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

My family's carbon footprint was a little less than double the average. I will work on making it smaller.

for home and food my carbon footprint was fairly low, but when it came to transportation, it was twice the average.

I didn't realize how high my family footprint would be. We drive to places multiple times a day and my dad watches T.V. Even little things like leaving the water on or forgetting to turn off a light have a big effect on the carbon that is in the air.

Yeah it really makes you think how much impact your actions and the actions of your whole family have on the world and how the easy choices you could make could have a positive impact

I was surprised to see that my family's footprint is actually a lot higher than I expected it to be. I believe that the reason for this is that we travel a lot by car or even by plane. Since it is spring time and we live in a small city, we could use our bikes more or even walk  if we need to go somewhere not that far away. We never leave the lights or water on if we don't need them and we always try to consume more bio food in our daily routine.

I was also surprised to see how high my family's footprint was. Traveling by car contributes to a lot of the footprint which is why my family also has agreed to use bikes or walk when our destination isn't too far.

When discussing how to reduce carbon levels between us, it's important to do research on our own homes first. From calculating 4,424 kgs in my own residence, it was important for me to form new methods for my carbon output. We can start with light and its input within the house. First off, the best way to reduce the light input is just to remember switching them off when you leave the room or aren't in need of them. Additionally, an effective alternative to the standard light bulb, are LED lights. These lights are much more environmentally friendly because they last longer, and are easier to recycle. LED lights use 75% less power and last 25 times longer, LED lights will advance our home's light efficiency for the better.  A very common strategy of today is the change to solar panels. Solar panels are a great way to reduce carbon emissions. When PV cells within solar panels capture the sun’s electromagnetic radiation, the energy is able to transmit power into the house with drastic carbon reduction. Another way of paring electricity in the house is unplugging devices. Many people leave their phones and tablets charging for hours on end, without even needing to charge. If you can learn to unplug when it’s not necessary much energy can be saved. Gardening is also a positive way of lowering CO2. Many plants photosynthesize, breaking down carbon molecules in the atmosphere. Home-grown fruits and vegetables can supply your family with luscious greens, lowering the need to administer fossil fuels from your vehicles when grocery shopping. You can also try and enjoy colder showers. When using hot water for long periods of time, much carbon is being proceeded into the atmosphere. If you feel up to it colder showers will help, alongside trying to take shorter ones. You should consider using the AC and heater less. When heating just one home 6,400 pounds of CO2 can be produced. We as humans need to help our earth in many ways and these are small steps each house hold can take.

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/pore/learn/nature/c … n_home.htm

https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar … production.

https://www.nwf.org/Our-Work/Environmental-Threats/Climate-Change/Greenhouse-Gases/Gardening-for-Climate-Change#:~:text=Plant%20lots%20of%20trees%20to%20absorb%20carbon%20dioxide.&text=If%20every%20one%20of%20America's,tons%20of%20CO2%20each%20year.

https://unitil.com/blog/electronics-unplug-save-energy#:~:text=Unplugging%20devices%20when%20they're,you%20turn%20them%20back%20on.

After recently taking a questionnaire to help assist my knowledge of how much I and my family put carbon footprints out into the world, I knew I needed a change. After receiving my results (20,056) and knowing the average in the US (16,000) I personally (although it's gonna be very hard) will now be more cautious of how much carbon dioxide I put out into the world, and what harm it could cause.
First of all, there are many changes I could make to improve my house to make it more environmentally friendly. For example, my family and I have been previously talking about purchasing solar panels to reduce carbon emissions and to reduce the electricity bill, who doesn't like saving money on their bills? Carbon emissions cause the planet to warm up which is why we are experiencing climate change because activities have raised the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 50% in less than 200 years. As Constellation, Houston Habitat for Humanity states, "The more we can capture the benefits of solar energy, the less we will rely on fossil fuels. Adding a solar energy system to your home allows you to tap into these solar energy advantages: Solar energy can reduce your home’s electricity bill, Solar energy is a renewable energy source and reduces carbon emissions, Solar power can get you money back through Solar Renewable Energy Credits." This is just stating the benefits we can receive from buying solar panels for our homes.
Sources: https://www.constellation.com/energy-10 … -cons.html.
Lastly, my family and I have recently been involved with gardening/planting many plants in our front/backyard to provide vegetation and to contain CO2 from leaving back into the atmosphere. CO2 in the atmosphere has many poor cons for our planet, too much CO2 can cause the climate change incident that is occurring to this day and forward. All this climate change causes forest fires, heat waves, sea level rise, and more. Although it takes time to grow your own food, it's all worth it in the end because you have fresh fruit/vegetables that also help make our world healthier. According to the College of Illinois, "Vegetable gardens benefit the environment in many ways. Locally grown vegetables reduce carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. No plastic packaging is required when you harvest vegetables straight from the garden, which also reduces fossil fuel inputs. Pesticide and other chemical inputs can be much less in a small, well-tended garden than even a small farm." This shows all the different ways growing your own produce isn't only beneficial to yourself, but also to the environment and our planet. Source: https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/il … all%20farm.

