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

Recycle the things you can, one thing has more than one use. Instead of throwing way your stuff, you should give them a second chance.

Can I make a pot out of a bottle?

yes, but you need to first cut it in half so you can put your plant in then you will need to poke holes in the bottom of the bottle and then put your plant in with soil.

To be honest every human being are lazy. Because recycling stuff such as bottles take up space and time which cause people to throw them into trash. It would be nice if we human could use those stuff over and over.

Dobbiamo mettere la spazzatura nel posto giusto, non nel fiume o nella natura. Dobbiamo proteggere il nostro pianeta e insieme renderemo di nuovo grande il pianeta

https://renaudeau.paysdelaloire.e-lyco. … lycee/e3d/

I use reusable bags when I shop for groceries. I compost and grow plants in my backyard. I also recycle properly.

Most of us dont think how important our planet is. We need to put the trash on the right place, not in the river or nature. We need to protect our planet, and together we wiil make the plante great again! if you have questions, let me now and we can talk about this!

I think you are right without mentioning that tons of garbage are thrown into the oceans that the sea carries them to shore and takes away the beauty of the world's beaches.

I agree especially with recyclable materials it's so easy to find a trash/recycle bin and if something is recycled properly it can be repurposed which is great for the environment

When we print documents or write on a our notebook and then we stop using that paper we usually throw it away in the trash. Well you can repurpose that paper. I have seen a lot of videos doing this and it’s very cool. What you have to do is cut the paper in small pieces then put them in your blender with water, then blend that paper and you’re going to end up with a mixture. Take that into a sieve and strain the water, then put that mass into a rectangular mold and let it dry. When it dries out you’ll have a hard piece of paper and write or paint or draw.

Wow, I never thought about that, that is also another important aspect. Also, that method to reuse paper seem very good! Someday I will try it!

My ISCFC is kind of higher than the other people in my region but i will try to change some things so i can do better for this planet.

Yo can try using less your car, or recycling more!

I recommend that you reduce everything to save our planet and thus save more

okay

i think this is a good recommendation, Thank You.

humans are making the environment bad mainly because of how they are treating the earth we are making so much carbon causing global warming/climate change and were doing nothing to try to fix it. some reasons are deforestation, over farming/hunting and the polluting that happens.

Dear BOD Students, It is wonderful to see your posts with supporting resource links. Many thanks!

How can my school make a big impact?

I’d also like to know this. I feel like it’s hard to make an impact with such a big group of people and not resources like recycling or compost everywhere we go. Some people aren’t as informed and don’t know that’s its very important to do these things.

I think every school has an impact, but it can be good or bad. If a WHOLE school recycles and stops using plastic it could have a GREAT impact! That is my opinion, tell me if u agree...

I agree with u but for example we recycle in my school but everyday I see plastic being thrown in paper bags and paper being thrown where plastic should be. Its really sad and unfortunate some people cant really see how much our planet and climate is suffering because of this little mistakes

I think schools can be a big impact because if more people put effort to recycle plastic it would definitely make some type of impact but nowadays most people dont really care for that type of stuff.

We should get recycling bins instead of just throwing everything away.

Everyone should try to pollute less because pollution is killing person and the world is getting hotter.
Try to use more public transportation, eat less meat, uses train instead of plans.
Try to use less water and less electricity .
If everyone does at least this efforts it will change a lot the world and we need to act now

You are so right. Team Frenche!

I agree ! You are right !! ( Cloclo_Bear tu m'a copier pour le truc Team France ... )

Umm non. Team french

Ummm si

Greenhouse gases are gases built up to collect heat in the atmosphere to grow plants. The gases in the atmosphere trap heat close to the surface of the Earth to warm the planet. In 1896, a Swedish scientist named Svante Arrhenius was the first to connect a rise in carbon dioxide gas from burning fossil fuels with a warming effect. On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2. This affects your carbon footprint because your carbon footprint is how much CO2 you add into the atmosphere.

What are they?

Its amazing that the climate strike was started by a high schooler.

I agree it is amazing that the climate strike was started by a high school student. A lot of people think that they can't make a difference because they're too young, or don't think they can take action for a major issue or they might be afraid that someone might judge them. But sometimes you never know what a small gesture can turn into. Because that student took action for this climate change issue, it led to having an international climate strike.

that's really cool! i didn't know it was started by a high schooler. and yeah it's so awesome that one small act can become a huge thing.

