I was very surprised to see how high my carbon footprint was, especially from the amount of traveling I did. I think, in my general area the carbon footprint was so high because most of the people in my neighborhood leave their lights on in their house before they leave for the day, which usually means they'll be gone for several hours of the day. I also do this sometimes but I should stop to reduce my carbon footprint, I think other people can also stop doing things like leaving the water running and using their cars to travel places that are close to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Many of us are probably used to eating meat, dairy, eggs and other animal products quite frequently, if not every day. What a lot of us don't know (or choose to ignore) is the horrors that go on inside the meat/animal product industry. The animals in them are subjected to short, tortuous lives, with many living cramped together and in inhumane conditions. In addition to all of that, it is horrible to the environment, with factory farming being one of the leading cause of greenhouse gases worldwide.Eating less meat could help to reduce our carbon emissions as a group effort, and would help the environment and the animals as well.

As a student who has lots of activities to do in and outside of school, I can’t always use public transportation. This is one of my personal reasons for my high carbon footprint, as I’m sure it is for many other students. A way for our cities to combat this is by making it more accessible. Instead of me having to walk a mile to the correct bus stop and then walking two more to get to where I need to be, it is majorly inconvenient. Also, when I have used public transportation to get to where I need to go, I am often late. If cities can implement a way to make more specific public transport, that would help this issue. I understand that this wouldn't be easy and is risky if people don’t end up using it, but with a good amount of promotion, it can work.

The fact that the carbon footprint survey asked us where we live got me thinking. Where should our actions and next steps be focused? Nobody can really help where they live, and I doubt that anyone is going to uproot their lives just to reduce their carbon footprint. And while humans leave a very large carbon footprint, I think reduction efforts should be focused in places that can implement those changes. It wouldn't make sense for us to focus our efforts in a rural countryside where everyone already lives frugally, but it also wouldn't make sense to pour all of the effort into a place like New York City that is already super industrialized. If we did that, we would be putting in a lot of effort without a lot of reward. Instead, if we focus on more suburban neighborhoods and towns, that amount of effort could really change things. I learned through my survey that most of my carbon footprint comes from transportation. I can't exactly help transportation because I can't drive and live in a big city, but for people who CAN help it, they should, not by completely cutting all individual transportation, but by giving a friend a ride to work, or taking the subway on Fridays. Stop focusing on the big picture. If you do that, you'll get tunnel vision. Focus on the little ways you can help and do everything you can. Not doing so is the same philosophy as saying "Oh, darn, I only have 45 minutes to work out today instead of an hour. I guess I'm better off just not working out at all." It's always better to do something, even if it's half-assed, because half-assing something is still doing it. So, focus on the little ways to reduce carbon footprint, and know that every little thing done has the potential to make a big difference.

After I completed the I2Sea carbon footprint calculator, I became more aware of the things I mindlessly do daily that really impact it. For the most part my carbon footprint was lower than the average in my area, but my transportation levels were a prominent outlier. I didn't expect them to be that high, but it makes sense since I recently took a big trip to Japan and Korea over my spring break that included a 11 hour plane ride one way. If it not were for that trip, I think the levels would have been lower. My home, food and purchase levels were drastically lower than the average. However, my purchases were ten times lower than the average calculations. So I think this calculator is pretty accurate since it separates the carbon footprint levels into sections or certain parts in our lives, but at the same time one thing like my trip can kinda throw it all off.

I believe that traveling is a great way to make connections and experience cultures all over the world. However, traveling is often bad for the environment, especially when done a lot. I propose that people should try to make the switch to electric vehicles instead of gasoline vehicles and they should try to be mindful of the environment when traveling.

Individuals should not be able to own private planes because carbon emissions from that are the highest and I don't want to discourage people from traveling because it is a good thing for culture but people could watch what they do in other countries and how they treat the environment

To me these two words are often merged into one word which is not right. Sometimes wants are even mistaken as needs. As a conservative person, it confuses me when people seem to buy things they want when it is really a waste of money. This belief that wants are a need are even fueling causes of climate change like fast fashion where people want to and buy the cheaply made products. If these clothes were really a need then we would go to places like thrift stores more often because they would sell the clothes we needed for much cheaper.

