, which would allow for more accessible food globally. Additionally, grocery stores should be accessible to everyone, not just individuals who live in a certain area. By allowing access to healthy, budget-friendly, environmentally safe foods, people who previously relied on fast food industries will cut down on their carbon emissions both because they wouldn't have to drive as far to access clean food, but also because they would be purchasing organic foods rather than fast food, which is worse for the environment. This is extremely important because according to Our World in Data, around 25-30% of the world's carbon emissions come from the food industry. Has this number come up before? Yes, the % of food that is wasted. As food decays, it releases previously stored carbon, so by reducing the amount of food waste, we will actually reduce the carbon footprint of the food industry. In summation, it is imperative that we work towards directing unpurchased or (what would have been) wasted food to places in a state of insecurity to not only better the lives of those individuals, but also minimize the impact of the food industry's carbon footprint on global warming.

Major company’s such as Zara, Starbucks, Coca Cola etc. claim to be more environmentally friendly than they in fact are. In order to avoid facing repercussions for their negligence. This creates a false narrative that they are not causing as much damage to the environment as originally thought. Even in my community we see green washing within what our schools invest in for scholarship money. So a small group of students including myself have started a discussion about divestment, and making sure the company’s we invest in are environmentally friendly. In order to enact true change we need to know what we are dealing with first, and Green washing is preventing that.

Greenwashing is a huge issue, especially for big companies who want to flaunt being environmentally friendly so people will be more willing to buy from them. The Federal Trade Commision website has a great guide for criteria for consumers who are looking to buy from a genuinely green company. It also makes it easy for companies to understand what practices they need to change in order to be more friendly to the planet. If anyone is interested in this info, it can be found at: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/ … een-guides

I totally agree with this. I think its so sad how companies such as the ones you mentioned above are lying to people. It also sucks that people think they are doing good by supporting those brands that are claiming to be green but instead of helping make the CO2 levels better, its just getting worse. I am glad that there has been something created that lets people know what companies really are green. Even though websites like this exist, so many people still do not realize that they are being lied to and may go on forever buying from these brands. I hope that your websites as well as others can continue to have awareness being spread about them so that as many people as possible can help limit their CO2 levels.

In my science and environment class, we have been learning about climate change and how we contribute to it. Based on the calculator my most above-average category was transportation. Because me and my family travel a lot by car, plane, and other ways we have gone above average. One thing we have done correctly is having an electric car. This helps to put less carbon in the air. Now that I know I have contributed to this problem more than others, I have to find better ways to bring it down. Things I have found that could help is traveling by things you need to move physically. Another category that was above average was food. During class, we found out that certain foods release more carbon than others, and those foods seem to be the ones I consume more. One of the strategies that was offered in class was to take a day out of the week to not eat those types of food to help contribute as much. Now that I am aware of how I harm and ways I can undo the harm and help, I will try to do better with the choices I choose in my daily life.

Clothing is one thing I truly enjoy, but at what cost? I love shopping but after my class took the carbon footprint calculator I realized clothing is such a huge contribution to carbon emissions. According to NRDC anywhere from 4-8.6% of carbon emissions are from clothing production. I talk about how I love to buy second-hand or used clothes however as much as I would like to think I mostly thrift, I have many new clothes from stores that contribute to fast fashion. Are these new clothes really something I need to be getting? Finding clothes from thrift stores is much more friendly to the environment because you are actually taking out of the 92 million tons of clothing thrown away each year. When I'm out shopping I often think "buying just one top won't hurt the environment" but in actuality the amount of people that have the exact same thought as me is what causes extreme rates of carbon in the atmosphere. Next time I'm at a store and I want to buy a shirt, I really need to think about carbon emissions that have gone into our atmosphere due to the production of this clothing item and how many clothing items have been produced along with it.

Clothing is one thing I truly enjoy, but at what cost? I love shopping but after my class took the carbon footprint calculator I realized clothing is such a huge contribution to carbon emissions. According to NRDC anywhere from 4-8.6% of carbon emissions are from clothing production. I talk about how I love to buy second-hand or used clothes however as much as I would like to think I mostly thrift, I have many new clothes from stores that contribute to fast fashion. Are these new clothes really something I need to be getting? Finding clothes from thrift stores is much more friendly to the environment because you are actually taking out of the 92 million tons of clothing thrown away each year. When I'm out shopping I often think "buying just one top won't hurt the environment" but in actuality the amount of people that have the exact same thought as me is what causes extreme rates of carbon in the atmosphere. Next time I'm at a store and I want to buy a shirt, I really need to think about carbon emissions that have gone into our atmosphere due to the production of this clothing item and how many clothing items have been produced along with it.

Recently my whole grade took this footprint calculator, and the following question was then asked all around the school; "what was your footprint"? While it may be easier to joke about how high or low someones score it is important that we actually think about these numbers and how they affect the world around us. Looking at my score I was struck by how the averages compared to my personal numbers. I will admit that many of my choices are not based on how eco-friendly they are, but more based on how convenient when it comes to transport and how cute when it comes to shopping. Both of my parents work is surrounding climate change, so growing up I was constantly being encouraged to make the choice that was more climate friendly. I often ignored this, if my friends parent offered me a ride home I was going to take it, or if I thought a shirt was cute it was a given I was going to buy it, even if I didn't NEED that ride or shirt. In the future I will strive to base my choices more on how it affects the planet.

What is the difference between wants and needs? In my opinion, wants are things that I can live without, but needs are things I can’t. For example, water, food, clothes are obvious needs. But what about those shoes that you want, do actually need them? If you have no shoes then yes, but what about those shoes sitting at the back of the shoe closet. Buying whatever you want and getting sick of it is just a waste of money and material. Prioritizing needs over wants ensures efficient resource allocation. Indulging in wants without consideration can lead to wasteful consumption. Being mindful of consumption habits not only benefits finances but also reduces environmental impact and promotes sustainability. Therefore, before indulging in a want, assess its alignment with needs and values.

I agree. Things that are essential to life, such as food, water, and shelter, are called needs. Conversely, desires are items we would want to have, including toys, new technology, and more. Most of the items we purchase, including pricey clothing and other items, wind up in a landfill. Anything that we use and eventually breaks or grows too tiny ends up in a landfill. Over 92 million tons of apparel end up in landfills, according to the report. This is due to fast fashion. Fast fashion is very common these days and shops like ZARA, H&M, and TOPSHOP are the biggest producers of it. This is why we have to consider when we buy clothes. Be reasonable. Don't buy clothes every single day.

Wants and needs vary, a simple definition is needs being things you must have to survive most which fit under the criteria of food, rent/mortgage things that are necessities. While wants are simply things you want to have could be a game console, a new tv or some snacks. The separation between wants and needs is that the more necessities or needs that you have the more money or time/effort you have to put into it which in some cases causes more pollution which isn't good. Aswell as adding to that with your wants, the more wants the worse it can be. So ultimately your wants and needs can affect your pollution and your carbon footprint. They can affect it with things such as lights.Also anything that affects energy can add to your footprint. As well leaving a tv on and running adds to your footprint which in some cases are wants like when you want to watch tv and then your done and leave it on it constantly adds up more and more and other things like food the more snacks and stuff you buy just because you want it also adds to your footprint. As well as your purchases this adds as well and driving around. All these things add to your footprints and can be affected by how you use them for your car. Maybe you have to drive to work but after you want to go to McDonalds, that's a want that affects the pollution. Maybe you're at the grocery store and you see some clothes that you want that affect your carbon footprint.

I 100% agree. Wants and needs are completely separate things. While food, water, oxygen, and shelter from the elements are things that we could not live without, there are so many things that we use that are unnecessary. In California, USA, the average person uses 1,191 kgs of CO2 on purchases alone. I use 119 kgs of CO2 alongside my purchases. I know that a lot of those purchases are unnecessary and I also know that it will be higher when I have to pay for everything myself, however, this is just to show the high level of wants vs needs in the world, specifically the USA and my own state.

