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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

From my experience, a large contributor to most family’s carbon footprint is food. In a time when we have every food imaginable at our fingertips, we tend to stop considering the environmental impacts of different foods. One thing to think about is if the fruits or vegetables you are buying are in season. If they aren’t, the food can have an exponentially larger carbon footprint than if you had bought it when it was in season as now the food has to be shipped in from somewhere else in the world. Because of the long journey the food has to take, it is also usually covered in pesticides which contribute immensely to greenhouse gas emissions.

I've just completed the questionnaire and i discovered my carbon footprint is 5152 kgs.
More specifically, i got: 2869 kgs in "Home", 1462 kgs in "Food", 261 kgs in "Purchases" and 560 kgs in "Transports".
i think that's a good score, considering that avarage, in my region, is about 8000 kgs.

However, I'd like to reduce it in some way.
Respect for nature is something that my parents have taught me since I was younger, and now I'm used to pay attention to everything related to the environment.

Most kgs of my footprint comes form the "Home" section, i wanted to ask you some tips, advise and green alternatives to reduce my carbon footprint.

After calculating my carbon footprint, my family's carbon emission is roughly 10+ kg. Over half of that is from transportation, since my high school is 6 miles away from me. My parent's car model is a decade or two old and may emit more carbon dioxide than most other vehicles, and it'll be passed down to me. It is very possible I could save the environment by purchasing an electric vehicle as soon as I can, or deciding to bike the 6 miles to go to school and then another 6 to get home, but I would be saving myself time and money (and even my own energy if I don't bike 12 miles a day) by continuing what I do. What do you guys think are some ways I could somehow reduce my carbon emission from transportation?

I think some ways to reduce your carbon emissions from transportation is use public transportation like the bus or to carpool whenever you can with friends to school. Another way is since you said the car would be pass down to you is to keep you tires filled becauseY ou can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by about 275 pounds per year by making sure your tires are filled to the recommended pressure. You will also save up to 5 percent on your gasoline expenses and your car will ride smoother.

I think that in order to reduce your footprint you could consider to use public means of transports such as buses or even trains, which produce almost 0 pollution. Another way could be to save some money and contribute with your parents to buy an electric vehicle.

My overall takeaway from my personal footprint was that I am overshooting my footprint with regards to transportation astronomically. This is unacceptable as someone who prides themself as a devoted climate change advocate. Most of my transportation kg came from traveling: I traveled internationally twice this year, across country once, and across the state twice. As I discovered from answering the survey questions, these airplane flights contributed exorbitant amounts of kg to my footprint. I can cut back on this, not only for myself, but for my family as well, by limiting the amounts of vacations and other trips we go on. For example, if my family is considering go on vacation for a holiday, I will advocate that we instead stay at home, or at least travel somewhere closer to our home (rather than across the pond!).

My total carbon footprint was abit above ther average. I think that I am doing ok to keeping the carbon emissions low but i could be doing more. The things thaat really pushed up my total number was the flights and transportation. I think I should take public transport more then getting a ride everytime I need to get somewhere. If I start doing that regulary my carbon emissions will lower and be around average. Another thing that vi can do is lower the amount of lights I have on at a time. If everybody did that the carbon footprint will be lower and climate change will be less of a serious problem.

I thought about this a lot as well when I took the survey. Flights and transportation were the biggest factor for me too, but it's hard to understand exactly what to do since most of this is determined by my families behavior that I have less of a say in. Since certain actions aren't fully my decision to change, it's really important for me to find ways that I can lower my family's carbon footprint otherwise. This website attached below was really helpful in giving strategies that kids can implement when wanting to make a difference. While its intended audience is younger children, it's definitely applicable for anyone who doesn't have total agency around environmental decisions they take part in. Some of the ideas it offers include changing what type of light bulb your family uses, always turning off lights and electronics, using fans when you're hot, walk or ride your bike if you're able, or carpool! While these things feel small, they almost make me feel that until I'm my own independent, I can still make a bit of a difference.

the link I used above was https://climatekids.nasa.gov/how-to-help/

Lots of family households have a noteably high carbon footprint. lots of this carbon you are producing are from two things; food, and transportation. Specifically in my household the majority of our carbon footprint comes from the intake of different meats. Ideas to reduce this number could be making an effort to regularily eat more plant based meals during your week. Planning out your meals in advance so you know the ingredients you need and then making sure they are in your refrigerator. This will help reduce your carbon footprint signifigantly. Now, when it comes to transportation, families will drive to work or drive their kids to school on the daily. You can lessan your transportation numbers simply by biking or taking public transport to school/work. Or just plain old walking. You may say that you dont have time in the mornings to take public transit or walk, and that may be true on certain mornings. But saying that you also can make an effort to wake up earlier to catch the bus. This may require your bedtime to get earlier aswell. so you are still getting enough sleep. These are just a few things that can help reduce your carbon footprint; while also giving you insights on what causes your carbon footprint to be so high in the first place.