Rampant consumerism is a very large issue in the world today. Many people feel like they always need the newest and trendiest thing, but having those things does more harm than good. What we often don’t realize is that buying new products like clothes, makeup, and other commodities hurts our environment. Due to things like international shipping, the materials used to create the products, and how they were created, harmful gas emissions are driven up. Also, oftentimes these products are thrown away when the person feels like they don’t need them anymore, and because people don’t always dispose of their waste properly, thousands of tons of discarded products end up in landfills, creating a cycle of environmental harm that cannot be undone, unless people make large-scale changes to their consumer habits. These changes could be thrifting clothes more instead of shopping fast fashion, or choosing to shop from more eco-friendly brands.

Instead of transportation we need to create communites that are more encourging to walking and biking. Though electric cars can solve part of the problem the main problem is how our communites are built to revolve around cars. My highest contributer to my carbon footprint was the transportation section this is since everyone relys on cars so much since not all communies have stores close to their communtiy so they need cars to drive to get basic nesesistys. A community centerd towards walking and biking would have all the nesary stores and food very close to or within the town. This would encourage peopel to walk since it would not be an imense amount of effort. As well as helping our planet biking and walking helps people loose weight inturn leading to a more healthy society.

Many people don’t realize that throwing away food also means wasting all the energy it took to grow, ship, and store it. When food ends up in landfills, it rots and releases methane—a gas that’s way worse for the environment than carbon dioxide. In the Article" Food Waste and Climate Footprint," I learned that if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S. and China. I started focusing on this in my everyday life, while doing this I learned that “best by” dates aren’t always accurate, so I don’t throw stuff out just because the label says so. Cutting food waste isn't a hard problem to fix it just means we have to be more aware.

Did  you know 28% of the U.S co2 emmisons come from transportation. Alot of people abuse their ablity to drive somewhere because it's more convient, and can get us from place to place faster, but as we know the earth is dying due to us. We learned in an edpuzzle in class that if we put the earth existents in a 24hour spectrum we've only been on the  earth for 4 seconds, and we've already caused thousands of animal to go exist, and ecosystems to be destroyed. The Industrial Revolution, became the power house to rise in greenhouse emmsions. and ever since the average global amount of co2 has increased drastically in the past 40 years. so instead getting car to go to the park, maybe you should run or ride bike, to save the eath step by step.

After finishing the carbon footprint survey, I had noticed that for food, I produced twice the normal amount of carbon. This was likely the case probably due to the fact that my diet was based around meat and lacked a healthy amount of vegetables. However, if you lack a healthy amount of meat, our energy will severely decrease causing us to feel tired and nauseous. Realizing that this is a problem, I wonder what would be a better alternative than just going vegetarian? After some time I had learned that tofu and beans produces less carbon then meat and have about the same amount of protein as meat. If enough people reduce their diet to beans and and tofu, the earths carbon can drastically go down by 25%. Although, are diets do not need to be restricted to only tofu and beans, we can have meat on certain occasions, but we should not have it every day if we want to reduce our carbon footprint.

With fast fashion brands becoming more apparent in the last decade, carbon emissions from clothing have significantly increased. Not only have more clothes been thrown in the landfill, but the higher demand for clothing to fit a specific trend has led to much higher carbon emissions. The increase in social media has promoted trends and fast fashion more than ever. Also, the process of making clothes and shipping them all around the world affects fashion companies' carbon footprints. According to the UN Environment Programme in a 2019 report, "the fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions." This statistic highlights how the fashion industry is becoming a problem and has a very strong impact on the world's carbon footprint. Fast Fashion has added to the problem of the world's carbon footprint.

While doing my calculations, I noticed that a carnivore diet with four people produces a lot of CO2.

I agree that carnivore diets produces greater amounts of CO2 than a vegetarian or vegan diet. This is due to many things but one of the greatest contributors is the food needed to feed the animals that could have been used to just feed humans. Personally when driving past cow farms it highlights all of the resources needed to create meat.

Throughout this questionnaire, I have answered questions about what my actions do to the environment. I thought that my biggest carbon emission would be due to transport, but it was not. The food emission was the biggest contribution, with the amount of 3,465 kgs. This makes me think about how much I eat, but also what I do with my food afterward. I saw that someone also had the same outcome. My one question is, if I need food as a student athlete, what can I do to lower my food emissions?