I think that there is a part of me that wants to fuel my want, and another part that tells me to not be wasteful. I 100% agree that needs are what should be prioritized and that we should be mindful of every purchase we make, but there are some times where being frivolous is good if regulated. I think even if purchase causes waste, we can still balance the slightly unnecessary buying habits and the waste that we produce, maybe just to twice a year or something like that. Knowing that a balance between these two is the ultimate want, It begs the question- Which should/can we choose first, the fulfillment of human want, or the necessity of global cleanliness? I think that this is what the world is struggling to work past. the general public, governments, people in power, i feel, have been taking the easy route. they have been focusing on themselves and what directly affects them or their group in this moment, which is not always what we should be thinking about. they have only scraped the surface of what it means to have a balance of the two in the last couple years, and even through all the protesting and attention that this movement is getting, it just isn't enough. I know that once the necessity of global cleanliness has caught up to the people in power who chose to step aside, who chose to deal with other matters first, will be then facing a problem that they cannot handle. this is what scares me.

I agree as well. Nowadays, with social media constantly advertising new products and steadily generating new trends everyday, our consumption numbers have gone up significantly. This has caused our carbon footprint to increase. Content creators are constantly displaying a plethora of new clothes and “trendy” items they purchase consistently and influencing their thousands of followers to do the same. In my own personal experience, I see influencers on social media buy frivolous pieces of clothing that are an example of fast fashion. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, fast fashion is, “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.” In other words it is cheap, poor-quality clothing, made quickly to keep up with the trends being perpetuated by social media. This clothing is not sustainable because of its poor quality and because it is a part of a trend that will most likely “go out of style” within the next few months. Once one trend fades, another is created and the cycle continues. People will continue participating in fast fashion to keep up with the trends, just to throw away those clothes in the subsequent months. All this clothing is being quickly produced and just as quickly thrown away takes a humongous toll on our carbon footprint. Giving into these trends and purchasing unneeded clothing is leading to wasteful consumption.

I agree with everything that has been said on this thread but I would like to add the aspect of how influencers can cause us to make "impulse purchases". When we see someone we really like to watch advertise a product on social media it causes us to have a more biased take on the product, as if one of our own friends had recommended it, we feel like because this "internet famous" person owns and loves this product, and since they are recommending it then it must really be a good product. But their praise may cause us to cloud our view of if the product is actually worth it or not. Many influencers just advertise products for the money even if they don't like the product and see it as a useless item. I would recommend everyone having their own unique checklist as to what is worthy to buy and what is not, and just because an influencer praises something doesn't mean it should meet your checklist. By making these impulse buys just because we saw it online and it is easy to order through amazon, we waste our time, the workers time, our money and precious resources which are limited to this world. Every time we make an unnecessary purchase we have a bigger impact on the earth because of the carbon footprint from that item being made, transported, and then dumped into a landfill. We need to cut these purchases out of our lives.

I concur. The things we need to survive, like food, water, and shelter, are known as needs. On the other hand, the things we desire, such as toys, new gadgets, and more, fall under the category of wants. Unfortunately, most of the items we purchase, including expensive clothing, end up in landfills. Anything we use that eventually breaks or becomes too small is also discarded.

I definitely agree. Purchasing things you don't need, such as clothes and other products, to merely stay "on trend" is wasteful and has a bigger impact than you think. The transportation and shipment involved in each purchase contribute to these carbon emissions. From the resources used in the production to the emissions generated during transportation, each step contributes to its overall environmental footprint. According to BBC.com, "The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global emissions." Most of this impact comes from raw materials such as cotton, synthetic materials, oil, and chemicals from dyes. These wants are nonessential, while our needs are crucial to human survival in today’s society. These needs include food, water, shelter, and healthcare. Prioritizing these necessities is vital for people to live fulfilling and dignified lives.

Reflecting on my family's footprint, I did not realize that the contributors to carbon were either extreme or did not make much of a difference. Throughout the test I would take note on how much that certain category would contribute, and most times it would be shocking. Most of the time, I had previous knowledge from others such as teachers and my dad, but I never knew it would be that much. For example, I never thought water usage in showers would count for so much. I always had knowledge that the amount of water one uses wastes clean water, but I never thought it would be so huge in regards to carbon. Another question I was shocked at was my diet, not being vegetarian. I never knew that what you eat contributed to over a fifth of my footprint. I would like to know why/what causes it to be so high.

Over the past few classes, my class and I have learned about climate change and how our lifestyles contribute to the problem. As an assignment we took it upon ourselves to take a carbon footprint quiz. My carbon footprint was 6,269, which is under average of the region I live in. I learned that the average carbon input is 9,727kgs in California. Though my carbon input is low, I can easily change my eating habits to make it even lower. The amount of carbon it takes to process red meat is 36x the amount it takes to process poultry. If I make the switch from eating red meat to poultry, my carbon input will lower significantly. My family is very energy conservative, so I have gotten used to turning off the lights and stop the faucet when not in use. Another way I can reduce my input is by stop purchasing from fast fashion companies and start shopping at thrift stores. If everyone in the world could make a few changes in their life, the state of our climate could improve so much. I watched this video by Amanda Gorman who is a poet and activist, it really motivated me to make a difference in the world.

In a world up to 783 million people, 1 in 10 of the world’s population, faces food hunger.
1. Food insecurity is increasing at an alarming rate: In 2022, nearly 258 million people across 58 countries experienced and faced starvation or worse.
2. Major drivers of hunger: COVID-19, weather conditions, and conflicts around the world. Conflicts/Wars was the main cause. For example, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Syria.
3. The WAR IN UKRAINE: As Ukraine is a major exporter of cereal grains and sunflower oil, it disrupted global food supplies. Rising food prices, energy price, and growing financial crisis all increased hunger risks.

YOU CAN HELP END WORLD HUNGER BY DONATING!!

I agree with this. Sadly, so many people around the world don't have enough food. There are lots of reasons for this, like fights, bad weather, and now, the problems caused by the war in Ukraine. We all need to pitch in to help. Giving money or other help can make a big difference. If we all work together to fix the main problems and help right away, we can make sure everyone has enough to eat and make the world safer for food for everyone. In my old school, we would have canned food drives. We would make it a competition so everyone can participate.

I agree that the current problems in this war like war contribute to world hunger. People in these countries are suffering from no housing and destruction of farms and livestock. People like me can help by donating food to the people in need. Students can participate in food drives at there school or participating in gardening and donating that food to the people who need it.

I agree with this. World hunger is a complex issue, it is worsened by the world conflict like the war in Ukraine, the Genocides across the world. Displaced people, farms being destroyed and supply chains being disrupted leaving people struggling to find food. People all around the world can participate by donating to food drives and providing food and money could help this sad issue.

Over the past couple of days, I have learned about climate change and carbon emissions
in my science class. Using the Carbon Footprint calculator, I realized how much carbon
I emitted through travel. Travel has a lot of importance to my family, and I am very
blessed to be able to explore places around the world. But I realized how much my
carbon footprint increased after I inputted in my flights. The amount of carbon that
flights create made me reflect on how many people fly unconsciously, without knowing
how much carbon they emit. Though there isn't a more reduced way of travel for some
people, I hope we humans find a way to make travel more effective and sustainable. I
also realized that the home section of my calculated carbon footprint was high. This
is because my house is older and has older appliances that weren't considered harmful
when the house was built. With this knowledge, I thought about how many houses are as
old or older than mine in the U.S.. I then wondered what the difference in carbon
footprint is between older homes and newer homes. overall, I wonder how we will
approach this problem, and what solutions humans will create in the future.

Climate change is real and humans are the cause. Things that we use everyday like vehicles emit carbon into the air which is a green house gas. Greenhouse gasses trap some heat in the earth's atmosphere and too many greenhouse gasses make the planet overheat leading to climate change. In my research, carbon has been more prominent in areas with machines, and less prominent in areas with trees because trees take in carbon and produce oxygen. If we start relying less on machines, we can reduce our carbon output and help prevent climate change.

