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

Instead of tossing out old items, why not give them a new lease on life? Reusing and repurposing can breathe new life into old belongings, reducing waste and our environmental impact. That shirt at the back of your closet? It could become a trendy tote bag. Those empty jars? Perfect for storing pantry staples or organizing crafts.
By embracing "Reuse & Repurpose," we cut down on the need for new products, conserving resources and energy. Plus, it's a chance to get creative and have fun! So, before you toss something, consider its potential for a new purpose.

Being able to reuse and repurpose as well as recycle is a very important topic. It has many benefits, mainly preventing pollution by reducing the need to harvest raw materials. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change. If you take the time to look around there are things used everyday in your home that can be repurposed. If you're a wine drinker or have a parent/guardian who is, they can be used as a non toxic fire starter. This is just one example where you could really get crafty. There is also a way to make a difference with substituting. Substituting things you use on a everyday basis can be hard but if you start little by little you will eventually make big changes. An easy way you can start with substituting is with grocery bags. Start with when you take a trip to the grocery store, don't immediately go for the plastic bags. Come prepared with your own reusable bags. Not everyone may own their own personal grocery bags but there are many stores that offer them for sale. Another thing I do in my home is saving our plastic bags. Although we're still using them we are reusing them instead of just throwing them out. This is a great example of repurposing. Another example we see everyday with people is having a personal water bottle. All this plastic is piling up fast, especially when the items we use everyday are plastic. A reusable water bottle is a great way to limit this problem. Now environment friendly options aren't always the most reasonable. We go to the store with the idea of wanting to do better. Then aren't a;ways able to when we see the prices. The glorification of wanting to do better for the environment is a problem. This makes it unrealistic for many people as well as out of reach. This is why reusing, repurposing, and recycling should be a more educated topic. It is always nice when you know you can make a change without having to do the most difficult thing.

Around 10% of CO2 emissions worldwide come from textile production. Much of fast fashion is just thrown away when it goes out of style. Most clothes are designed to last longer and, when not disposed of properly, can take hundreds of years to decompose. Not only does throwing away clothes contribute to pollution, but the creation of the clothes adds to pollution.  The pollution that the textile industry produces comes from three main areas: Dyeing, yarn preparation, and fiber production. Dyeing and finishing makes up 36%, yarn preparation makes up 28%, and fiber production makes up 15% of the pollution produced. These all also contribute to the fossil fuel problem, as they are very “energy-intensive”. Instead of throwing away clothes when you no longer want them, why not donate them to thrift stores? Thrift stores are a great place to get clothes on a budget and buying used clothes helps to cut down on the CO2 emissions produced by throwing them away. Thrifting clothes not only serves a practical use, but an aesthetic one as well. Thrifting can provide a larger range of styles of clothes than just what is in fashion. Some thrift stores are non-profit organizations, like Goodwill or Salvation Army, and provide jobs for many people. To help combat the pollution produced by the textile industry, we can shop at non-profit thrift stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, and ReStore.
Another way the textile industry contributes to pollution is by washing clothes. Every year, about 500,000 tons of microfibers are sent out into the ocean by washing clothes. Washing machines do not have small enough filters to catch the microfibers, so when the clothes are washed and the tiny plastics are released they are not caught. They often go through sewage treatment plants and are not caught. They are found everywhere throughout the world, from the peaks of high mountains to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. They can also cause serious health issues such as genetic disruption and poisoning. Not only does washing clothes contribute to pollution, so does the washing machine itself. In addition to using excessive amounts of water to clean clothes, it also “emits an estimated 62 million tonnes of CO2-eq greenhouse gases each year”.

https://goodwillsouthtexas.com/the-trut … ft-stores/
https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2023/1 … ach%20year.
https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrime … ach%20year.
https://planetcare.org/en-int/pages/washing-clothes-pollutes-oceans-with-microplastics#:~:text=Because%20washing%20machines%20don't,and%20travel%20down%20the%20drain.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/envi … nt%20years.

I think we should reuse or repurpose things. It is extremely important to reuse because then we wouldn't be producing too many waste, which can help save earth. Even though somethings may not be reused or repurposed, it is best to reuse things that can be. From now on I will try and bring reusable bags instead of using plastic bags, and also try to recycle things.