Looking deeper into the cause of my carbon footprint revealed how much the location of one’s community can affect their carbon usage. For example, living in the U.S. means long distance travel is extremely common as things are so far apart from one another. Flying for week long trips or even for single day trips happens with regularity all throughout the U.S., immensely increasing the country’s global footprint. Unlike some other nations, we don’t have a long distance travel alternative like a train, so people resort to flying, one of the highest producers of carbon in all technology. On a local level, simple things like being walking distance from your school can have a huge impact on your carbon footprint. Driving for your daily commute adds up, eventually making a big impact on carbon emissions into the atmosphere, so being smart with short distance transportation such as walking or biking, makes a big difference in the long run.

There are  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 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.

I agree, I notice that a majority of paper in classrooms comes from the mandate of notebooks, rather than online documents. I wonder how much of a difference using technology would make? I understand that it can be difficult to implement this in classrooms, because technology comes with distraction. I am curious as to how this might be solved. Technology can have a negative impact itself, and as stated above is quite costly. Is there a way to make technology more accessible, and more carbon and hydrogen efficient?

After using the I2sea carbon emissions calculator, I was pleased to find that my carbon footprint was below the average for most categories in California, except for transportation. This didn’t come as a surprise, but I was a bit confused because I don't ride in the car that often, I take the bus whenever I can, and I only went on one round trip by plane this year. I started to wonder what steps I could take to reduce my carbon emissions from flying. Is there a way to fly without burning fossil fuels and realseing harmful gasses into the environment? Additionally, the I2sea calculator prompted me to think more critically about what our school lunches consist of each day. Overall, the lunch program is pretty good; my school uses compostable plates in the main areas. However, many items are still wrapped in plastic. Even with the main food served on compostable plates, a lot of non-compostable trash is generated during lunch, and many people don’t properly sort their waste before disposing of it. This must be harmful to the environment, as the plastic can release harmful gases into the atmosphere.

I just measured my carbon footprint and was relieved that most of my results were below average in all categories. Something I noticed, however, was that while all of my other categories produced less that 700 kgs annually, my travel footprint was over 2000 kgs. My cars are electric and I hardly use anything else to travel, so I imagine most of this came from air travel--that is, the singular round trip flight I've taken in the past year. I knew air travel produced a lot of CO2, but that was even more than I thought. Are there cleaner ways to fly? Is that currently something that even exists?

After doing the carbon forum, I really realized how much our actions as students can contribute to climate change. Everyday choices like how we get to school, what we eat, or how much we rely on technology can add up to huge impacts. For example, using a car instead of biking or walking increases greenhouse gas emissions, while lots of energy is used for streaming or charging devices, contributing to our overall footprint. According to the i2sea data and resources, these choices affect not only our immediate environment but also global sea level rise. Personally, I’ve started making a few changes, like bringing a reusable water bottle to school. I am also trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat. These efforts might seem small, but they are the first steps in lowering my own environmental impact. As students, we need to be responsible to be more conscious of our daily habits. Tools like i2sea help us see the connection between our footprint and global consequences, motivating us to take more meaningful action.

Hi everyone,
Recently, I have been trying to reduce my carbon footprint because I believe small actions can make a big difference.
I started by using my bike instead of a car whenever possible, recycling more carefully, and saving energy at home.
Also, I try to eat less meat and buy local products to support sustainable farming.
It is not always easy, but I think it's important for our future.
What do you do to reduce your carbon footprint? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Hi Ivan122! I really admire what you are doing to try and reduce your carbon footprint! I try to practice a lot of those things at home too, because not only do they help reduce your carbon footprint but they also help keep you healthy. I agree that we should do whatever we can to help our environment and protect it for the future. Another thing that I really try to do is think about my water consumption and heating use. A long hot shower is really relaxing but it also takes a lot more energy to heat all that water for such a long period of time. In my day-to-day life, I personally find that I don’t mind taking shorter showers so that is something I try to do! I really enjoyed hearing someone else’s ideas on ways to reduce our carbon footprints.