Eighth grade students at Crowden School in Berkeley, CA. walked out of class today with signs that they made to encourage people to walk rather than drive, listen to science, and as a call to action-to encourage people to speak up and speak out! The students located themselves at a busy intersection where traffic can be quite heavy. They were thrilled to see, and hear (honking), the responses of the drivers.Quite a few people thanked them for showing their concern and passion about this issue. They also thanked people who walked by or rode bicycles past them. They discussed what to write on the signs and decided they did not want to say what NOT to do, but to say what can be done. It was amazing to watch them speak their minds in a positive way in a public forum.

i feel like we should be able to do something more with our waste and carbon footprint science and hardware has evolved so much over the years but it appears we dont know how to use the machines we got right now we gotta focus on long term for the planet earth this is our home we need to get our stuff together and figure out a way to solve these problems we gotta come together as one to reduce our waste and carbon footprint

There is a recently argument states that the electric vehicles are even less environmental friendly than the traditional fossil fuel using vehicles. EVs do not give out the same exhaust as engines, but the powers in their batteries come from power stations, and it's likely some of the electricity is from fossil fuel and that means emissions. In USA, most of the electric cars are in California and California generates essentially no electricity from coal. The main source of electricity in California comes from natural gas plants. This fossil fuel is not clean or renewable, but it is cleaner than coal, and using it produces less harmful air pollution. But in Georgia, the pollution is much worse,  it is one of the states with quite a bit of dirty coal electricity. So electric vehicles can help reduce the pollution under certain conditions, but with the EVs become more and more popular, the battery disposing is also a problem. In my opinion the electricity vehicles is  a transition product until we find new energy sources, it is necessary for us to discover or invent new energy sources.

This is really interesting, and, unfortunately, it isn't something that most people think about or realize. Although they aren't produced commercially yet, there are some prototypes for solar-powered cars, which could fix this problem of using electricity from power plants. Some vehicles are directly powered by solar panels on the car, and there are also some solar-powered EV chargers. By developing and utilizing this technology, we could seriously decrease the amount of carbon we produce. This solution could help us get rid of the use of fossil fuels to power vehicles.

This is a very interesting point. A lot of people do make assumptions that electric cars are more beneficial than gas cars. However, it's more towards a point of view on where people live. In places where pollution is high, I also think that people should tone down on electric cars a little if the air quality isn't too bad. Both electric and gas cars are detrimental to the environment, and if people could find more remunerative methods of production, like solar or maybe wind power (as mentioned previously), people could decrease the amount of Co2 emission because transportation is a huge part of our lives.

At Bishop O'Dowd High school we have several ways in which we try to encourage sustainability and take action. We even have our own web page on Sustainability. We have a living lab where we grow garden fruits, vegetables, and honey, have a contract with Epicurean Food Group allowing our lunch items to be local, natural, organic grown foods, and we make Earth Week a very big week at our school in which we participate in many activities involving sustainability. Not only have we many activities in which we take part in to become a more sustainable school but we have many clubs and teach-ins that help educate Bishop O'Dowd students like me to become more sustainable in our every day lives. Bishop O'Dowd does this hoping to have a positive effect on how we view sustainability in our future.

Sounds very exciting - nice work!

I Have heard about recycling and what it is since I was in preschool, but how many of us actually recycle? According to Planet Aid, 34% of waste in America.  “In 2013, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash and recycled and composted about 87 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.3 percent recycling rate.” (United states Environmental protection agency).  These amount of trash we are creating per year is hard to comprehend, but it is having terrible effects on the environment.  One example is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a pile of trash pulled together by ocean currents and its size has been estimated to be about the size of texas or even twice that much.  Many marine creatures get stuck in or eat the plastic and other items that could be lethal to them.  This is just one of the ways our waste is affecting the environment.
We know the effects our waste can have on the environment.  Now how can we cut down the amount of waste we have?  There are many simple ways to cut down on waste.  One way, is to get a composting bin, you put your f ood scraps, used napkins, and even coffee grounds.  Another method, is to reuse items you have already purchased, this could plastic bottles, glass jars or anything you make use out of. This same idea carries over to not buying too much or wasting excess food or other products.  If every one makes a conscience effort to recycle then we could greatly cut down on our waste.

http://www.bishopodowd.org/odowd-named- … ol-nation/

Bishop O’Dowd was named a 2016 US Department of Education Green Ribbon School. The school was also the first Catholic school to receive the “highest-level honor (Green Achiever" in California’s Green Ribbon School program. Some of the initiatives that reduced the schools environmental impact include: the building of a LEED-platinum Center for Environmental Studies, gaining recognition as a Fair Trade School (only one of 16 K-12 schools to receive this recognition), installing solar panels, the four-acre wildlife habitat + edible garden called the Living Lab, and much more.