I agree with this method and it is probably the easiest way to reduce carbon footprint.

I agree. We might not be able to eliminate carbon footprint completely, but we can start with what we CAN do to help. Remember, small things build up to great things.

I agree with the fact that reusing items, especially bags as they are a huge cause for issues in different environments. However, you can also find ways to reuse plastic bags instead of completely discarding and disregarding them. Plastic bags from the grocery store can be used as a substitute for garbage bags for smaller garbage cans. An example would be personal garbage in rooms of homes. There are other ways you can repurpose plastic baggies. They can be used for cleaning up the waste of pets. Many people, including myself, use plastic bags to clean up after our litterbox for the cats. This ends up benefiting everyone involved. By repurposing the bags, we lessen the amount of materials used to make more products; which in turn saves energy on the company side. Repurposing other materials like cardboard boxes, glasses, and other types of plastic also produces the same result. It reduces the amount of waste produced and in return, gives environments better rates of survival and the animals in it.

https://www.ibanet.org/article/76F8D2A9 … 0blockages

https://natran.com/how-to-repurpose-eve … -doing-so/

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Recycli … 0in%20bulk

With carbon levels increasing a substantial way to decrease these levels is to reuse and repurpose the materials you use. Research shows that recycling and reusing materials reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reusing and repurposing materials helps sustain the environment for future generations and also reduces the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators. Items that can be reused and repurposed include, old clothing, cloth grocery bags, and containers. Buy used items to reduce waste as well as the emissions created by producing new materials or disposing of them in landfills. When you think of recycling, you probably only think about paper and plastic. What many people don’t realize is that there are many more materials to recycle than just those. Some of these materials include cardboard, glass, aluminum, batteries, electronics, food, and lawn materials. If people don’t start trying to make a difference in the environment, then bad things will happen. For example, when specific waste, such as styrofoam, ends up in a landfill, the harmful chemicals seep into the soil, which can result in cancerous cells forming in the dirt. Neglecting to recycle plastic water bottles can pollute large bodies of water such as lakes, oceans, and rivers. One of the benefits of reusing and recycling is that using recycled materials means that there is less of a demand for new materials, which means there is less deforestation which helps decrease the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. According to Florida Tech, each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy, and 7,000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution. When talking in terms of plastic, Florida Tech states that plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year. In conclusion, you should reuse and repurpose your items to help decrease your carbon footprint, and help save the world from the harms of climate change.

Renewable wind, we get electricity from the wind. Better than solar panels Possible cons to birds would die but if birds learn how to see big moving propellers they move out the way  Other cons are the material needed to build these devices. Pros can be that this gives us constant energy with no negative effects to the environment. Wind power is a clean and renewable energy source. Wind turbines harness energy from the wind using mechanical power to spin a generator and create electricity. Not only is wind an abundant and inexhaustible resource, but it also provides electricity without burning any fuel or polluting the air. Wind energy in the United States helps avoid 336 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually—equivalent to the emissions from 73 million cars . People can also get their own wind energy with smaller fans. We can also build the fans in the ocean so there is more space on land for other things. According to the IEA (World Energy Outlook 2022), the share of wind energy in global electricity generation, which in 2021 was 7%, will quadruple that figure by mid-century, with a share of 28%, when all renewables will produce 80% of the world's electricity, only surpassed by solar photovoltaic at 31% as the main source of electricity generation. Wind power accounts for approximately 80% of the electricity produced annually by the ACCIONA group. In 2022, the company produced a total of 18,876 gigawatt hours (GWh) from wind, equivalent to the consumption of around 5.52 million homes. By geographical area, 60% of wind power production was destined for the Spanish market, with 9,713 GWh, while 40% corresponded to other countries: Mexico (2,887 GWh), USA (2,067 GWh), Australia (1,075 GWh), Chile (817 GWh), Canada (524 GWh), India (354 GWh) and Portugal (276 GWh) as the main markets

The choices made by consumers play a significant role in determining the demands in goods and services. While reusing and repurposing can extend the lifespan of products instead of simply discarding them. Therefore, we should always be conscious of the products we consume and how we dispose them.

Furthermore, We can also repair old furnitures instead of tossing them away. In addition, instead of buying new bags every time when you go shopping, why not just bring reusable ones? When we buy clothes and new gadgets, we all know that it sometimes just ends up being thrown away, and these things can severely pollute our environment.