Compared to the carbon footprint that the world needs in order to maintain a stable climate (1,000kgs per year) my own footprint is approximately 12 times as much. However, my total is only 1.3 times as much as the average Californian. My food was the highest of my carbon emissions with a total of 4,900kgs followed by transportation at 4,600kgs. There are many ways that I can reduce my food emissions. An example would be limiting or substituting my red meet consumption from my diet. I could also buy food locally from a farmers market to reduce the processing and shipping costs that use a lot of energy. As for transportation, I might need to take fewer long distance trips to cut down on my transportation emissions. Regarding home energy use, my family uses solar panels. However, there are a few things we can do to reduce our energy use. Improve insulation and keep the thermostat at a lower temperature in the winter, and a high temperature in the summer to save on energy. There are many excellent sources on global warming and the steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. Two that I found especially useful are from "Sustainability at Georgetown University" and "AustinTexas.gov".

I can definitely relate to this for several reasons. First, my carbon footprint(13,034kgs) is about 34 percent higher than the average Californian(9,727kgs). I think this is mostly due to my high totals of transportation and food. Even though I take the bus to school regularly, I had many flights, which accounted for most of my transportation footprint. I could limit this by going on more road trips when I have the opportunity to. The reason for my food value is that I eat red meat in many of my meals and don't have many vegetarian meals. I could change this by keeping a close eye on the amount of red meat I can eat. Since my family has solar panels our house footprint is around the average amount but we can limit our use of the central AC and heating. We can limit this by utilizing our windows more often throughout the years.

While calculating my family footprint I noticed how small my carbon emissions for my house are compared to the average. This led me to believe my total carbon emissions would be low. But when I got to the transportation section I realized that when my family travels we admit much more carbon than the average family even with having an electric car. For my calculation, I was way over the normal transportation average because of how many plane flights I have been on this year. When you add that total for each one of my family members, that is a lot of carbon emissions. It is interesting to see in other posts in this discussion how other families have most of their carbon emissions coming from either their food or their home. This just shows how different lifestyles cause different types of emissions. The most effective thing to reduce my household carbon emissions it to either not travel as much or find alternatives to planes when traveling. However, for transportation, my family will often try and carpool to reduce our emissions.

I definitely relate to this. I thought that my family's carbon emissions would be a lot lower than other people. When I got my results back, I noticed that most of my carbon emissions came from my home and transportation. My family travels a lot, which I love, but the amount of carbon used when we fly is a little concerning. We went on a lot of plane trips this past year, which really added up. I also noticed that my home carbon use was higher than average. I hate that these two categories are completely out of my control, because although my carbon use for food and purchases was below average, home and transportation, which are typically not controlled by me, were way above normal. I also agree that it is very interesting to see just how different people’s lifestyles translate to carbon use. I have noticed that everyone is very different when it comes to how much carbon we produce, but what is the most devastating is that we are all to blame for excess carbon emissions. I have noticed around my home town that people in poverty are more likely to produce more carbon from food and home than an upper middle class person, and a rich person is more likely to produce more carbon from purchases and transportation than someone in poverty. I hope to be able to limit the amount of carbon I use from transportation when I live alone in the future, but I also hope we find a way to make airplanes and cars more eco-friendly and create less carbon emissions (because I hate the idea of never being able to travel to see different countries or to see my family).
- Mason B

I agree because especially in the US families have very large contributions  to carbons effects on global warming and climate change. This happens because of greenhouse gas emissions that traps heat in the atmosphere. The world is warming faster and families especially in the US contribute to large carbon footprints. Families cause large carbon emissions and a lot of energy consumptions. According to statistics household consumption accounts for 30–80% of the national carbon emissions. The average US household produces 7.5 tons of CO2 equivalents per year.

I think that there are many things that we need to survive, but we have many things that are not absolutely necessary. For example, many things that almost everybody has in their home could be removed in order to help the environment. A gas stove is a perfect example. People have these because it is much too inconvenient to light a fire and put a pan on top every time, but stoves are a large carbon contributor. I think that people have a natural desire to make things more convenient and quicker but do not realize the impact that it has.

Climate change happens naturally in multiple ways, like the release of Methane from cows, but we humans excel the rate for global temperature rise by multitudes. We use machinery and factories that release hundreds of tons of CO2 and other green house gasses. The gasses are great at trapping temperature because they're magnetically of balance with their charges. When heat hits them the jiggle and trap the energy in heat form. Ultimately this causes the globe to rise in temperature slowly. To conclude, yes  climate change is real, and when it comes to thee question of if we're to blame, majority answer is yes.

Carbon footprint of students can vary greatly depending on their lifestyle and habits. However, it's crucial for students to be mindful of their environmental impact and strive to reduce their carbon footprint. Simple changes like using public transportation, reducing energy consumption, and adopting sustainable practices can make a significant difference. Moreover, educational institutions should also promote eco-friendly initiatives and provide resources to help students make more environmentally conscious choices. By collectively working towards reducing carbon emissions, students can contribute to a healthier planet for future generations.

i agree with your opinion, but the students are not careful to the Carbon Footprint.

I agree that students should try to reduce their carbon footprint and should be more mindful of their environmental impact. While I agree with that, I disagree that students should use public transportation more. I take a bus 2 miles to the train station then take the train 45 minutes to my house every day after school, this increases my carbon footprint a massive amount. My overall foot print is 25,784 kgs and my transportation carbon footprint was 18,311 kgs, which is about 70% of my overall carbon footprint. So instead of public transportation i propose to use electric cars and carpool with a friend. This will really make a difference in your carbon footprint and help overall sustain a healthy environment.

Of course I agree that reducing carbon footprint is important and I agree that changing your lifestyle can help with that. It is very frustrating for me though because when I took the test, my carbon footprint for transportation was way above average, however I don't know how to reduce it! I live far away from school but I take the bus and I have to go to sports practice everyday. I feel like I can't really reduce my transportation footprint even though I want to because most of where I go is necessary to my daily life. Overall, I want to find a way to dramatically change my carbon footprint but still get where I need to go.

I also agree that students need to be more aware of their impact in order to reduce their carbon footprint. However, I don’t believe that a small lifestyle change is necessary for all students. From my experience, the biggest carbon sink that I had was airplanes/flights as they took up half of my footprint at about 9,300 kgs. So for me, if I wanted to bring my carbon footprint down the best solution would be to fly less and not to switch to public transportation. Also in my case, I already take public transportation so I wouldn’t need to switch to using it. But, It doesn’t mean that people who don’t take public transit shouldn’t stop, only that not everyone needs to make that change as they already might be taking public transit. Depending on the person their carbon footprint may be heavily increased by different influences, therefore I agree that people can change their carbon footprint by changing something, but not everyone can change a small thing and have the same impact.

Some things might not be able to be off of the table for some people, such as driving less, which is oftentimes beyond their control. Someone can’t always choose to drive less because of places that are essential, but might not be close enough to them to be reasonable to make a trip to as often as necessary. An example of somewhere that a person might need to travel to is their place of work. It’s necessary for some jobs to be far away from other things, such as an airport or military base. Also, there can sometimes not be reasonably priced living accommodations nearby, or none at all, which would cause them to have to have a longer commute to work everyday. Another thing that might cause a greater commute distance would be needing to go to a certain store, whether it be for prices, preference, or dietary needs.
An additional thing that might be uncompromisable to some people is limiting their electronic usage. In the modern world, electronic usage is oftentimes essential to most people’s day to day lives. They might be used for  entertainment, communication, work, education,  but oftentimes there is a lot of usage of electronics for the latter two which cannot be adjusted.
Overall, there would need to be a greater change than just people changing their habits, such as the availability of certain resources in shorter distances to all people, in order to decrease emissions caused by commute time. There would also need to be a change in the way that some people have work, education, communication, or entertainment, which isn’t always possible. An alternative solution to these problems might not be to restrict the amount of them that people do, but rather make driving and using electronics less harmful to the environment.