At our most recent football game, me and a few others from our school’s Sustainability Corps leadership team were honored at halftime for our student contributions to the school’s sustainability and can be seen holding the award in the picture attached.

I hope that my school's work in sustainability inspires and leads other schools around the globe to implement sustainable practices on their campuses, too!

[IMG_2529](//muut.com/u/footprint/s2/:footprint:n17I:img_2529.jpg.jpg)

fantastic!

yay!

Our school is a top green school because both the students and the administration care about helping the environment.  The administration cares about the environment because it allowed the alumni and students to go through with constructing the center for environmental studies: two science labs that are made out of completely environmentally sustainable materials.  Also, the students and some alumni constructed the living lab where we do scientific research as well as learn about how to take care of the environment.

I helped with the chickens and mulch. I also recycle and compost.

I travel more than 200 miles per week playing sports, traveling to school, hanging out with friends, etc. Obviously, I'm not going to change that because those 3 things are a huge portion of my everyday life. However, something I will work on changing is how much I recycle. I hardly ever take time to separate my garbage between paper, plastic and glass, therefore I can begin by doing so. Some other things I can do to take it even further is to use my own containers at to go restaurants, to re-use water bottles for other drinks or even to simply use a hand towel for multiple washes instead of a paper towel per every wash. I believe that my contribution will make a difference, although it may be small, it still matters.

thanks for inspiring me to do the same! totally agree with you 100%.

Nice! I support what your doing, the fact that I averaged close to an average Californian with CO2 emission puts me to shame. I hope to lessen my habits and help the environment. Global warming is very one sided, despite scientist predictions many things have happened to worsen the Earth. I hope humans can survive to be prosperous and repair human disruptions to the environment. I also, pledge to Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!

I agree with you, breenab, that it is hard to completely change our habits to decrease our carbon dioxide emissions. There are parts of my lifestyle that I can't easily change, like having an old car with poor gas mileage, having to drive to school, or hanging out with friends. But, like you were saying, I can help in other ways. I have noticed that I've become more concerned with how I sort through my trash when my school started promoting it and when I did this project. I've even started to tell my parents what they can and can't recycle. Even though we may not be able to change all of our habits, we can definitely do something to make a difference and improve our world.

I agree but at the same time no we shouldn't change how much we hang out with friends and everything but if we do that and we drive to get everywhere how does that help the environment. I do agree I will recycle more. (Ohio,USA)

Reusing  things is something that everyone should do! Nice idea.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_28 … ings-green
Bishop O'Dowd was praised as a "model of what is possible" by a local San Francisco Bay Area news group. Recent environmental efforts include installing 198 solar panels, replacing grass with artificial turf, and building a new Center for Environmental Studies classroom building that has been LEED certified. Many students are also active in an environmental club called Students for Sustainability, dedicated to greening our campus, with actions such as promoting the proper use of the different colored waste bins, and banning plastic water bottles from being sold on campus. Students also spend time working in a large wildlife habitat and outdoor classroom named the Living Lab, containing outdoor classrooms, student-maintained gardens, bee hives, and chickens. You can see more at our school's website http://bishopodowd.org/activities/sustainability.php
Do any of your schools have similar curriculums or opportunities?

Wonderful to see you in the news!

