
Now that we see what our collective and personal impact is on the planet, let's think big!
What big and bold ideas do you have for reducing personal, community, country and even global carbon footprints?
Use this space to develop and discuss your big ideas! Who knows- maybe one of these ideas can be the next key solution to the global climate challenge!
Think Big
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Plastic pollution is a major environmental issue, but what if packaging could help break down plastic waste instead of contributing to it? The solution could lie in biodegradable plastic-eating inserts. Made from eco-friendly materials like algae or cellulose, these inserts contain microorganisms or enzymes that break down plastic within the packaging over time. While traditional plastics can take hundreds to thousands of years to degrade, bio-based plastics break down within months to years, depending on environmental conditions.

Hello Lucija0901,
I find this topic that you are writing about very interesting in addressing a major part of climate change, plastic pollution. I think this is a great idea, to put eco-friendly materials that contain microorganisms or enzymes that break down plastic. However, this would take a lot of resources and time in order to coordinate, since this is a large-scale project. We would need a testing stage so that we can figure out how effective this project would be. Additionally, we would first have to figure out how to coordinate this project---which would likely need large amounts of money for funding. On top of that, we would need a way to source large quantities of these microorganisms/enzymes.

we all need to collaborate together for save our planet, our lives and the lives of future generations

I agree that we are all important for saving our planet. I would suggest to every country to plant more trees and to organise days when we won't use cars and planes for transport. It would be great if companies produced less plastic and paper to help our planet.

In the shadow of Magic Johnson’s retired jersey and in the building Kobe Bryant made famous, LeBron James made his case for immortality. An 18-foot fadeaway jumper late in the third quarter Tuesday officially established James as the greatest scorer in NBA history, and as the celebrity-sprinkled, sold-out crowd roared its approval, many would admit: They were acknowledging the greatest player the league has ever seen, too.
The GOAT debate will always be a subjective one, fiery conversation for barrooms and barbershops. Michael Jordan supporters are entrenched in their position. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, faces of an earlier era, have plenty of advocates, too. Each has a compelling case. Russell’s championships, Jordan’s perfect Finals record, Wilt’s staggering season averages. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, seated courtside Tuesday, mastered a seemingly impossible shot. In 20 NBA seasons, though, James has done more.
Four NBA championships. Four MVPs. More points in the playoffs than any player in NBA history. And now Abdul-Jabbar’s nearly four-decade reign as the NBA’s regular-season scoring king is in the rearview mirror. Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring title was once considered one of sports’ unbreakable records, like Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak or Wayne Gretzky’s career points total. James, a self-styled pass-first playmaker, has eclipsed it, and there is no telling how much distance he will put between them.
“Impact?” asked Lakers coach Darvin Ham. “Man for man? I think he’s at the top of the list.”
Indeed, James’s statistics are astonishing. He has passed Abdul-Jabbar and is more than 11,000 points ahead of any active player behind him. Just last week he leapfrogged Mark Jackson and Steve Nash, generational playmakers, on the all-time assist list. He has more career rebounds than David Robinson and Ben Wallace. He ranks in the top 10 in steals with an outside chance to pass Clyde Drexler on the list later this season.Jordan backers will point to Michael’s sterling 6–0 Finals record, but before Jordan was beating up on Seattle, Utah and Phoenix in Finals series he was getting wiped out by Milwaukee, Boston and Detroit in the early rounds of the playoffs. Jordan’s Bulls were the betting favorites in each of their Finals appearances while James routinely went into them on the other side. That isn’t meant to marginalize Jordan’s accomplishments as much as to acknowledge James’s 4–6 Finals mark is more impressive than it looks.
Critics will say James cherry-picked rosters, that Ping-Ponging between Cleveland and Miami before settling in Los Angeles somehow diminishes him. But Jordan didn’t change teams because Jordan didn’t have to. He had a Hall of Fame GM in Jerry Krause who identified the talent in Scottie Pippen and brought John Paxson, Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman to the Bulls. He had Phil Jackson on the sideline and an offense tailor made for his talents. James has cycled through a handful of coaches, countless teammates and more than a few systems and has been the driving force behind at least one championship at each of his NBA stops. His five buzzer-beating playoff game-winners are the most in league history—two ahead of Jordan on that list.
James has played five more seasons than Jordan, which in the great GOAT debate is often used as a cudgel. Perhaps James’s peak years can’t match Jordan’s, but his twilight has far outpaced him. Jordan spent his late 30s in a Wizards uniform, racking up numbers for a team going nowhere. The Lakers have struggled this season, but no one would dispute that with better health and a better roster James is still capable of leading a team to a championship. In a postgame interview James reiterated his intention to play “a couple of” more seasons and there is little reason to doubt that James, 38, can’t play at a high level well into his 40s. He wore a white headband on Tuesday, because “that’s where the journey started” and two decades in it appears far from over.
The debate isn’t settled, because it will never be settled, no matter how many points James scores, no matter how many championships he wins. “I can’t take anyone over me,” James told reporters Tuesday and most objective observers wouldn’t, either. One of the NBA’s biggest winners who became one of the NBA’s best playmakers is now its all-time leading scorer. That’s great stuff. GOAT stuff.