Thanks

My total Carbon Footprint is 13,985 kgs. I knew my footprint was going to be higher than the average. My highest footprint was home. I think it was home because I usually have on the air conditioning on a lot in the heat and my heater on in the cold, I use a lot of water, and sometimes I have/leave the light on a lot. My second highest was Transportation, I think it was transportation because I drive around a lot. To make my carbon footprint go down, I should do less of what I do right now. If I want my home footprint to go down I should start using less water, ALWAYS turn off lights when i'm not in the room, use a lot of blankets when it's cold instead of the heater, and stop wearing long and heavy clothes when it's hot. For Transportation I could carpool more instead of driving separate so much, I could also walk more. Lastly, to lower my purchases I could stop buying so many new things, start brining my own paper and plastic bags to stores. The celebrity with the highest carbon footprint is Taylor swift with the footprint of 8,293. I really want to try to make my carbon footprint go down and I will try really hard to.
https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/ecolog … elebrities

My Carbon Footprint is 9,175. This is under the average. My highest area of emissions are home with a total of 3,870.  I feel my emissions are this high because I play a lot of video games and have many things plugged in because of it. Also in the rest of the house different lights are turned on in the same room. This is the leading cause of my Carbon Footprint. If I unplugged and powered things of all the way in the house especially electronics and other devices the emissions would decrease exponentially. According to the New York Times you can lower your emissions by "Turn off appliances at the power outlet to reduce even more energy. Putting them to sleep is second best." The new york times gives a example of a very good way to lower your footprint is by unplugging things and making sure there turned of all the way when not in use. https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of- … -footprint

Another area that I have a high Carbon Footprint in is Transportation with a total of 3,886. This is partially high because I don't live close nor far from school. I take the bus some days but drive more then other days. If I started to take the bus more and started to carpool with my neighbors who go to the same school as me I could expenitionally lower my emissions. Also when I hang out I skate around where i'm going but I do drive a good amount. If I took the bus more and started carpools when I am out with my friends I could lower my emissions and my friends emissions. According to EPA "Carpool with friends instead of driving alone." Is a top way to lower your Carbon Footprint. In conclusions there is many things in my daily life I can do to be more environmentally friendly. How will you lower your Carbon Footprint ?
https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air- … hicles-and

After calculating my carbon footprint, which includes data from my general family life, I got a footprint of 8,927 kilograms, which is only around 1,000 kilograms less than the average carbon footprint of 9,727 kgs. From the data presented, the sections I had the highest footprints in were the home, with 6,569 kilograms, food, 1,383 kilograms and transportation, 587 kilograms. Some of the main reasons behind why my home's footprint was so high were my family's constant over-usage of our electric heater, artificial/electric lighting, and warm sink/tap water. In order to reduce our carbon dioxide usage with the electric heater, we can set our thermostat to lower and install heat recovery ventilators, which will provide ventilation for the house, transferring the heat from the air outside to the air inside, creating a warm and fresh temperature inside the house. Also, in order to reduce the amount of CO2 released from the artificial/electric lighting used in my family's home, we could switch our incandescent light bulbs, which waste 90 percent of their energy as heat to LED lights, which use only a fourth of that energy and last much longer, meaning that instead having to throw out the unsustainable incandescent lights and buy more of them, we'd have lights that are safer for the environment, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and last longer. Another, less effective, but affordable way we could reduce the carbon dioxide production from our incandescent light bulbs is by simply keeping them off whenever they're not needed or when a room is not being occupied. To reduce the carbon dioxide produced and emitted from electric warm or hot water usage, my family could turn our home water heater down to around 150 Fahrenheit which will save 550 lbs of carbon dioxide a year. Overall, we could do an energy audit of our home to learn about and establish ways we can save energy and become more energy efficient. Additionally, one way my family can reduce our footprint with food is by composting our food more. I noticed that my family actually never composts and usually just puts all of our food in the trash after being consumed and this is one of the reasons why our carbon footprint with food is so high. Lastly, although a reduction of my family's carbon footprint with transportation can be more difficult because I don't have my own car yet, we could carpool together or all travel in one car instead of separately driving the two cars my family owns. Carpooling is a much simpler and more convenient way to travel, and along with this annually saves 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. We, specifically I, could try to take public transportation more often, like the bus or the BART train. This should help me get to the places I want to get to easier and quicker as well as save the carbon that would be been wasted if I traveled in different individual cars. In conclusion, although my family's carbon footprint isn't exceedingly over the average carbon footprint, there are many different actions that we could partake in the future that could help reduce our footprint to a much more sustainable amount, helping us to create a healthier and equitable lifestyle for ourselves and for the Earth.