Hi Ivan! I like how you are trying to reduce your carbon footprint by biking more and saving energy in you home. I have also been trying to cut down on eating meat, although my attempts have only partially been successful. After calculating my carbon footprint, I noticed that my transportation is way above the average. Although I do like traveling, I realize I should cut down on it and maybe stick to local trips to do. I live close to many good hiking trails so I'm thinking about exploring there instead. I would also love to bike more. I think your choice about biking instead of driving a car is a really great idea I could also implement where I live. Thank you for sharing your ideas to reduce your carbon footprint!

My Household’s Carbon Footprint – Eye-Opening Transportation Impact

After calculating my household’s carbon footprint on the i2Sea website, I was surprised by how much higher my total emissions were compared to the average in my region. The biggest difference came from transportation. My household emitted 19,210 kg of CO₂ from transportation, while the regional average is only 2,557 kg. This gap is mainly due to frequent flying. My family took 46 flights, which alone added up to over 8,000 kg of CO₂.

In contrast, my household’s home energy use was 5,550 kg (compared to 3,757 kg regionally), and food emissions were slightly below average at 2,061 kg. Interestingly, my purchases were much lower than the regional average (268 kg vs. 1,191 kg), which might be because we try not to buy new clothes or electronics often.

This data really helped me see how certain choices — especially travel — can hugely affect the climate. I think it’s important to consider reducing air travel or using carbon offsets in the future. I learned that even if I try to be careful in some areas, one big category like transportation can outweigh all the rest.

This connects with what we’ve been learning about individual action and carbon footprints. According to climate science research, transportation is one of the leading sources of emissions globally, especially in high-income countries. It’s clear that personal choices — like flying less — can make a real difference.

While doing the calculations to know my total carbon dioxide, I found out that a high percent of emissions was from transportation. Now that I know this, i found alternatives to lower the transportation emissions. Some alternatives are using public transportation, carpooling and getting electric cars in the future. I think carpooling is such a great alternative. Not only do you gain friendship, but you actually reduce the carbon emissions because only one car is driven. What I also found out is that my calorie intake, and food production is extremely high. Is this because of the meat that I eat? What are ways I can reduce this?

One of the main reasons my carbon footprint is so high is transportation. Even tho I personally don't drive in a car often and go everywhere by foot, my family uses their cars on a daily basis(work, shopping, running errands...). I honestly think it is unnecessary to use cars to go somewhere that is within walking distance. Im also in shock when I'm going to or from school and see a bunch of cars but every car has one person in it. If you know someone or have friends that are going to the same destination, wouldn't it make sense to drive with them? Instead of driving, I recommend going places by bike, by foot or use public transportation.

I agree! I take public transit to school every day, but because of how much my family has to use cars to get to work/ my younger sibling's school that category was very high for me. My city has things like carpool lanes on the highways/freeways but we are severely lacking in a good public transit system. I always try to walk or carpool to get to where I need to go, but because of where I live it's very difficult. I wish more cities had good public transit systems, and I think that would help with the problem of everyone individually driving everywhere.

I completely agree with both of these responses. As a student athlete I am not only driving or taking public transport to school, but driving to my out of school sports. My mornings consist of either driving to the bus stop or having my mom drive about 10 miles each way to get to school. Along with that, the traffic in the bay area is consistently bad with a usual of one person in each car, clogging the lanes up even more. Due to the amount of poverty in the Bay Area not as many people use public transport that can be utilized for limited traffic and less cares on the road. I think if we can utilize our relationships for carpool or our public transportation resources, we can help get cars off the street and limit our gas usage.

I totally agree, the amount of pollution that gets spread just by cars is unbelievable. When I was in 6th and 7th grade, my parents would drive me and my friend to school every day because of scheduling complications. Not only did it turn out to be a really fun experience, but it also reduced my friend's carbon admission in the process. It was a both fun and more eco-friendly way to travel. This video really dives deep into what we can do to reduce the amount of carbon we produce.

Public transportation is less accessible because of all the roads and highways in Oakland. The whole city is designed for the use of cars which makes it harder to take buses or bikes, which benefits car companies. We should remove some of these unescessary roads and make more bus stops and train stations to preserve energy. Using more public transport will help prevent further air pollution.

I think this was a very interesting project to do to become more aware of my carbon footprint and small things that I can do to help the environment. It was similar to how we did the math project because it made me think more and still makes me think.