I completely agree. I live a thirty-minute drive away from school, which means I drive five hours total to get to and from school every week. And I can't exactly just not go to school to reduce my carbon emissions. However, I do carpool with two other students to reduce my carbon footprint, but that does not take away from the fact that I must drive to school every day. The electronic thing is additionally a valid point! In this day and age, I use my computer and phone every day. My electronics are how I communicate with others and get my schoolwork done. I can admit that I should probably spend less time on my phone for entertainment, but I do use it for school and to communicate every day. In addition, I think that computers are a much better alternative to paper. With the current rate of deforestation, I do not believe that using my computer is more detrimental than chopping down trees so I can do my Spanish homework.

I believe that large corporations need to put more of an effort towards saving and conserving the natural world. Big producers of plastic and other wast polluting our oceans and the environment around us need to slow and even stop the production of many harmful products and switch to more renewable recyclable and efficient alternatives. We need to put more of an effort towards supporting corporations that use and produce these efficient alternative products. We also need to put forward more of an effort to start supporting organizations that clean up and fix the messes made by these large and wasteful businesses.

I agree with this. Big company's produce a lot of carbon with their factories, and then have non degradable packaging. Both are bad for the environment, but since it is out of our control, we should do our best to control what we buy/support and dispose of our waste properly. If one wants to even support further, they can volunteer to pick up trash, or to help support company's trying to be eco friendly. It shouldn't be other organizations duties to pick up after these other polluting companies, but it should be whoever caused the problem. Usually the more eco friendly option is going to be more expensive at the end of the day, as being more eco friendly is more expensive.

Fireworks are very frequently used and in heavy, unhealthy amounts. Disneyland itself spends over $50 million on hundreds of thousands of fireworks every single year. Even if they stopped doing that, all over the world on Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, birthdays, weddings, ceremonies, and many more special occasions, fireworks are being used every single year. Have you noticed that gigantic cloud of smoke after the fireworks at an event? That's all the toxic smoke that pollutes the air we breathe. And that's just after a single event you attended. Fireworks contribute to combustion and release greenhouse gasses at the same time. Apart from that, much of the debris from used fireworks is not biodegradable and ends up being left on the ground as litter. A much safer and eco-friendly alternative to fireworks would be using paper confetti poppers or even cannons and blasters for celebrations.

Wow, I never realized fireworks could be so harmful to the environment. Still, to conserve the fun and joy spent watching fireworks, we should instead focus on creating more easily accessible eco-friendly fireworks. Disney developed a soot-free firework that is much better for the environment than most. But, these are sure to be expensive and hard to come by, so if we can make these fireworks accessible and less expensive, then maybe we can enjoy a good fireworks experience. In the meantime, we don’t need to have fireworks on every occasion, big and small. Lastly, we can use alternatives such as laser shows, confetti poppers, and bubble machines.

I completely agree, fireworks are often associated with celebration and joy but we often don't think about the environmental repercussions of them. On one hand, I have seen fireworks bring people together and inspire creativity, but I am also aware that they negatively affect the environment and our air quality. I often see people set off their own fireworks on big events such as the Fourth of July, when others nearby are doing the same thing. Along with finding more eco friendly firework alternatives, I think it would be beneficial to come together with large groups of people when setting off fireworks compared to small groups if there isn't an eco friendly alternative available. This way, the amount of fireworks being used is smaller and the times when we do see fireworks is more magical.

Food waste is a huge part of the carbon that is emitted into our atmosphere. When food is thrown away and put into land fills, or burned, all the carbon that is stored in it contributes to the greenhouse effect. This is why it is so important to compost. Composting has many benefits: it helps store the carbon from the food that stores lots of carbon in soil and stops it from being emitted into the atmosphere, it provides fresh soil that you can use to plant and grow your own food, it attracts beneficial animals that will help break the food down such as worms, and it stops landfills from being filled with food waste and trash. Composting is something that is so easy to do, and even if you do not have a backyard to do it in, you can have a composting bucket inside. It involves just a few extra steps in your daily routine and it is one of the most powerful actions we as individuals can take to stop climate change from reaching its full potential.

I totally agree, another solution to reduce the waste of food in the restaurant could be the use of "doggy bags", cardboard boxes that allow customers to take home food they have not eaten.

I totaly agree with you, another thing that could be done would be to, at the end of the day, perhaps give away to non-profit organizations or sell at a reduced price everything that you were unable to sell during the day, in this way it would avoid the phenomenon of homeless people rummaging in the trash looking for food or even animals that, attracted by the smell of food, sneak into bins, creating a nuisance. this would also help many people.

I completely agree. Composting is a simple yet powerful way for individuals to make a significant impact in reducing carbon emissions and stopping climate change. By diverting organic waste from landfills and instead allowing it to decompose naturally, we can not only prevent the release of greenhouse gases like methane, but also keep up soil health and promote biodiversity. Also, composting isn't limited to those with outdoor space; indoor composting options like composting buckets or composting using worms let people living in apartments and those without yards to participate the act of composting. It's a win-win situation: reducing waste, enriching soil, and contributing to a healthier planet.

Hi i am Cody Hsu i think people shouldn't waste food because some people are hungry.

Absolutely, not wasting food is essential for several reasons. Firstly, it helps to reduce environmental impact by saving resources like water and energy used in food production. Secondly, it is economically prudent as it saves money spent on purchasing and preparing food. Thirdly, it aligns with ethical considerations by acknowledging the global issue of hunger and food insecurity. Finally, minimizing food waste promotes a more sustainable and responsible approach to consumption, benefiting both people and the planet.

After taking the carbon footprint test I was able to further analyze the negative impacts us humans including myself hold on the environment. Though my total carbon footprint number was only about 400 kgs more than my regions average, my carbon kgs for transportation were more than double my regions average. This made me realize truly the drastic emissions of carbon my transportation methods bring yearly to our atmosphere. Some ways I could minimize my transportation carbon emissions is walking or biking when I can, take public transportation more frequently, and carpooling. My food and purchases averages were reflected as more normal for my region, however, my Home carbon, surprisingly, was well below my region's average. I think this is the case since we use solar panels as our main energy source, which is highly renewable. Additionally, when we can we make sure to turn off all powered things, such as appliances, lights, and air conditioning/heating when we leave the house or are asleep. Overall, us humans are the most significant cause of these harsh climate change affects and are small habits that may seem insignificant are increasingly destroying our globe. A video that encompasses this idea thoroughly and accurately is one that we watched in my science class, "His Epic Message Will Make You Want to Save the World" by National Geographic on Youtube.

Protecting the ocean is essential for life on Earth.Oceans are vital sources of oxygen,food and resources,and their conservation is crucial to our health and the health of global ecosystems.

Yes, I agree but how do we protect our ocean from acidification? First, we must understand what causes acidification. Ocean acidification is caused because more carbon dioxide is dissolving into the Ocean than ever before. It is natural for CO2 to dissolve into the ocean because the Ocean is a carbon sink. However, because of the industrial revolution and deforestation a surplus amount is being absorbed by the ocean which lowers the ocean's pH levels. The lower the pH levels are the more harmful it is to certain organisms who depend on the Ocean to survive. We must find ways to lower our carbon emissions as a whole to prevent any further extra acidification.

read this article to learn more on this topic:
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/quick-qu … uses-ocean-
acidification.html#:~:text=Ocean%20acidification%20is%20mainly%20caused,being%20absorbed%20by%20the%20ocean.