Source: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/ … footprint/

I am very glad that I participated in the project because I finally found out about my family's carbon consumption. The information really surprised me, I didn't think we were actually consuming so much carbon. Now when I know about it, I can reduce my consumption in various ways.

After calculating my carbon footprint for the home section which is higher than the average at 5,273 kgs, I knew that I needed to make changes on the way I am living at home. If I could have my own home there would be some changes I would make.

First, I would want to stay in California because we have great weather and I would want to install solar panels so that they can convert the sunlight into electrical energy which would be a source of electricity that could help reduce the amount of CO2 I am using. According to Suntuity Solar, "By switching to solar-powered energy, you can drastically reduce your household's carbon footprint, which is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by your home." Also, according to berkley.edu, "A residential solar panel system, for example, has the capability of providing for the electricity needs of an entire home with about 80% lower carbon emissions than fossil fuels." https://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/es1 … M_2013.pdf
https://suntuitysolar.com/suntuityblog/ … our%20home.

Secondly, I would want to have my own garden so that I can grow my own fruits and vegetables to be sustainable and not have to go buy groceries and save money. Growing my own garden also promotes good eating habits and exercise habits as well as family bonding and stress relief. According to Washington State University, "The carbon-rich humus in fertile soils keeps carbon out of the atmosphere for many years. Better management of our soils can capture and remove 21 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S." Also according to lbl.gov, "Plants, through photosynthesis, and soils sequester roughly a third of carbon dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere each decade from the burning of fossil fuels." https://extension.wsu.edu/king/tip-shee … can%20help. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/12/08/p … il%20fuels.

Lastly, I would want to live close to my school so I can walk and not waste CO2 by driving and wasting unnecessary gas. Right now I live kind of far from my school and I am wasting a lot of gas and using a lot of CO2 every day by driving to school and I want to reduce that by living closer to school. Also walking instead of driving is better for you because that is a form of exercise and is healthy for the body rather than just sitting in a car while you are driving. According to The Daily Californian, "Walking instead of driving means that you're contributing less to climate change. Of course, when you're walking more you also need more fuel for your body through food and water and food production can also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions." Also, according to Blue and Green Tomorrow, "Walking is the best way to help the environment. One study concluded that walking a mile and a half would release 75% less greenhouse gases than we would produce from driving the same distance. Driving less doesn't just help the environment. It can also make us healthier." https://dailycal.org/2021/04/26/stop-dr … u-can-walk. https://blueandgreentomorrow.com/enviro … 0healthier.

I am going to start practicing these things to help reduce my carbon footprint and you can too! There are also many different ways and things that you can do to reduce your carbon footprint not only at home but with food, transportation, etc. What are some things or ways that can help you reduce your carbon footprint?

My carbon footprint was 19774 kgs per year. This is on the high side of the median range for my region. I'm not surprised that I fall in the higher category given the greenhouse gases that my family and I emit into the environment. A few factors that I believe make my carbon footprint higher is that I commute a total of 1 hour to/from school each day and sometimes more due to practices. In order to lower this I could make up for this by riding my bike or walking in my hometown. My carbon footprint is also effected by the appliances in our home. This would change and lower if we switched to solar power or made sure we unplugged things, turned off lights and water when they're not in use. In order to lower my carbon footprint as well as my families it's important to be conscientious about our choices and make sure we prioritize the change where we can.