I believe that this exercise helped my put an accurate number towards my Carbon footprint. I was very surprised with my number. But i also believe that reforms like not selling plastic packaging in schools will help reduce our areas carbon footprint.

This questionnaire helped me realize how every aspect of my life produces carbon. Previously, I thought flights and heating/cooling systems contributed the most to my carbon footprint, but I was surprised to learn that food consumption was my biggest factor. I believe excessive carbon production is ingrained into our way of living as Americans. It would be difficult to live in an extremely carbon conservative way if it's normalized to produce a lot of carbon in our area.

I think as students we need to be more conscience of our carbon footprint. This is because of the negative effects caused by climate change and CO2 in the atmosphere. For example my largest producer of CO2 was travel so in the future I will be more conscience about where I go and try to carpool or use public transportation when posibile.

I'm surprised that things like yard work can contribute to a person's carbon footprint, I wasn't aware people took care of their yards so much that it would add to their footprint. I don't have a yard or a yard so it doesn't cross my mind. I also didn't know that front-loading washing machines can effect a person's footprint versus a top-loading one. I've only ever had front-loading ones and I didn't know there is that much of a difference.

As a student in a science class, I was surprised by how high the average carbon footprint for my area was. I believe that the reason why the carbon footprint was so high in my area is due to us relying on imports instead of growing food. For example, people who live off the land most likely have less of a carbon footprint because the food they eat is organic. Furthermore, it does not have to be flown or shipped in by plane or boat, which cuts the carbon released from transportation. I believe that students can inform their peers around them about the amount of extra carbon that is released because they are buying products that have to travel long distances to arrive in markets. In short, I believe that the footprint in my area was so high because it relies on imports, rather than growing food on its own. If my peers start growing more food, we can lower our carbon footprint and help the environment.

Students often do not think of their carbon and how much they are emitting. Students really feel that they are learning about climate change and global warming, and they often think about things that can help them, but never really take action. In today's activity, I learned how much food contributes to your carbon footprint. I was surprised that that was the biggest contributor to my carbon footprint, because I thought it was going to be transportation. Turns out, eating well and healthy can still cause carbon footprint, and the best way to stop it is to turn closer to plant proteins, and eat more natural things and if possible, even eat your own food that you produce through gardening and naturally farming.

The highest part of my carbon footprint was with my food spending.  I feel that this is because I eat a lot of foods that come in these plastic and cardboard containers, and I am increasing my carbon footprint by a significant amount.  To combat this, I can start to buy foods that are sold outside of boxes, and fewer snacks, to improve my efficiency.

To have a better understanding why your food spending is the largest part of your carbon footprint, it's not the plastic or cardboard containers but actually the meat. To be more specific it's all the land, energy, and the waste used/created by the livestock. If you want to decrease your food carbon footprint, you should buy less meat, not saying you should be completely vegan, but incorporate more veggies or less meat into your diet. You contribute to the problem as you spend more on meat, and the companies supplying are more likely to continue to supply more meat and increase the carbon release.

Hi there!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts—it's true that meat production has a big impact on the environment, and it's great that you pointed out how much land, energy, and waste it involves. You're absolutely right that reducing meat consumption, even a little, can make a real difference!

That said, your message came across a bit strongly. Some people might feel judged even if that wasn’t your intention. Maybe next time you could frame it in a more encouraging way—like suggesting simple swaps or sharing personal experiences. That way, it feels more like support than criticism, and people might be more open to change.

Still, I really appreciate the facts you shared—it’s super important to talk about these things!

When I submitted my carbon footprint I noticed that the "home" category was the highest. I think it's because I live in two homes - one with my mom and sister and then one with my dad and sister (same sister). There for, there are less people in my household for the same use of electricity and gas. Some things I could do to make my carbon footprint go down in the "home" category would be to turn off the heat at night, only use heat when it's really cold and a sweater won't fix it, turn off lights when I leave the room, take shorter showers, buy LED lights instead of incandecent light bulbs, and only run the dishwasher when it's full. I'm sure there are more, if anyone has suggestions please let me know!

Hi TeaganCR!

I really enjoyed reading your post, and it's great that you're aware of your environmental impact and already thinking about concrete steps to reduce it. It's smart that you noticed how living in two homes might increase your energy use, and you're already planning how to balance that out.