I agree, and even little things you can do at home can help protect ocean life. Things such as properly disposing of waste and conserving water are great ways to help even just a small amount. Another great way is to use less energy around the house, ways to do this are using energy efficient appliances and lightbulbs, keeping lights off when your not using them, and trying to limit large appliance usage. Even if these make a small difference if everyone pitches in we can help the bigger picture greatly. Many corporations also help contribute to restoring and conserving ocean life, they do this through many techniques such as rebuilding reefs and salt marshes that guard against storms and flooding, and protecting "Super Reefs" which are reefs which can survive hot temperatures and are used to help grow new generations of coral. We can make a difference by supporting and donating to these corporations which often rely on donations to operate.

https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do … our-ocean/

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ocean/help-our-ocean.html

I completely agree; oceans are one of the most important contributors to human life. However, humans have caused great damage to the ocean. So how can we protect the ocean, and keep it healthy? Well, according to National Geographic, there are over 5.25 trillion of plastic in the ocean. This plastic kills sea life and is incredibly damaging to the ocean. To fix this, we can try to limit the plastic we use and correctly sort our trash. For example, instead of buying Ziploc bags, you can buy glass containers, which are reusable and don't cause damage to the environment after you dispose of them. Limiting your use of plastic leads to less plastic being put in the ocean. Similarly, we can also protect our ocean from acidification. Ocean acidification is the decrease in the pH of the ocean caused by too much carbon dioxide. The ocean naturally absorbs CO2, but abounding too much can lead to acidificaction, which harms sea plants and animals. To stop this crisis, we can try to limit our carbon footprint. According to I2SEA, the average human produces 3 791 kgs of CO2 per year, and even more in the United States. To reduce this number, we can drive to avoid driving and can use public transportation, biking, or walking instead. We can also try to invest in renewable energy sources, like solar panels, which use energy from the sun for electricity. This not only reduces your carbon footprint but saves you money. You can also try to eat less meat. Animals produce a lot of greenhouse gases, and not eating meat means not giving money to these companies that exploit and harvest animals.

https://education.nationalgeographic.or … ns-remain/

The balance between the human race and the well-being of our planet is quite difficult to balance. People need more and more things that are not exactly friendly to the environment and the planet. what can we do to balance the balance? I think we should reduce as much as possible the objects that we don't really need or replace them with others that are better for the environment. I admit that I also buy some things (clothes for example) that are not really useful to me, taking into account that I have so many good things that I could continue to wear. therefore, I will try as much as possible not to spend so much money on things I don't need, but to invest them in things that will also help the planet.

To add on to you’re point I think people should use more recyclable materials that are biodegradable, as well as organize more events for recycling, cleaning and informational ones too because it is very important to learn about how much one piece of plastic can damage the environment, and the ways that our pollution can affect animals and plants. We need to be aware that we are the cause of pollution and that only we can fix pollution and save our planet.

I completely agree! I often buy new items without considering what I already have and how my purchases will affect the planet. I feel it is important to pay attention to the packaging of items and minimize our purchases of plastic or other packaging materials that are harmful to our planet. It would also be great for communities to continue to transition from plastic products to more paper products. In addition, it is essential to enforce recycling and composting policies to limit the amount of waste dumped on land, making its way to our ocean, polluting the water, and hurting marine animals. We definitely need to be more conscious of our daily actions and their effects. Has your community taken any effective steps to further protect and heal our planet? Do you have any other ideas on how to do so?

global warming is something that we caused by not caring about the environment or planet earth itself

Yes, global warming is human-caused and has contributed to climate change. A main factor is greenhouse gas emissions being emitted into the atmosphere and trapping the sun's heat, resulting in the greenhouse effect keeping heat near the earth's surface. A prime example is human's excessive usage of plastic and nonbiodegradable trash that when burned releases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen into the atmosphere. Gas waste containing nitrogen accounts for water pollution and acidic rains. According to the United Nations Climate Action, today the earth's temperature regulations are warming at a faster rate than ever seen before in history with increased temperatures altering weather patterns across various regions and disrupting the balance of ecosystems. Other defining factors that lead to climate change include burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas has amounted to over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Cutting down forests also prompts climate change because trees both absorb and store large amounts of carbon dioxide. Deforestation is the cause for about 10% of climate change because when trees are chopped down the stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere. I think that climate change is very real and is a result of humans disrupting the earth's natural balance of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Though climate change is irreversible, I think its rate can be slowed and we can reduce the amount of human-caused emissions of carbon. Instead as a society, we can look to use renewable and sustainable practices to cut back on waste and pollution.

Sources:
*United Nations-Climate Action-Causes and Effects of Climate Change
*European Parliament-Climate Change: the greenhouse gases causing global warming
*EPA-Climate Change Indicators: Greenhouse Gases

Climate change is definitely real and human caused. In the short time humans have been around compared to the existence of earth, humans have managed to alter the atmosphere and impose irreversible damage to our climate. There are huge trash piles floating in the ocean, dumps of trash not able to be composted or recycled, and most importantly, the things that sustain life on earth are wasting away. Land ice is melting causing sea levels to rise, as well as the pollution that has been emitted into the atmosphere, contributing to the build up of greenhouse gasses that are heating up our planet to unhealthy levels.

Compared to the carbon footprint that the average person makes being around 3,500kgs a year, my own footprint is about 9 times more than the marker, and my total carbon footprint number is about 3 times more of the average California citizen. My transportation amount was the highest of my carbon with a total of 16,033 kgs (which is a lot) and is then followed by home carbon at 5,786 kgs. I'm not totally sure if I entered the right information for transportation because I don't drive myself. My lowest carbon total was Purchases with 1,337 kgs. Third on the list was  food being  5,412 kgs. I can fix the number of food by buying food locally at a farmers market to reduce the transportation that is required when buying food from a grocery store. RFOr my home energy, we use solar panels for our house, covering a significant amount of energy we use in the house. However, there are things we can do to reduce our energy use, like turning of the TV when leaving the house and turning off lights even if its we are leaving the house for a short trip. There are lots of good and reliable sources on global warming and the steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. Two that I found useful are from "Sustainability at Northwestern University" on stopping climate change and "AustinTexas.gov" on reducing your carbon footprint.

For my home energy**

After seeing my calculator results, I noticed that though my footprint overall was about average, my transportation and home footprints were a lot larger than I thought they would be. I think this was because I don't usually think about how the everyday things I do can affect the environment. Things like driving most places, leaving my devices on chargers, and even leaving the lights on in a room are things I just got used to doing. After seeing these results, I am a lot more aware of how the things I do affect my carbon footprint. All in all, we should be all be aware of the small things we do that could hurt the environment.

Recently I read an article by Georgetown University about things we can do to save energy. In the article I found out that even when turned off, our devices continue to use power; which is why unplugging electronics when fully charged is an easy way to lower your carbon footprint.

Over the past few days I have learned about how important it is to hold yourself accountable for the amount of carbon that you emit into the atmosphere. After taking the carbon footprint calculator, I was surprised to see how low my carbon footprint was. This was mainly due to how my family and I rarely take any flights and instead normally travel to places that are closer to where we live so we usually are able to drive. I think that it is very important for everyone to be conscious of their carbon footprint but I think it is also important for people to be held accountable for the amount of carbon that they emit. I recently watched a video with my class of Amanda Gorman’s poem “Earthrise”. In the poem Amanda Gorman talks about how it is the people who emit less carbon that are affected by the massive amounts of carbon, the most. This is something that I think is so true and that it’s really unfair how many celebrities are able to avoid the effects of the massive amounts of carbon that they emit from all of their private jet flights and that instead it is people of middle and lower classes that have to experience the effects on a daily bases.

After taking the carbon footprint quiz and looking at the results, I noticed how the average carbon footprint for Californians is higher than the average worldwide. This puts things into perspective on how much bigger we are than other countries. For example, most countries in Europe won't have a higher carbon footprint due to the fact that they can walk place to place, where as we can only access most places by car or bus. When looking back at my results, I noticed that my "home" category was above average. Before taking the quiz, I didn't realize how so many day to day things I do contribute to my carbon footprint. For example, having my fan on or having my devices plugged into the outlet, even if it is charged, is contributing to the amount of carbon put out into our atmosphere. Even though most of us can't change our transportation system place to place, we can work on the minuscule factors that contribute to the carbon in our atmosphere, like how long our fan is on or how long our showers are. By being more aware of the things most of us overlook, we too can make an impact on the amount of carbon that is being released into our atmosphere.