When calculating my carbon footprint which was lower than average, I noticed that one part was higher, transportation. This surprised me because I take the bus to school and walk to close places often. What actually made that so high was because of air travel. My family and I normally go out of the USA once a year but I did not know how much travel and air travel. My carbon footprint is significantly increased by travel, especially air travel. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that transportation causes around 24% of the world's CO2 emissions, with aircraft playing a significant role. As much CO2 emissions as the typical human emits in a year may be produced by a single long-haul trip. Carbon emissions are also a result of the energy needed to build and maintain aviation infrastructure, including airports and aircraft.
Some, however, can take action to lessen the carbon footprint of their trip. For instance, choosing environmentally friendly transportation options like trains or buses, if you are not traveling over water, can cut CO2 emissions. Additionally, avoiding connecting flights in favor of direct flights and flying economy instead of business or first class helps lessen the environmental impact of air travel. Additionally and most importantly, several airlines provide carbon offset programs enabling customers to finance environmental initiatives that lower carbon emissions to make up for their travel-related emissions.
https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissio … ights-2021
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/g … t-aviation

After calculating my carbon footprint and seeing how high the total was for my home (3,757 kg), I knew that I needed to make some changes to the way that I live. If I could have my own environmentally friendly house, there are many different design choices that I would make.
Firstly, I would want all of the electricity to come from solar panels. I live in California so the fear that I wouldn't get enough sunlight to power my home is non-existent. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy found that" As a renewable source of power, solar energy has an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change, which is critical to protecting humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. Solar energy can also improve air quality and reduce water use from energy production." This is why I would make this choice for my future family and my future home.https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-wildlife-and-environment#:~:text=As%20a%20renewable%20source%20of,water%20use%20from%20energy%20production.

The second decision that I would make when planning out my environmentally friendly lifestyle in my new home would be to choose sustainable ways to get my produce. Organic food might be more expensive but in the long run, it is better for your body as well as the environment. Non-Organic foods are grown with pesticides that hurt the wildlife and the soil. As the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture states, "Runoff from areas treated with pesticides can pollute streams, ponds, lakes, and wells. Pesticide residues in surface water can harm plants and animals and contaminate groundwater." https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farmi … icides.pdf

Lastly, I would make sure that my home is close to the facilities that I frequent the most. I currently live 5 minutes away from my school(when driving) which reduces my carbon footprint. I am still young so I won't be making big life changes any time soon but I know that there are small choices that I can make to improve my footprint! I have started composting in my backyard and I also use my space heater less during the night. We were all placed on this earth by God and it is our job to take care of it. What are some ways that you can lessen your carbon footprint?

My family produces less carbon dioxide than average in our country but is still more that the rest of the world. I think that me and my family need to watch out on food waste because we produce the most carbon dioxide by that.

Personally as part of a big family sometimes our carbon footprint can be overwhelming and above average. It's important to at least try and reduce it, if we as a society ignore our family's carbon footprint then global warming will just keep on increasing. One of the world's main priorities should be conserving the planet for future generations. We have already started this journey by inventing tools such as solar power and hydroelectric turbines but we shouldn't stop. I believe that big or small we can change the world by working together and supporting each other along the way. Even if this journey will be long it's for the best cause of all.
A healthy planet we can call home.

I would like to state that my carbon footprint results are lower than the average in my area. This doesn't mean my whole family shares the same results, I like to think I'm more sustainable than them. As a person that's from the younger generations, I tend to care more about the environment and I participate in little things that my parents usually ignore, for an example I always turn the lights off when I walk out of a room, I don't keep the windows open if we are using heat inside the house and others. When talking about my results, the highest carbon rate is connected with home and the amount of trash we throw out. My conclusion is that my carbon footprint is smaller than my parents footprint, most of my carbon footprint comes from having a big waste of trash, but I'd like to proudly add that my waste when talking about gasoline and vehicles is minimal, because I mostly walk everywhere.

I liked answering the questions from the carbon footprint questionnaire. it was interesting and very helpful. thanks to the questionnaire, I realized how much carbon dioxide my family produces, and thanks to the discussions during the courses, I was able to find out ways to reduce this footprint and improve life.