I’d just add that it might be helpful to look at the bigger picture—for example, how often you travel between those two homes and what kind of transportation you use, since that can also contribute a lot to your footprint. Also, instead of focusing only on electricity and heating, you might want to consider changes in your diet or your consumption habits. Those can often have a bigger impact than we expect!

In any case, it’s awesome that you're open to suggestions—keep it up!

I have noticed significantly different trends in global carbon footprint averages. I think that the climate, social norms, economic status, environmental consciousness of the nation in which you live are all important contributing factors. For example, where I live in Vancouver, the average carbon footprint for students at my school is 8,844. This is around average for most of the world, but for some places, for example compared to some schools in California, it is extremely low. I think part of this has do with the fact that are more wealthy than the average person where I live, so they fly much more than average. Also the average purchases are much higher, likely because they have more money to buy things. Also, in much more extreme climates, you use more carbon to heat homes. In dense cities, the carbon footprint for transportation is lower than rural areas, because it less walkable, and longer distances are travelled every day. These are just a few thoughts on why carbon footprints vary so much globally.

Hi tivakc! I agree that your carbon footprint varies for where you live. A big contributor of the difference of our carbon footprints to the places I think is transportation.Where I live transit is a big part of the city and there are so many options to walk ,bus, and sky train.But for example in more rural areas they can only drive to get simple things like groceries or to get school. I think it’s important to factor in what is accessible for others in different cities instead of just judging people for what parts they play in climate change. It would be great if all cities had transit, locally grown food, and a fresh water supply. Does anyone have any ideas of what we can change in our communities to make things more accessible?

For my personal carbon footprint I think it shows that I use a lot of hot water and it made my co2 go up by a lot. firstly I take showers longer than 15 mins and I use hot water when washing laundry in my house. But I'm going to try my hardest to take showers less than 15 mins and suggest to the people and my house to use warm water instead of hot or even cold. Something that made my co2 level go down is that my house hold recycles very well. I really encourage people that don't recycle to at least try doing more fit because its really important to our ecosystem and it doesn't take that long.

My carbon footprint is significantly lower than the average one in my state but a little higher than the world's average. I want to lower it because I want to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. My highest category of carbon emissions(?) is food, which is probably because I eat meat very often. I have no problem cutting down on that, so maybe that could be how I make a change.

Me too, I eat meat pretty often within a week for more protein. Although there are many alternitives we can switch to to still get the same amount of protein. Like Quinoa, peas and lentils all are very high in protein and are vegetarian. Food isnt the only thing keeping my carbon footprint high but also how often i leave my lights on. There are many times where i will turn my lights on in my room and walk away but forget to turn them off. So it does waste a lot of energy and increase my carbon footprint as well.

I was shocked when I saw my total carbon footprint because I didn't expect that I'm polluting so much. I was also shocked for my score at home becausse I'm trying to waste less. Usually at home I turn off the lights when I leave a room, I recycle and reuse items, I turn on the water only when I need it.

When i see mine i was shocked about it cause i didn't expect i do that much of polluting

Maybe you decompose foods that you don't eat.

I was shocked of how much carbon comes from meals and what you eat. Also when I checked at the end my food had the most carbon out of all of them.

plane flights can be a major role in your carbon footprint

I was very surprised to see my carbon footprint for purchases so low.

for me the only category that was really bad was transportation. but it was just bc I took a 16h flight from Germany to ca

Many flights over 3 hours can be a big reason peoples footprints are very high.

Transportation was the highest for me, mainly because I have to drive to everywhere I need to go.

You: 12,983 kgs
Average: 11,838

What can I change to lower my carbon admission.

Try turning things off when you aren't using them and walking, biking or using public transportation more.

You could turn the heat way down at night and use blankets instead.

My total footprint is 42,013kgs and the average is 21,237 kgs. My footprint is 3 times bigger than yours. My footprint is mostly in the home category, where's your's at?

My average carbon footprint was 18,856 kgs, and the average in Ohio is 21,237 kgs. However, I would like my footprint to be lower because most of it is in transportation, so I would try to ride my bike more.

My total footprint is 15,575kgs while the average is 21,237kg, shockingly, it's smaller than the average carbon footprint in my region, but most of my footprint is from my home.