After calculating my carbon footprint, I realized the main contributor to my carbon footprint (9368 KGS) was my food (being around 5000 KGS). Other factors were lower than the average, since my family doesn't waste money on unnecessary new items and inform us to turn off any electronics we don't use. I also do live in a smaller house were I share a room, this would lower my carbon footprint since we are saving space. I also do take public transportation %70 percent of the time to get to and from school. There are some occasions I get a ride, but we don't live too far. One thing that was way out of the average though was our food consumption. We are a family of 6, we require more food and most of my siblings are in the teenage stage, growing kids require more food. Me, especially, this had made me reflect on my food consumption and my recycling practices. My family sometimes use disposable utensils and plates which I think we should cut back on and consume less snacks as a family to reduce our carbon footprint.

Personally, I don’t  want to change much about what we do, as there isn’t really much that we’d have to change, but there are some things that could be changed to lower our impact on the environment. The biggest thing that we could change would easily be our food consumption. We go on shopping sprees practically every week and eat outside every Thursday and Saturday. I feel it as kind of an addiction as we really don’t need to buy so much stuff every single week. Therefore, the main thing I would change about our actions is to not go out as much for food or resources unless we’d really need to. A way to do this would be to start a small vegetable garden, which we have already begun. For us, solar panels are a very expensive option, so there is a very slim chance that any part of our house, let alone all of it would be powered by solar panels. If it were possible, though, that would be a change I’m also willing to make. Our transportation and home kgs are lower than average otherwise.

Having your own home gives you freedom to be creative, to have your own systems within your home, and to essentially do what you want with it. Looking at my calculated home carbon footprint it definitely could be lower. One big factor that could be worked on is the location by home is and since I have to drive to school everyday, the distance between home and school effects how much carbon footprint I’m contributing to. If I could change this I would move a lot closer to school to prevent that, if that wasn’t possible even taking things like the bus would also be a lot better.
Where you get your food is also a huge deal. If possible making a little garden or even just buying groceries locally could help shave down carbon footprint. On top of that taking little steps to notice if I’m not using electricity in the moment to turn it off or when I’m using water to make sure I turn the faucet off when not being used too.

My own personal house design would be energy efficient by use of motion sensor lights, low flow toilets and showers. I would use solar to power my house. I would live near my school so there would be little carbon emissions on my commute to school. I would buy organic food that is locally sourced to support agriculture in California. These revisions should bring my family's carbon footprint now. I would also address my biggest carbon waste, travel. I would travel less and not as far to reduce that section.

When I calculated my carbon footprint(4,727 kg), I was very surprised to find out that even though my footprint was one of the lowest in the class, a little over half of my total carbon footprint was home related. It made me realize how simple steps like turning off the light when you leave a room, or shortening time in the shower could make a positive impact on my carbon footprint.

After closely looking into my carbon footprint, I realized that the carbon footprint that I had was very low compared to the average in my area, my carbon footprint was 6,933 kgs, but the average was some 9,000 kgs. I realized the biggest thing that was affecting my carbon footprint was my traveling. Although I thought I didn't travel that much ( I traveled only two times the past year), surprisingly it was the biggest intake of my carbon footprint. my transportation came out to 3,749 kgs, which to my surprise was astonishing if i say the least. However, my lowest was definitely the purchases, which came out to 353 Kgs. My Home kgs was roughly 1629 kgs, which was also weird, but then my food was roughly at 1,203 kgs. Apparently The amount you're supposed to have is only 1000, which was the most surprising, because no one had anything under 4000 in my class. In conclusion, this survey allowed me to see how much we could cut down on our energy consumption throughout all aspects of our life, especially in our home life.

Whenever my family wants to get somewhere, walking or biking is always our first choice. If we want to go get dinner somewhere, there are many places within walking or biking distance. Exercise is also a factor, as walking somewhere is better for you and the environment.