More importantly, reusing and repurposing items instead of buying new ones constantly not only reduces carbon emissions, but can also conserve valuable natural resources such as, water, energy, and raw materials, as making new products also require a lot of precious resources and energy. These contribute to pollutions and carbon emissions.

Let's all be wise consumers and think twice before consuming a product in order to protect our environment!

I agree with you. Even though my purchases for my carbon footprint were only in the 700s because I do not buy the newest things and I make sure to buy used clothes because I don't want the newest things. I feel that most people do buy things that they think they need or that they have to have that hurt the environment in reality they don't need them at all. I think that reducing your overall carbon footprint is a great thing by lowering the things you buy and only going somewhere when you absolutely have to. I will start to lower my carbon emission levels by lowering my transportation around the country. I also can stop buying so much food that I do not need. I don't throw it out but it sits there on my shelf forever and ever and sometimes it does go bad and I have to throw it out. I think that to get consumers to buy less things that are not reusable or low carbon emission products, we should advertise less things that have a high carbon emission. According to this article https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/ … te-change/ americans produce 25 percent more carbon levels on thanksgiving day and christmas than any other day in the world. This article also states. That when basic needs are met then consumers tend to buy more and more things for social status. They want to reach a higher level of social status depending on what percent of the population they are in. According to this article another fact is that a study done by the United Nations states that the top 1 percent of the world produce more than half of the CO2 levels than the bottom 50 percent of the population because of their purchases and needs in life. I agree with your final point that using renewable materials. Drastically decreases the carbon emission levels. But it also reduces the use of finite resources. And improves the overall quality of things like minerals, oil, and many other materials used in things around the world.

Humans use lots of plastic each year and it is one of the biggest causes to pollution. According to the United Nations, plastic takes 20 to 500 years to decompose. Imagine there is this piece of plastic, and it take around 250 years to decompose fully. However, during this period of time, there is a enormous amount of plastic still being created and pollution is still being made. "Humans currently produce more than 350 million metric tons of plastic waste per year," said Statista. Also, for plastic bags alone, there are 5 trillion plastic bags are produced yearly. That is not including plastics such as straws and bottles.

In order to reduce the amount of waste there is in land and in the ocean, we could reuse these plastics and repurpose them into something that we could use again. Today, there are already many plastics that were repurposed into something we're using. For example, many clothes in active wear have an amount in them that is made of the plastics. Big companies such as Adidas cooperated with Parley with the Oceans to make shoes out of fishnets thrown in the sea. Another company called Sea2See, which make eyewear, is 100% made of recycled marine and ocean plastic waste. This gives the plastic that we throw in the ocean into something that we could use daily.

The plastic straw could help turn into sun glasses. These companies won't have to produce more plastic, they could just use plastics already existing and turn them into something different. From a single use product into something that we could use numerous times helps to sustain the environment.

Using old plastic to make new things, like clothes and glasses, is a good idea. Companies like Adidas and Sea2See are already doing this. They turn plastic from the ocean into useful items we can wear. This helps stop pollution and makes our planet cleaner. We should do more of this to help our Earth stay healthy.

One of the biggest causes for carbon emissions and the slow deterioration of the environment is the amount of waste and trash that people don’t properly take care of. There are many ways we can improve this bad habit however. Increasing recycling is a very important thing that everyone should take part in and could greatly benefit the environment, but not everything is recyclable. Only about 5% to 6% of plastic is recycled in the U.S. each year. The reason behind this would be due to the fact there is simply too much plastic and different varieties of it.

Recycling is not the only way to reduce this issue. There are many other methods that more people should use today, and I think it would be a benefit to everyone if it happened. The main way is through the reuse and repurposing of our items. If we can move into a world where the materials we use can last a long time and not just be thrown away after one use it will already be a step in the right direction. Repurposing glass, plastic, and cardboard containers, giving them new life is just one small thing more should do. Instead of using the plastic bags that supermarkets provide to you, bring your own reusable shopping bag that you can bring with you anywhere you go. Instead of purchasing new wrapping paper and packaging for gifts each year, hold on to them and reuse those for the next year.