Global warming is a really big issue that is vital to learn about and we can stop it from getting worse for our planet. I did a carbon footprint form and my carbon and was surprised that my food and transportation was pretty high. I then thought that what makes my transportation so high was that I go on a decent amount of vacations that require planes to get there. Another thing was that my food was high because of red meat. We can help the earth be a better place by eating vegetarian on some days and not use planes as often.

Water conservation is a very important part of lowering our carbon footprint in our daily lives. The water we use every day takes energy to filter, heat up, and run. This is something we can limit as much as possible in very simple ways. First, we can take shorter showers. Showers are a privilege for us, and not everyone has access to hot and clean showers in their homes. Many places also suffer from drought because water is wasted. This is why taking short showers is very important to lower our carbon footprint as a whole. Another thing that is very easy to do is to turn the sink on only when necessary. Turn it off when you are brushing your teeth to save energy and water. Don’t keep the sink running the whole time that you are washing the dishes. These simple things that we can do to save water are ultimately what is going to save the world from enduring the full effects of climate change.

Yes, i agree, water conservation in a significant part of lowering our daily carbon footprint. water takes a lot of energy to heat up and move around. there are a lot of ways to lower your water usage but the best ones are, taking short showers with water-saving showerheads, not leaving your water fauset running when you don't need it to be, and if you have a garden or plants don't spray your hose on it every day, install a drip system that  gives a healthy amount of water, but only in the right spots.
https://portal.ct.gov/deep/water/water- … ving-water
https://www.volusia.org/services/growth … water.stml

Global warming is an important issue that is important to learn about and ways we can prevent it from further harming our planet. I recently calculated my carbon footprint and was shocked by the results. My food and transportation were extremely high compared to people in my region. I realized what caused my transportation to be so high was the fact that I travel a lot and go on lots of trips and vacations. Also the food was high because I ate a lot of meat. Some ways to fix these problems are to have a more vegetarian diet and not go on trips as often. Limiting the amount of time I fly on an airplane because that is the main reason my carbon footprint is so high. Luckily my home and purchases are lower than the average which is good. Overall I think it is important for me to understand the effects I have on the world and how I can change it to better the world.

Why are sustainable cities important?
I think that sustainable cities have a great impact on enviroment.
In particular in the reduction of the emissions coming from factories and vehicles, and mostly about the emission caused by energy prodution from fossil fuels.

What do we mean with sustainable cities?
A sustainable city is a kind of city that focuses on reducing waste and emissions by using renewable energy and electric vehicles.

In conclusion i think that the future needs sustainable cities not only for our wellbeing but also for the future generations.

I would agree. Sustainable cities, along with the points you already mentioned, would raise awareness about climate change. Something I find particularly concerning is the variation in the CO2 levels. Just at my own school, CO2 concertation ranges between 450ppm and 850ppm, a different of almost 2 fold. When designing a city, I think it is important to ensure that a different area of the city doesn't suffer from one area "green" (eg. having factories all in one place, pollutes one area, but keep the rest clean)

I completely agree! Cities are one of the main contributors to carbon emissions (70%), and making them more sustainable would reduce CO2 substantively. In terms of transportation, I think that we could go even further than electric vehicles and have the main form of transportation be walking/biking. Since cities are pretty compact and everything is relatively close together, the majority of places could be accessed without even having to use a vehicle. Current cities can be pretty dangerous for bikers or pedestrians, so to encourage it in a sustainable city there could be certain streets or areas that don’t allow cars. I went to Portugal last Spring and there were barely any cars, many of the streets were just for walking, and you had to park your car outside of them and walk in. Not only would this be better for the environment, but getting more cardio would also improve people’s physical and mental health. (I do realize that walking would be an issue for people with disabilities, that would be a separate problem to figure out).
https://www.nrdc.org/issues/sustainable-cities#overview

#Don't pollute the environment to regret later

I wholeheartedly concur, but I also think it's critical that everyone understands what pollution is and how they personally contribute to it. In my experience, though, I was not made aware of the ways in which the things I did on a regular basis contributed to pollution. Therefore, I think that younger generations need to think more carefully about how pollution starts and what they can do to prevent it from happening. Continuously to be able to induce curiosity in them about this topic we should normalize it, due to that this is a very urgent problem that must be solved for a better future. Don't you think?

I completely agree and think that many people need to be educated about pollution. I think this because I see many people just littering and overusing things that are harmful to the environment. They must think it is just okay to do but in reality it is harmful to the environment. It may not be harmful in that moment but in the long run it could do some damage. According to a national litter study there are about 50 billion pieces of litter along roadways waterways since 2020. This number continues to go up as does mass production of single use plastics. These plastics are thrown away after one use and emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere creating the greenhouse effect. Becoming educated will help with the worlds awareness that we are killing the planet day by day.

I agree, especially by the fact that there is so much pollution that is flooding up our oceans. A fact that really comes up to my attention is that Americans used about 50 billion plastic bottles of water last year. And not even 1 fourth of those water bottles were recycled. In addition, plastics in the environment never fully decompose and only break into smaller pieces.

After looking at My carbon calculator results I saw that they were higher than the average for my area. Because of this, I started to think and discuss ways to lower my score with my family. We thought of ways to reuse items more times than we already do before eventually throwing them away. For clothes, we thought of finding places to give old clothes away so they have another life. For example, donating to thrift stores or giving clothes to younger family members. When it comes to purchasing new items we as a family decided to actively try and get clothes second-hand. When it comes to waste we will do better to reuse containers and jars. For example, we could reuse jelly jars as makeup brush holders or use them to hold leftovers. These were just some of the ideas we came up with that would help lower our carbon footprint by reusing and repurposing the items we already have in our house. I hope that this can help someone else to think of new ways to reuse and repurpose things they have in their house.

To make the city more eco-sustainable, we should all use means of transport that do not pollute like bicycles as much as possible. These are excellent if you have short trips to make, but if the trips are longer it is better to avoid the car and take some public transport to reduce pollution.

I agree with this completely. I think that it would be amazing if more cities could incorporate opportunities for more eco-friendly transportation like biking and walking. In addition to eco-friendly transportation cities could even take it a step further and make buildings more sustainable to help conserve energy and water. Solar panels are a great addition to homes and buildings. My house has solar panels and 70% of our electricity/energy is generated from the sun. Not only is this eco-friendly, but it helps lower our electric bill each month. If more buildings used solar panels it would help the environment and be more cost efficient. Another thing that I think would be a great addition to buildings would be a water conservation system, complete with things like rain catching technologies (ex. rain basin). These technologies would be cost efficient and help to conserve water. The water caught by these technologies could be used for things like pluming. To sum it up, I think that eco-friendly transportation and also sustainable water and energy systems would help to lower a cities overall carbon footprint, and I think that more cities should start implementing these things to be more climate conscious.

Food waste is a serious problem both in Italy and in the world. Every year, about a third of the food produced globally is wasted, resulting in an economic loss of about 700 billion dollars. In Italy, this translates into a loss of about 9 billion euros per year. The main sources of waste are households , restaurants , supermarkets and production. The main reason for household waste includes forgotten food in the refrigerator. Even though Italy is not among the countries with the highest waste rate, it still represents a significant challenge. The UN has included reducing food waste in its 2030 Agenda, with the goal of halving it within the next 7 years. This will require a global effort to change consumption habits and reduce food waste at all levels of the supply chain.

While the money lost due to food waste is a lot, the worst thing is how it affects people who don't have enough to eat. Think about it: there are millions of people in the world starving every day, even though there's more than enough food to feed everyone.
When we waste food, it's not just throwing away money; it's throwing away good food that could have helped feed someone who's hungry. This isn't fair and it's not right.
Reducing food waste isn't just about saving money or being eco-friendly; it's about making sure everyone has enough to eat. It's something we all need to work on together, so that we can create a world where nobody has to go hungry.

Sorry i missclicked while creating my account i am actually from Italy.