Lebronismydad how does lebrons career co exist with the question "What big and bold ideas do you have for reducing personal, community, country and even global carbon footprints? ". Please next time say something that actually goes with the question.

Julien Lebron is the one of the biggest humans in the world, his athleticism and beautiful touch around the rim shows how with his influence can save the world. Also Lebron clears Micheal

I understand what your trying to say buddy but I think that Lebron ain't even that good we all know Michael Jordan is better.

Daddy chill

Saying "Daddy chill" in the context of a serious conversation about climate change is highly inappropriate. Climate change is one of the most urgent and impactful issues we face globally, and dismissing it with a flippant or disrespectful comment undermines the gravity of the situation. It's essential to engage in these conversations with respect and understanding, as they affect our planet's future and the well-being of all living creatures.

One thing we think would greatly reduce Co2 pollution is to bring back the horse and buggy in replacement of motorized vehicles. Motorized vehicles cause pollution to the environment. These pollutants cause harm to our health. They have greenhouse gasses that can greatly affect climate change. The burning of gas and other fuels creates very harmful byproducts. They also create Co2 which is the most common human cause of greenhouse gasses (Department of Ecology State of Washington). Horses are selective grazers which causes them to not eat tougher grasses. This is because they can not digest them (Extension Horse). Horses are very important to the environment because it increases the plant diversity in an area. (Lonker, Fenchner, El Wahed). Horses are one of the biggest contributors to renewable energy and resources. They produce up to 9.1 tons of manure every year. This manure can be turned into green energy. These farms and other energy companies around the farms can use this energy (Middleton Place Equestrian Center). Lots of horse farmers utilized trough watering for their animals. This helps the protection of natural water sources. It also prevents erosion on the edges of the natural water source (Middleton Place Equestrian Center). Vehicles are America's biggest air pollutant. They are producing about one - third of all U.S. air pollution (National Geographic). Highway vehicles release about 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere every year (U.S. Department of Energy). As you can see the horse creates a smaller Co2 footprint than motorized vehicles (Extension Horse).

I disagree with your statement because horses create solid waste, which will lead to more machines being build to clean and pick up all of the bowel movements from these horses. Driving a car like a Prius, riding a bike or taking the bus to your location will get you to your desired location but also decrease the carbon being released into the atmosphere.
As well as feeding the horses factory made feed will increase the greenhouse gasses. ultimately everyone switching to riding horses is not an ideal choice to make to reduce Co2 pollution.

Bringing Back horses is a very interesting idea. Yes they don't burn gas to move unlike cars, But if we brought horses back there would be so much extra waste and not to mention methane farts and burps. The methane gas would go into the atmosphere and stay there trapping in heat. Only a small part of their waste could actually be used for green energy, and the rest of it would just stay where it was dropped and would release biogas(methane and carbon dioxide). Also as a person it would be nice to not step on horse poop everywhere I go. To use horses as transportation, that would take lots of energy for them to walk around all day, so they'd need more food and water which would produce more carbon to grow more crops, use more water for them to drink and to grow crops and take more land and resources which the world is running out of. One more reason we got rid of horses and buggys is because this way of transportation is also abusing the animal. Horses weren't made to pull around super heavy cars and be whipped if they need to go faster. Horses and buggys are not the solution to gas cars and just isn't sustainable for the world.

We all need to work together to sae our planet and our lives, for example: do separate waste collection, recycle, take public trasport ecc.

I totally agree if we want to save our planet we need to work together and start making some action like for example taking public transportation to school. Although as we all know in order to take public transit to school or work, it take’s more time out of your day. Even though it take's a longer amount of time to get places when taking it, it will help our environment soo much if people started cutting down there driving. Every 10km per person on a skytrain produces 0.37kg of CO2, where driving would produce 2.05kg of CO2.