It goes far beyond just containers and packaging that can be reused or repurposed. If you have old clothes you no longer need or have grown out of, don’t just let it go to waste or discard it. Donate these items to charities or people in need. The same applies for food, only buy what you need and give the rest away that you don’t need. There is not a worse feeling than opening your pantry or fridge and finding out that half the stuff is expired.

Another big factor for pollution is that more people could reduce or limit their use of disposable cutlery and crockery for parties. If you have a party at a house then there is most likely real cutlery and crockery. There is no harm in using these things, it might just take a little extra work once the parties are over. The final thing I want to touch on is batteries; these are often thrown away and not properly disposed of once they are fully used. Luckily for us there is an alternative, as rechargeable batteries are a thing. These are items you only have to buy once and can use over and over again. Sure, the lifespan might not be as long, but it will for sure benefit the environment and greatly help to reduce carbon emissions.

Sources:

https://www.recyclenow.com/how-to-recyc … duce-waste
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/ … g-america/
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/09 … -pollution

In the age of fast fashion and clothing trends ending within weeks, one of the most environmentally conscious ways to stay on trends is to thrift your clothes. As of 2023, the fashion industry contributes to 60 million tons of plastic pollution every year, this mass amount of pollution is 1/5th of the world’s whopping 300 million tons of plastic pollution every year. When thrifting not only do you save money while being able to rep popular brands, but you also help lower the need of supply and demand for clothing products and prevent these items from ending up in landfills which damages the environment because clothing takes years to decompose depending on the material. Oftentimes you can find much more sturdy clothes due to older clothes being of higher quality in comparison to the newer more cheaply made clothing, this allows for more weartime which keeps you away from needing to buy replacement items as fast. Not only is fast fashion wearing on others' morals due to its contribution towards environmental destruction, but it also tests consumers due to its use of child labor and underpayment of workers. Of the fast fashion industry workers, it is reported that under 2% of those employed make minimum wage. On top of these unethical practices, “the apparel industry is among the top polluters, producing vast greenhouse gas emissions and in 2021 alone, the industry released 897 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents”. The production of new clothes can not be put to a stop and likely will never be stopped due to supply and demand in a capitalistic world, but by thrifting and choosing to wear clothes already made or handed down, you can reduce this rising need of production.

https://wp.nyu.edu/mercerstreet/2022-20 … thrifting/
https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2023/1 … ach%20year.
https://studentbriefs.law.gwu.edu/ilpb/ … -industry/
https://stateofmatterapparel.com/blogs/ … 0by%202030.
https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2023/1 … ach%20year.

Reusing and repurposing materials is very beneficial to fighting against climate change.  Thrifting clothes, using reusable bags and recycling plastic and tin are all ways you can help fight against climate change by reusing and repurposing.  You can use old worn out materials, fabrics, or waste to make new and improved pieces as well.  All around climate change is a real issue and one of us fighting isn't enough, it takes everybody and this is a simple first step to moving forward in that.  An article made by kpwb states that "Because recycling requires a lot of  energy, it comes with its own share of pollution.  Reusing and repurposing do not create pollution.  Rather, items are made useful in their current state.  This is especially true for things  like clothing.  If you cannot reuse clothing, try recycling or repurposing it or donate to a local homeless shelter.  Practicing conscious consumerism will cut down on the amount of items that end up in landfills."  Stating that the action of reusing and repurposing different items including and especially clothing, can significantly help pollution, as doing this still causes some pollution but any reduction in the amount you are creating is worth it.  Pollution is almost completely unavoidable no matter what we do, but we should still strive to do everything we can to reduce our individual emissions.  Another article made by epa.gov states that there are many ways reusing and repurposing helps us and they list some of the many ways.  It reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, Prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials, Saves energy, Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, Helps sustain the environment for future generations, Reduces the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators, Allows products to be used to their fullest extent, and it saves money.  These are just more points proving how reusing and repurposing has so many benefits while also being one of the easiest ways to reduce pollution and help fight against climate change.  Climate change is a serious problem around the world and there are so many ways to help fight it. Reusing, recycling, repurposing, using composts, not wasting food, not burning unnecessary fossil fuels and many other things will help plenty.  Reusing and repurposing helps just as much as any other option but it's also extremely easy to participate in.

https://kpwb.org/why-reuse/#:~:text=It% … %20less%20

https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-an … cinerators