I believe that my families footprint is lower then average

This Wednesday I have used The International Student Footprint Calculator in order to find out what my family's impact is on the environment.
   I was glad to know that it is around the average in my location, but I was surprised to see that while my footprint for food, purchases and transportation is lower by a small percentage, the home category rises it by a fair amount, which I didn't think of before.
   I concluded that I have to lower the temperature I usually set in my home during cold times and to switch to LED lights for a better quality of our planet and that home utilities play a major role in environmental issues.

Yes,also my footprint food,purchases and transportation is lower,but the home category is higher and I didn't think of before either.Home,I use woods to heat my room and this activity has a harmful impact on the environment.

Am aflat cât de mult am poluat în ultimul timp,şi am învăţat lucruri noi.

My family's footprint is above than an average carbon footprint for Croatia. My parents and my siblings are well environmentally conscious, but we are a family of 6 so all of our expanses are higher than an average. The most of CO2 is coming from home and transportation. My house is quite big and then we need a lot of light bulbs, energy to heat the rooms, hot water etc. Although we use LED light bulbs, the amount of power is still significant. We live on the countryside, but we are very near to the town where the extracurricular activities of my siblings, supermarkets and shops are,... Beacuse of that we are not driving to many kilometers in one way, but we are often going there and back few times a day. Flying by a plane is the big factor in the segment "Transportation" because we love to travel.

I would like to Know my family footprint

Good for you

I think that my family’s carbon footprint is quite large but we are familiar with the carbon footprint. For example we use LED bulbs and recyle. We like to travel, that’s one of the reasons why our footprint is above avarage, most CO2 comes from traveling.

I don't think that my family footprint is that bad. The most of the CO2 comes from traveling. We could improve that by walking more or by riding the bike. And also we should replace all incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs.

Me and my family consume a lot of electricity: the light, TV and computer are often on.  I would therefore like to try to ensure that we reduce our consumption by setting limits, in particular for the light that we leave on a little too often when the natural light is good enough to see.

I agree that natural light is good and probably the best but I think that you could use LED bulbs. I have that type od bulbs in all od rooms in my house and they are really good.

When I compare all my results, I see that my family spends the most carbon on transportation. Perhaps this could be reduced if we used bicycles for sports activities instead of cars.

My familys footprint wasnt bad until i filled out the questions   about travel.We dont travel with a car a lot but we do travel with a plane.I believe we should travel with planes, cars and other vehicles less because they are destroying earth.Instead we should walk more.

In my opinion, reducing CO2 in the atmosphere can be done in many ways.  First of all, we can only use LED bulbs instead of filament bulbs that release heat energy.  And now this method is a little more financially demanding, but if we set aside a little money every month, we can buy solar panels and convert it into thermal energy instead of using gas or wood, because burning these products creates a lot of CO2.  Short trips like from home to the store can be done by riding a bicycle instead of starting the car, which releases a lot of CO2 through exhaust gases.

I think that my family can use less co2 like, for example, we use less water, buy less new clothes and reduce waste.  We can also use the car less and ride a bike or walk more.

I think that my familiy's carbon
footprint is not bad, but it can be even better, we are awere of the carbon footprint problem, we wanna be much as sustainable as possible.

I think that my family's carbon footprint is quite large, but I think that we are quite familiar with the carbon footprint and that we try to reduce it as much as possible in different ways, such as: food composting, we use LED lamps, we don't use a lot of water when showering, we try to implement as much time outdoors...

I think that my family is very aware of our carbon footprint and we are trying to use and do things that have low carbon footprint. For example we use LED bulbs, recycle, we grow out own food, recycle our scrap food etc. Even though we are careful, we really like to travel. We travel often, that's why our footprint is above the avarage.

I learned that my family could do more to be mindful of its impact on the world and can help make a change in the world's health.

You need to choose well where you will live according to your career and your hobbies ! Effectively, transports represent a large part of the pollution.
For example, I live in French Polynesia with my family and even if we only fly once a year, it is always at least 8.000 km by plane (back and forth counted) and for my oral exams, I will have to go to France by plane (at 16.000km). And in the future, I would like to travel several times a year. So, when I leave home, I will settle in a place that makes travel accessible because of shorter distances and therefore less emissions from transport. But if you prefer a sedentary life like my parents, going to live on an island seems like a good choice !

Awareness and action is our role in this society. Let's act for ourselves and our future.