The balance between the human race and the well-being of our planet is quite difficult to balance. People need more and more things that are not exactly friendly to the environment and the planet. what can we do to balance the balance? I think we should reduce as much as possible the objects that we don't really need or replace them with others that are better for the environment. I admit that I also buy some things (clothes for example) that are not really useful to me, taking into account that I have so many good things that I could continue to wear. therefore, I will try as much as possible not to spend so much money on things I don't need, but to invest them in things that will also help the planet.

To add on to you’re point I think people should use more recyclable materials that are biodegradable, as well as organize more events for recycling, cleaning and informational ones too because it is very important to learn about how much one piece of plastic can damage the environment, and the ways that our pollution can affect animals and plants. We need to be aware that we are the cause of pollution and that only we can fix pollution and save our planet.

I completely agree! I often buy new items without considering what I already have and how my purchases will affect the planet. I feel it is important to pay attention to the packaging of items and minimize our purchases of plastic or other packaging materials that are harmful to our planet. It would also be great for communities to continue to transition from plastic products to more paper products. In addition, it is essential to enforce recycling and composting policies to limit the amount of waste dumped on land, making its way to our ocean, polluting the water, and hurting marine animals. We definitely need to be more conscious of our daily actions and their effects. Has your community taken any effective steps to further protect and heal our planet? Do you have any other ideas on how to do so?

I also agree very strongly marlow. It is important to recycle as much as possible.My community hasn't done this but i have researched a lot on cleaning plastics.One project I found interesting was an organization called The Ocean cleanup, It took a net attached to two tug boats that collect plastics in ocean hotspots . Although this form of cleaning is effective i feel it is not as sustainable as other projects due to a boat being driven around the ocean a lot which could effect the marine ecosystems as well as effect the carbon footprint.A great way to clean up in your community without needing many tools is to organize ocean and river clean ups, river clean ups are very important because our world only uses 1% of the 71% of water on earth and it is getting limited everyday due to waste in our fresh water.

I think that people should start thinking about how much clothing they are buying and if it's really worth the money and environmental impact.
There are a number of things people can do to help reduce overconsumption - 1) start thrifting!! - it has like no environmental impact, there are some great finds, and is way cheaper! Why not switch to thrifting now?? 2) buy from environmentally friendly companies! - if you have some issues with buying second hand consider buying from companies that source their products in a way that helps, or has doesn't have much of an environmental impact. 3) don't buy so much!!! - consider if you really need to buy that pair of 12th pair of jeans. It helps the planet and is kind to your closet!
These are a few things you can do to help with the overconsumption epidemic.

I completely agree. I think thrifting is a great way to produce less waste and to stop fast fashion. Buying from thrift stores is also a good way to save money because it tends to be cheaper as well. You can also donate all of your old clothes to thrifts instead of just throwing them away. Especially items that you only wore once to an event or just ended up not liking. I also completely agree with your third point. I find it so stupid when people spend money on items they already have. Especially if there was nothing wrong with the first few items.

There are several ways you can help reduce pollution:
Reduce plastic consumption
Opt for sustainable transportation
Energy conservation
Recycle and reuse
Small daily actions can make a difference in reducing environmental pollution.

I completely agree with your points! What’s great about reducing pollution is that it doesn’t have to be overwhelming—just starting with small, simple actions can make a big impact. For example, choosing to bring a reusable water bottle or taking public transportation for one day may seem minor, but when you make those choices consistently, they add up. It’s all about finding small, manageable changes in our daily routines and building from there. The great thing is, once you try one thing, it often motivates you to explore other sustainable options. Little by little, these habits can create meaningful change without feeling like a huge burden.

I also agree! It is important for people to realize that by doing small actions like recycling plastics or by using less plastic products, they can help fight pollution. It doesn't have to be a huge burden for everyone, so just by doing these small things more often, we are helping reduce pollution. Plus, it can encourage others to try doing the same!

I agree with your statement, all of those examples are great ways to reduce pollution, a point I would like to add is, if abled, people could try and go out to parks or public spaces and pick up waste around them.

I think it's very important to think about how our individual small acts impact the environment, we should all try as much as we can to minimize the harm we cause in every way we can. Even if the methods feel insignificant, they add up.