Hi Francis! I had no idea that our school received this prestigious accolade! Go Dragons! I am so proud to be a part of this O'Dowd community. Being involved in it is definitely more powerful than merely reading about it in the news. I can confidently say that being a part of the Bishop O'Dowd community has changed my views on how we treat our planet, and how we must take action to help make our world a greener place. Though our school has taken a lot of steps towards sustainability, we can't stop here! We need to keep taking these steps and keep all of our students aware of their personal and communal impact on our Earth. Through this, one little private school has the ability to cause a major (and necessary) chain reaction of green living.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohsesa/se … 844609460/

Students from Oakland High's Environmental Science Academy attended a rally in solidarity with the big People's Climate March organized by Bill McKibbon and 350.org in New York. As ESA senior, Visah, said "We need to reduce carbon emissions. Youth of today are responsible to know what’s going on with climate change because whether we like it to not we are here to stay and it will affect our lives the most." Students made signs, gave 2 great speeches, and created a sea level rise pole demonstration. Very proud of them -- and noticed that adults listened to their messages from the heart. [Visah-IMG_5912](//res.cloudinary.com/moot/image/upload/t_d3-gallery-s1/v1412311514/:footprint:AVKc:visahimg_5912.jpg.jpg)  [Speaker2-Mercedes](//res.cloudinary.com/moot/image/upload/t_d3-gallery-s1/v1412311514/:footprint:eBfF:speaker2mercedes.jpg.jpg)  [IMG_5878 - Copy](//res.cloudinary.com/moot/image/upload/t_d3-gallery-s3/v1412311515/:footprint:hM3Z:img_5878copy.jpg.jpg)  [Sea level after Greenland ice sheet melts IMG_5885](//res.cloudinary.com/moot/image/upload/t_d3-gallery-s3/v1412311515/:footprint:zSXt:sealevelaftergreenlandicesheetmeltsimg_5885.jpg.jpg) mate Rallymate CA

great pictures, and I love the sea level rise pole!  Way to go Oakland High School!!

Congratulations to Oakland High's Environmental Science Academy for taking such an active role in your community. What a great start for your school year!

WOW thats great!! Attending a climate change rally is a great way to get students involved in a hands-on experience. The ability to give the kids a chance to make signs and posters while giving speech is an amazing way to teach our students! Great idea and what an excellent way to teach the youth.

I do indeed like the pictures that is pretty cool how you guys even have people giving out speeches.
-Gage

I think that having the latest technology can be a want or need depending on the person. For some, having the latest technology is necessary for keeping up with modern times. For example, it's pretty important for people to have cell phones now that pay phones aren't around anymore. Plus, advancements in cell phone technology allow us to use our phones for so many more things besides calling or texting, like for watching TV or using it as your own personal trainer.
However, having the latest technology can be a want as well. Consumers always want to own the "next big thing" as soon as it comes out, which can be a major reason why companies advertise and promote their products so much. It's like one big competition to see who can come up with a newer, more efficient product than those that have been previously released.
I don't buy new technology or gadgets unless what I have is unusable. The last time I got a new phone (iPhone 4 to 5c) was because I had dropped it so many times it wouldn't charge anymore. I don't think I needed to buy a new cell phone model, but since m y data plan offered it I took it. I wouldn't say that I'm addicted to purchasing the "latest and greatest" models of things because I don't see the importance of buying something new unless what I have is broken.
Lastly, I do consider the impact of all these purchases and it really makes me sad whenever I think about how most of the outdated things end up (in the garbage). Once it's out of trend, no one buys it anymore so it's thrown out. According to the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), only 18% of 2.25 million tons of TVs, cell phones, and computer products that could be recycled were recycled; leaving the other 82% in landfills.  On a more positive note, it is nice to see big companies, like AT&T and Verizon, have programs for recycling unwanted phones/other products.

I accidentally put this in the wrong discussion...I apologize. This same post is in the Wants or Needs discussion.

wow! thats crazy. small world! mine were super low too!

I've learned I have a big carbon foot print even if it's under the French average. I have noticed,in Africa more precisely in Ghana,in the global issues service summit that their transportation foot print is hight (1929 kg) I find this surprising.

Below is a press release from our school from last year.  I am confident that this year's experience will be awesome, as well! 

OCTOBER 2013

Orange Park students measure their carbon footprint

Students in Karen Meyer’s environmental science class are participating in the International Student Carbon Footprint Challenge. The project includes calculating their personal carbon footprint and chatting with students from around the world, including California, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Greece.

We can measure our personal CARBON FOOTPRINTS by calculating how much greenhouse gas our activities produce. Every time we turn on a light, travel by car, eat a meal, switch on a TV, or use anything that requires energy, we produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

Calculate your own carbon footprint here: Carbon Footprint PDF

For more information about the challenge, visit the website at http://footprint.stanford.edu