On the spectrum of carbon footprints, I would categorize my family as somewhere in the middle. Though we have many environmentally friendly habits, there are definitely categories that we could change our behavior in. We compost all our scrap food and make a conscious effort to eat locally and organically. My Mom recently purchased an electric hybrid which contributes significantly in reducing our carbon footprint and my Dad is hoping to purchase a fully electric car in the near future. We heat our home with wood that is hand chopped on our property, although we keep our home in the high 70s to 80s in the winter months. We also practice small sustainable habits such as using reusable bags, donating our old clothes to places such as goodwill, and buying clothes of high quality. Though we are aware of our carbon footprint and make efforts to reduce it, we also frequently travel. In the past year, we’ve visited Florida, Montreal (twice), Saratoga, NYC, Boston, Rhode Island, Morocco, and Virginia. We also travel quite frequently on the weekends and midweek for sports as I participate in Soccer, Nordic Skiing, and Track and my younger brothers also play multiple sports. These habits play a significant role in raising our carbon footprint which is something I would like to work on improving.

Excellent points Siena! In my family we work very hard to reduce pour carbon footprint as much as possible but in the past few years we have struggled with that. I participated in a baseball team that required an intense amount of travel each weekend for about 5 months. Selfishly I always liked taking my moms vehicle which didn’t get nearly as good gas mileage as my dads hybrid does. My moms car tends to average 37 MPG while my dads averages a whopping 72. By deciding to take my moms car every weekend instead of my dads it seriously affected the amount of green house gasses I put into the atmosphere which I now regret. I also participate in a travel soccer league that like baseball requires me to sometimes travel multiple hours each weekend. When I have to do this traveling I plan on now mainly sing my dads vehicle as much as possible considering how environmentally friendly it is. Although I now wish I used my dads vehicle more in many other ways our family does a great job reducing our carbon footprint. In the winter we keep our house at a chilly 68 degrees and we try to use a very little amount of heat. In the the warmer months we only have on air conditioning for a few hours in the day and try to keep the house at 73 degrees. As a family that is juggling many other things we try our very best to reduce our carbon footprint and will continue to for many years to come.

I live in the Pacific so that we depend a lot on flights. I try to pay attention to other topic. Me and my family are trying to reduce our meat consumption and even to stop it. Instead of throwing clothes away we give them to families who need them in islands. We try to reduce our impact on the environment like before we used dryers and now we totally stop it. We plant and try consume local foods.

My parents have always loved to travel and like to take my brother and I to new places. We almost always take a plane to the destinations we go to, and planes are terrible for the environment. When Covid hit, my family couldn’t go on vacation for a while. This was super sad for us and we realized how important travel is. Because Of this I’ve noticed that people are always gonna travel, and we should try and help make the planes better for the environment. This might take awhile to design but it would really help fix the issue.

I completely agree with you about how planes emit too much carbon and how we need to make the more eco friendly. Hera are a couple of ideas of how they could be more efficient: we could make them electric an charge them with solar energy, we could try and make them glide more instead of relying on engine for the whole flight, and we could maybe even make subways under the ocean far into the future. But we can also just try to limit our plane use. For example, if you were to fly to Europe but you wanted to go got different countries, you should take trains.

I agree with both of you! It’s hard to balance a love of traveling with environmental concerns as both are important. Liam, you raise a good point that it’s unreasonable to ask people to give up traveling as it’s something many people enjoy. Realistically, people are not going to stop traveling which is why environmentally conscious transportation means should be developed. Graham also raises a great point that there are other options to traveling by plane that are more environmentally friendly such as trains and communal busses. While these can often be overlooked as they bear the stigma of being slow and unpleasant, technology is actively being developed to combat these associations. Bullet trains are nearly as fast as planes and have a considerably lower carbon footprint. Additionally, it is important to consider the environmental impact of your vacation plans.

I also agree with you, moreover for people like me who are living on an island, in the center of Pacific Ocean, it is difficult to not travel anymore: for example my family live in France and it is actually very important for me to go see them sometimes. However I think that we need to understand what travels are necessary or not and how can we travel in a more sustainable way because that is a fact, travelling a polluting too much. And that is why it so important to find solutions by investing in renewables energies such as hydrogen and overall to open the eyes of our new generations and educate everybody about the danger of too much carbon emissions.