My total footprint 37,058 and the average is 21,237. However, most of it comes from my house.

Looking at my home carbon footprint I realized it can definitely be reduced with it being almost 2000kgs over the average. One easy way to change it is to switch from incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs it can save money and reduce CF. Another way is to wash clothes in cold water rather than hot reducing CO2 by 550 pounds and also is better for clothes making them less likely to shrink or fade.

More about lightbulbs from nps.gov:

If every household in the United States replaced one regular light bulb with an energy-saving model, we could reduce global warming pollution by more than 90 billion pounds over the life of the bulbs; the same as taking 6.3 million cars off the road. So, replace your incandescent bulbs with more efficient LEDs, which now come in all shapes and sizes. CFLs use a quarter of the energy incandescent lights use and last 20 times as long. Not only will you be reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but you will save money on your electric bills and light bulbs as well.

When doing this project I really felt my carbon footprint would be much higher than it actually was. I still want to do more though to continue bringing my carbon footprint down. One way I am going to is by trying to recycle and reuse items more often. I found some interesting sites that talk about how to reuse a lot of household items. But right now I am researching ways to reduce my carbon footprint. Here's a site I found interesting, https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/ … footprint/.

I also feel the same about my carbon footprint. Mine isn't so bad although I would love to lower it. Majority of my footprint comes from the home category. I feel like what can start doing is recycle and waste less. I don't waste much but I feel like what I don't eat that is organic material can go in a compost to give back to earth and help plants grow.

The results across the world were diverse in its own, however I think the majority of it depends on what's accessible to people. Transportation, for example, can be different for me than someone in the Netherlands. Where I am, there is not a prominent access to public transportations, so unfortunately my area relies on individual transportation. For people in other countries, it can be the complete opposite. While a conscious effort can always be made to cut down on personal transportation, such as carpooling, I believe these categories ultimately depend on what is accessible in different regions.

https://infrastructurereportcard.org/ca … 20transit.

I completely agree, while I may have buses where I live others don't. If accessibility because available in terms of buses then we could lower our carbon footprint significantly. The only problem is that we have to make the transportation method sustainable.

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.

Same

Agreed, Mine is really high for flights

My carbon footprint is about average, but I'm wondering how to cut down on my vacation footprint.

when renting a car on vacation, request on that uses less fuel, or don't even get a car and use public transport

I was better than other people until I entered the transportation. I fly a lot on airplanes, but I don't know how to reduce my carbon footprint. I can't stop taking fun vacations, and it is too far to drive.

I know right? My Co2 from traveling is literally off the charts, it just stretches on and on. Is there anything we can do?

My Co2 tracker was at the highest in the "Food" place, and I'm trying to cut back on the harmful things, but I agree, It's hard to figure out how we can help. My suggestion would be to bike or walk to school, even if it's a little far, or carpool so that there's less singular cars. Or, (If possible, I know we can't control this and some people have less money, this is a suggestion)

Sorry, my keyboard glitched and it cut off my message--- I meant "Or, (If possible, I know we can't control this and some people have less money, this is a suggestion) We could get electric cars for our families!" Sorry for the glitch, and again, this is just a suggestion. (Oh, wait, sorry, that typed weird, it sounded better in my head  :,|

Usually, flying does take up most of your carbon footprint, and it is hard to stop taking vacations, I agree with you Elias.

My family drives around a lot and I think we can stop it by using bikes to get to areas that do not require a car. Like we could use bikes and scooter to get around so we do not use a lot.We can  also try to recycle more so the trash we use does not end up in the ocean.

With me if you want to produce less carbon dioxide , you can turn off the light and any device if you not use it .Also I think eat well can make you produce less carbon dioxide.Our earth need help from us because the ice get hot and melt , this make the sea level go up .

My footprint is as follows:
Total: 10,559 kgs
Home: 4,190
Food: 3,451
Purchases: 320 kgs
Transportation: 2598 kgs
Any recommendations for reducing this?

Using less electricity in your house could lower your home admission.

I think you should only travel by bike. install some solar panels, and buy land to create a wind farm, these are both great resources for clean energy.

Thanks for the advice.

If you don't already, you could try to start a compost bin for your food scraps.

you can carpool or walk or make sure to turn off the lights after you are done with them. You can also take shorter showers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.