While the money lost due to food waste is a lot, the worst thing is how it affects people who don't have enough to eat. Think about it: there are millions of people in the world starving every day, even though there's more than enough food to feed everyone.
When we waste food, it's not just throwing away money; it's throwing away good food that could have helped feed someone who's hungry. This isn't fair and it's not right.
Reducing food waste isn't just about saving money or being eco-friendly; it's about making sure everyone has enough to eat. It's something we all need to work on together, so that we can create a world where nobody has to go hungry.

I'm not sure about in Italy, but in the US people try to promote composting our food scraps to try and be more sustainable about our waste. If our organic waste is properly composted it can actually really benefit our environment. According to the UN Environment Program it can help recover soils fertility, reduce the dependance on chemical fertilizers, improve water retention, and more.  We could use this composted fertilizer to grow more food so the amount of unnecessary waste is reduced. Food waste and loss contribute a good number to global greenhouse gasses as well(about 8-10%) so by composting this waste instead of just throwing it away we could help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that affect climate change. I agree that wasting food is unfair and sometimes it's an honest mistake like food forgotten in the fridge, but even that forgotten food (even if it's gone bad) can still be used to help our environment.

Promoting composting is a vital step towards global sustainability, as it diverts organic waste from landfills and transforms it into nutrient-rich compost. As emphasized by the UN Environment Program, this process not only enhances soil fertility and reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers but also improves water retention in soils, crucial for agricultural productivity. Also, composting mitigates greenhouse gas emissions by preventing organic waste from decomposing anaerobically in landfills, thereby addressing a significant source of methane emissions. Even unintentional food waste can be repurposed through composting, highlighting the value of this practice in turning what might have been perceived as a loss into a valuable resource for the environment. https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/res … composting

I recently came across a very inspiring video in my science class. It is called, "His Epic Message Will Make You Want to Save the World". It states that if you condensed the Earths life span in 24 hours, humans have only been on Earth for 3 seconds. The man in the video, (Prince Ea) then goes on to explain how we must protect the planet by making a sustainable future. I thought it was very a powerful call to action and it really opened up my eyes to the reality of what is to come if we don't change. Human activity has impacted the environment tremendously and research has shown that three-quarters of Earth's land surface is endangered. As I continue to learn about Climate change and Global warming in my science classes I will not forget that humans are responsible for keeping our planet alive. 

I was shocked that my transportation (mainly air travel )took up more than HALF of my carbon footprint. I feel like the normalization of air travel undermines how harmful airplanes are to our atmosphere. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 70% of airplane exhaust is CO2, and after being emitted, 30% of that gas is naturally removed from the atmosphere over 30 years, 50% disappears within a few centuries, and 20% stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years. As air travel increases, I can't imagine how much unnecessary carbon would end up just because of planes. I think that we should stop normalizing unnecessary air travel and educate others about its detrimental impact on our atmosphere. Additionally, I think we should also stop normalizing the frequent use of private jets, and how we should stop turning a blind eye to celebrities like Taylor Swift's carbon footprint. The idea of using private jets to travel from place to place is unbelievable because how can you not start thinking about how much carbon you, a single person, contribute to damaging our atmosphere?

There’s so many people dying from hunger, we should appreciate our food more. Around 9 million people a year die from hunger. You should at least finish or food or give it to the people in need so that you don’t waste the good that others really need.

I agree with you, we all need to be more aware of what is happening and we need to eat and buy food with more responsibility to avoid wasting food given that in many countries there are many people dying of hunger.

I agree, people across the world need to be more mindful of what they eat. People throw away over 92 billion pounds of poof per year. This concerning amount of waste can be cut down by making sure to only eat as much as you need, making sure not to buy more food that you can eat.

I agree with all the comments here. Food is definitely something we shouldn't take for granted and we are so caught up with our modern-day lives that we fail to recognize the sanctity of food and its importance to humans. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO of the United Nations, people waste one-third of all food produced. If we didn't waste that much food, world hunger would cease to be an issue and national food security would be ubiquitous.

I agree. I think that it is really easy to take such a basic necessity for granted and that it is important to recognize the amount of resources we are exerting to create food that is going to waste. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in the United States alone, 42 coal-fired power plants, enough water and energy to supply more than 50 million homes, and an area of agricultural land equal to California and New York go into the production of a year of food waste. The amount of resources we are putting into cultivating food that does not even get eaten is unacceptable, and I think it is so disappointing considering how big of a problem world hunger is. America solely discards over $473 billion worth of food annually, equating to 38% of all the food in the country. World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley says that it would take an estimated $40 billion each year to end world hunger by 2030, showing that it would cost less to solve world hunger than to stop food waste. With this information and having seen the data from my own carbon footprint, I think that it's important to take accountability for your own contribution to the problem and be mindful when dealing with food.

Links for statistics used:
https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/how-muc … ld-hunger/
https://www.epa.gov/land-research/farm- … food-waste
https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work … %20America.

I agree with this, but there are still other factors that relate to food that shouldn't totally be excused. I believe giving your unfinished food to others, for an example, your family members, is a great way in making sure that your food isn't wasted. However, I also believe that not finishing your food shouldn't be looked down upon (at least completely). Let's say you and your family are at dinner, and everyone has finished their food but you. You are full, and so is your family. Your family doesn't want to eat your leftovers. The solution to this would be saving your food for later, but if someone is teasing you for not having the ability to finish your food, I would consider that to be a little bit unfair. What if you had an eating disorder? Everyone has a different relationship with food. People with specific eating disorders may not be able to finish their foods. For example, people with ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), experience not feeling hungry, forgetting to eat because food is not a priority for them. Now put a person with this eating disorder into the situation--would you blame them for not finishing their food? They might feel guilty for not being able to eat what's left, and I think that shouldn't be looked down on. It may not excuse them from the fact there is 9 million people a year dying from hunger, but it does put in perspective how one might feel with an ED. Food shouldn't be wasted, but let's not blame others for not having the ability to eat a lot.

succeeding the test of carbon dioxide in my school and in my everyday life I now have opened my eyes to realize how much carbon is actually around me. passing the below average human usage of carbon. Even though that's not above the average person. It still is quite a lot and has shocked me on how much one family or a let alone person can create so much carbon. Although of all of this I do see ways how so much carbon is produced in the world like getting a ride to school every single day which creates harmful toxins like carbon dioxide to get trapped in the air. I also didn't know that dairy products have such a high effect on carbon levels because of the constant production of greenhouse gas emissions. For my food consumption I usually would eat white rice everyday with some sort of meat and vegetable. I also eat lots of fish or anything that my mom cooks usually depending on what we have and what the occasion is. I've learned that fish has a lower amount of carbon than meat like ground beef. For my purchases I usually will buy new clothes and sometimes go out to buy used clothing from either vintage or thrift stores. In my household we were a little below the average consumption of carbon. Although I think it's possible that we could be above average because all of my measurements for how much electricity or gas mileage wasnt exact.

The weather is changing a lot because of Global warming. The climate is changing and it is getting hotter. This is mostly caused by the greenhouse effect. It is scientifically molecules that are uneven are getting heat and holding the heat and they move around like particles. The atmosphere keeps these molecules in which means they cant leave and because of that the heat never leaves. If this continues to happen many animals can die and lose their habitat like polar bears. We need to find a way to fix this.

From Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions I learned that the biggest contributor to carbon emissions for an individual is at home. At 1.1 tonnes of CO2 annually. This is significantly more than the second highest contributor, which is transportation, at 0.8 tonnes. I found this interesting because while I understand why home life is the highest contribution to carbon emissions, I also think this is an easy area to cut down on. For example, turning off lights or fans before leaving a room, not leaving water running, and other more energy efficient methods.

The average of my footprint is brought up based on transportation.