Another way my family saves energy is by taking trains if we need to go far, we have taken only 2 planes in 15 years. Some days I ride in the car to school with my brother on the way up to one of my parents' work, this means we drop off my brother, then me, and then my mom or dad drives to work. This is a really efficient way of getting to two schools and a workplace. Another way we get to school is by taking the bus, which produces 33% lower greenhouse gasses per passenger mile than a car, and is a little more fun

My family has also developed a habit of turning things that we don’t need in the moment off In the summer, we run the air conditioner in the morning when it’s cold and it keeps the house warm for the rest of the day, as opposed to running the air conditioner for the entire day and having the same result. If it gets really hot we can just walk down to the river and swim for a bit there. Even when we shower or brush our teeth we save by turning off the water when it’s not needed.

I hope this helps anyone who wants to know how to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint, as it has certainly helped me.

https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.d … ge2010.pdf

After completing the survey provided by this site for school, I discovered something weird. My family's purchase and transport footprint is lower than the average, but our home footprint is MUCH higher than the average. Our purchase footprint is shallow, resting at only 425 kgs which surprised me due to the quantity of clothing and technology we buy. In addition, our transport footprint was only slightly lower than the average (personal transport) standing at 3,655 kgs. But the real kicker was our home footprint. Standing at an astonishing 4,769 kgs, I realized how much energy we use/waste. I live in a single-family home with 3 others, so naturally, our energy consumption would be high. However, after answering all the questions, I realized we simply have too much stuff. 91 LED lightbulbs, natural gas heating for our water and home (for 7 months a year!) and air conditioning running for around 4 months a year during the summer; we truly do use a LOT of energy! In conclusion, this survey allowed me to see how much we could cut down on our energy consumption throughout all aspects of our life, especially in our home life.

This assignment has led to a great revelation as to how much is used/wasted! One thing I do personally is not put all the bulbs in a light fixture; as they sometimes hold more than one! I currently have a chandelier fixture in my dining room with 14 bulb placements, however, I currently only have the top part (three) placed with bulbs. It makes the room a little dimmer, but still provides light to be able to see. Maybe try unplugging a few around your house! This experience puts into perspective how little things can add up to conserve a lot!

My mother always harped on us for leaving the lights on in the room while we were not in there; As I have now do with my children! Small instances such as shutting off the water while brushing your teeth aid in the conservation of consumption of water. Riding a bike versus taking the car, or even carpooling helps eliminate the CO2 emissions into the air. It takes being aware of the little things that one can do to minimize their footprint. How do you get people to care?  "Research in psychology offers clues as to why people engage in
unsustainable behaviors despite their concern about the broader consequences," is a quote from a study done by
Christie Manning, PhD, on "The Psychology of Sustainable Behavior."
Here is the website that includes her research:
https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/defau … ee1-01.pdf

My mother always harped on us for leaving the lights on in the room while we were not in there; As I have now do with my children! Small instances such as shutting off the water while brushing your teeth aid in the conservation of consumption of water. Riding a bike versus taking the car, or even carpooling helps eliminate the CO2 emissions into the air. It takes being aware of the little things that one can do to minimize their footprint. How do you get people to care?  "Research in psychology offers clues as to why people engage in
unsustainable behaviors despite their concern about the broader consequences," is a quote from a study done by
Christie Manning, PhD, on "The Psychology of Sustainable Behavior."
Here is the website that includes her research:
https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/defau … ee1-01.pdf

I was very surprised to see how My Carbon Footprint was very high I traveled a lot through the year and used my phone a lot and also had the heat and AC on through the year we also have lights on in our house all the time.

My carbon foot print was extremely high because this summer my family took a huge vacation, which we have never done before. I dismissed it as a one time thing, and that it wasn't that big of a deal, until I realized that maybe 10 other people have thought the same thing. Then I started wondering about ways to have more environmentally friendly modes of long distance travel. Thoughts?

My family has a footprint less than half of the average size. I was surprised because I went on 2 flights this year but because I walk everywhere it offset its self. My house is also new so all of my lights are LED and all of my heat and stuff is electric

One thing I can do better to help planet earth is buy using electric cars or more environmentally healthy forms of transportation. Electric cars will help the world severely because you are cutting carbon emissions almost all the way down. Or at least using a hybrid to help with cutting the co2 emissions in half.

Another way I can help is carpooling to school and sports I have friends that I do school and sports with if we carpool often that will take away one car which is a day worth of co2 away just by carpooling. And if other people not only in my school but across America can do it too we can make the roads less populated and cut co2 emissions like crazy.

I agree, carpooling or using electric cars would cut down carbon emissions