Unfortunately, I think that the conflict between wanting to help the environment while still wanting to visit your loved ones is a complicated matter that isn't discussed very often. For some context, I have a pretty tight-knit extended family that I have visited quite often recently, especially as my older relatives have been dealing with medical issues. Although I was aware that I have been traveling by air more than usual recently, I was pretty surprised to see that transportation was by far my largest area of carbon emissions (I emitted approximately 4,000 kgs while the average person in my area emits 2,557 kgs) . I already expected my transportation score to be relatively high from the 2-3 days a week when I drive to school instead of taking the bus or need to drive to after school activities but my emissions from airplanes were by far the highest of the entire survey. This made me question what side to take when deciding whether to spend time with my family as I still care about the environment and don’t want to be responsible for emitting such a large amount of carbon dioxide for what some might consider a “want” instead of a “necessity”.

I also started to wonder whether the carbon I emit through transportation could be balanced out if my home, food and purchases emissions could remain relatively low. According to the survey, my food (744 kgs) and purchase (309 kgs) emissions were substantially lower than the average citizen in my region. I think that this is because I have a mostly vegetarian diet and no longer make as many clothes purchases due to my school uniform.

In your opinion, do you think that missing out on family memories is a price we need to pay in order to combat climate change or do you think that there are alternative methods to balance out/limit our carbon emissions?

After the test I realized how much carbon really is in my life, passing the average human usage of carbon, and thats still surprising for me. But I do see signs of how it happens like how I go to school every single day so that could also be a cause of that. I also found out how much dairy projects have an effect on carbon levels aswell which is something I did not know especially since I would have a glass of milk usually every other day. For my edibles I usually eat white rice and if there is nothing else that is available my mom make eggs which I also found out in one of the questions had something to do with carbon (I think I dont remember) and for the things like meat I usually eat fish or ground beef just depends on what we have, but something interesting is that fish has lower levels of carbon than something like ground meat. For my purchases I dont buy much or get new clothes often so thats very minimal. As well as my home its quite near the average but I think its a little above the average since I put I dont know for majority of the questions because I really dont know. And because of that I think thats the reason I got a lower score than I think I wouldve gotten if I knew more about the electricity that I used.

after doing this calculator I see how much carbon cars and plains put into the atmosphere. and I worry about how much carbon is put into the air each day just from commuting to work. I am also curious how much carbon is put into the atmosphere by cars alone

Taking the carbon footprint calculator quiz was a real eye-opener for me. It made me realize how much I take for granted and how many everyday things contribute to my carbon footprint. For example, I never thought about how much my transportation and energy habits like taking the bus, impact the environment. When I saw that I use 8622 kgs of CO2 per year and that almost half of it comes from food. It inspired me to make changes in my life, like using less energy and reducing food waste. I also started thinking about how I can help my friends and family reduce their carbon footprints. By making small changes, like using public transportation and reducing food waste, we can all make a big difference.

As an entire population, our world is still learning about the negative effects combustion engines and transportation have on the addition of fossil fuels to our atmosphere. All transportation run by combustion engines emits mass amounts of fossil fuels into our atmosphere, leading to climate change due to greenhouse gasses. Planes especially contribute immense amounts of fossil fuels since they are very big and require a lot of power to take off and maintain speed while flying. Additionally, with the tens of millions of cars on the streets daily, fossil fuels are being emitted at an absurd rate. Even electric vehicles require a lot of energy to produce which causes the emission of tons of fossil fuels. How can we fix this problem? There are a few possibilities... First, carpooling and taking public transportation is one of the best ways to begin minimizing your carbon footprint. For every person who contributes, we will emit less every day. Secondly, buying electric vehicles is a big step up from combustion engines, which will drastically minimize your carbon footprint. Although they require a lot of energy to produce, if used long enough, they are more efficient than combustion engines. Finally, developing commercial electric planes will immensely help reduce the carbon footprint of many travelers. Let's continue to minimize our carbon footprint and make our planet a healthier place.

I want to bring up planes. I think planes are very important for life because they allow you to travel all around the world in just a few hours. I think planes are great but I think we should change something about them. We need to change the fact that planes are major polluters. Planes remain among the most polluting means of transport and something needs to be done. I propose electric planes. I have no idea how one would go about doing this, but this is just a suggestion. I want to bring this up because personally I travel and go on airplanes a lot and in return, I pollute a lot. This year, I calculated my carbon footprint and it said that it was 25,784 kgs of CO2 per year, compared to the average in California; 9,727 kgs of CO2 per year. You might be wondering why my carbon footprint is so high. It is because I travel so much. 18,311 of the 25,784 kgs of CO2 was from transportation. So overall, I think something needs to change about airplanes because I want to keep traveling but I dont want to be a major polluter.

People who say that climate change isn't real state that we are not in an ice age at the moment. I would disagree with that statement since there is ice on our poles which constitutes an ice age. We are actually in an interglacial period were the ice pulls back to around the poles. That means it is concerning to have our planet's ice sheets melt as we are still technically in an ice age.
https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey … ce%20age!)

Over the past semester, I have learned a lot about what contributes to global warming. I learned what greenhouse gases actually are and what the greenhouse effect is. Most importantly I learned how this all connects back to me. During this assignment, I saw how each individual decision I make even if it is only choosing between a plastic or glass bottle makes an impact on our environment.

Petpass: plataforma líder en la gestión del acceso de mascotas, verificando datos de mascotas, propietarios y seguros de responsabilidad civil para cumplir con la nueva legislación de bienestar animal.

Over the past few days, I have learned a lot about how what my daily life consists of  affects my carbon footprint and the world around me. When I took the carbon footprint calculator questionnaire, I realized that my carbon footprint is extraordinarily high compared to the average person globally. Transportation and food contributes substantially to my carbon footprint compared to the other categories. From traveling by air almost 3-4 times per year in the past few years of my life, and taking a 20+ minute car ride to school almost 6 days a week, transportation plays a large role in the the fact that my carbon footprint is definitively above average. Some ways that I learned in class to fix this is to take public transportation to school, whether it be a bus or a BART train Next, food. The food I mostly eat everyday consists of red meat, poultry, eggs, and fruits and vegetables. While fruits and vegetables have a considerably low carbon footprint, red meat, poultry, and eggs have the highest carbon footprint among most foods. I also consume more food than the average American daily,(3500 kcal) so my carbon footprint is considerably higher. Red meat is terribly bad for the environment because the livestock industry destroys forests to create open space for cows, as well as cows' high emission of methane, which is a greenhouse gas. What I found interesting in my total footprint chart is that my "Purchases" category is incredibly lower than the average Californian. I contribute 119kgs per year, while the average Californian contributes 1,191kgs, ten times more than my total. Most of my clothes are hand-me-downs, and most of clothing is thrifted In class, I learned that thrifitng is a great way to be environmetally friendly. The clothing that I do buy is for school, which is not too much. When I watched a portion of the Netflix documentary Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion, I learned that the clothing industry is actually responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, in my home category, it was slightly above the average Californian, (which still is not good), but it is very fixable in order to lower that total. In the end, as greenhouse gases trap heat on the Earth's atmosphere, global warming ensues, leading to climate change. (The Earth's temperature getting hotter) My carbon footprint is detrimental to the efforts to prevent climate. One simple step that I can take, and that we can all take is to conserve water, eat less meat, (especially red meat) recycle, thrift clothing, turn off your lights, etc. After seeing my total footprint, I am motivated to take action and take this test again in the future to see how much progress I have made.

After I learned about how much carbon I produce, I started to worry about how much BOD students produce a year. The average amount of CO2 for a human is 3628.74 kilograms and my results were around 12,000 kilograms. I know my friends do similar things in their routine as I do mine, so I knew my results couldn't be that bad. Is there any way we can prevent from emitting a significant amount of CO2 easily and efficiently? I think we can start making houses that use carbon reducing materials and low electricity, so that families don't have to worry about installing it themselves. The average household produces about 10,970 kilograms a year, which is nearly 2.5 times more than a human produces a year, so I think this will reduce it by a lot. We can also cut food waste, which can be easy if families or individuals cook the right amount of food they can eat each meal. It stops food going into the trash and rotten food if it is stored. These are just a few ideas, but if I see myself using a significant amount, I will immediately think about how I can reduce it!