I 100% agree with the points you're making. And with what other people are saying; you don't have to go to the extreme such as not using technology at all or walking or biking everywhere, but if everyone would help lower carbon emissions even just by cutting the time on their devices by 10 to 20 minutes and try not to spend hours everyday driving just by running errands.

I totally agree with you because I feel most people furiously use the internet and that's not okay

Renewable energies are not just an option, they are our lifeline, they are not just a choice, they are our destiny.
Let us think big, invest wisely, and pioneer the technologies that will power a cleaner, greener future. We must develop new technologies to:
enhance efficiency, address intermittency, Integrate into existing grids and explore emerging Sources.

I wholeheartedly agree. Renewable energies are essential for addressing environmental and energy challenges. Investing wisely in them means not only ensuring a clean and safe source of energy but also fostering innovation and creating job opportunities. It is crucial to develop advanced technologies to improve efficiency, overcome intermittency challenges, and integrate these sources into existing networks. We must be leaders in creating a cleaner and more sustainable future by investing in research, sustainable energy policies, and awareness.

I fully side with this, there are many ways to obtain energy from renewable resources such as light, wind, and heat. These ways are more expensive but retain a balanced outcome for humanity if we switch to it.

I completely agree with this statement. I believe that in order for humans to continue to live on Earth that is able to support us, we will have to come up with ways to make renewable energy as it is evidential that we are slowly losing the resources we have now. I believe that with the innovative minds and the technology we have now, that this is possible. Tesla's are a huge example of making this possible. Huge shifts such as electric cars will help us take one more step forward to a cleaner future.

#Don't pollute the environment to regret later

I wholeheartedly concur, but I also think it's critical that everyone understands what pollution is and how they personally contribute to it. In my experience, though, I was not made aware of the ways in which the things I did on a regular basis contributed to pollution. Therefore, I think that younger generations need to think more carefully about how pollution starts and what they can do to prevent it from happening. Continuously to be able to induce curiosity in them about this topic we should normalize it, due to that this is a very urgent problem that must be solved for a better future. Don't you think?

I completely agree and think that many people need to be educated about pollution. I think this because I see many people just littering and overusing things that are harmful to the environment. They must think it is just okay to do but in reality it is harmful to the environment. It may not be harmful in that moment but in the long run it could do some damage. According to a national litter study there are about 50 billion pieces of litter along roadways waterways since 2020. This number continues to go up as does mass production of single use plastics. These plastics are thrown away after one use and emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere creating the greenhouse effect. Becoming educated will help with the worlds awareness that we are killing the planet day by day.

I agree, especially by the fact that there is so much pollution that is flooding up our oceans. A fact that really comes up to my attention is that Americans used about 50 billion plastic bottles of water last year. And not even 1 fourth of those water bottles were recycled. In addition, plastics in the environment never fully decompose and only break into smaller pieces.

One big idea that I have to help reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere is to have more enviremental field trips. We could create plant a tree day, on a weekend/day where we plant trees, or clean up the plastic around the campus or in a local park. Or, we could take a walk to Sam Bridges in Greenwich, and plant native trees to Greenwich inside our campus. Some native trees in Greenwich, Connecticut are Norway maple, London Plane, and Honey locust.

I think it will be a good idea because it will make school fun, but if you want to go to other places that are more far away, you will still need to take transportations that will emit carbon dioxide.

for a healthy body try to go to the gym, have a balanced diet and go get some fresh air every day

i agree, it seem sometimes difficult to keep these habits but it's important in my opinion

I think we can make new ways to help our planet

Fast fashion clothing brands have been impacting our climate negatively since the 90s. Since the opening of the first Zara store, fast fashion has been all the rage on the internet because of the cheap and trendy clothing. Many people are attracted to the shenanigans thrown at them from these companies, but they do not realize just how bad fast fashion is to the environment. First of all, most of the clothes made by these companies are very bad quality. They cannot be worn more than a few times before starting to look old or used, so most people throw them out and buy new clothes from the same companies. These clothes fill up our landfills and they stay there until some of them decompose. Most of these clothes are made from plastics and other materials that do not decompose even after hundreds of years. The fashion industry produces 10% of the entire global carbon emissions annually. And these numbers are still increasing and projected to be up to 50% by 2030 (zurich.com). One way we can help save our planet from both climate change and having too many clothes in the landfill is by shopping less fast fashion and thrifting more. Thrifting not only helps reduce waste in our environment, but it is also a cost-effective way of shopping and improving our wardrobes. According to TruEarth.com, thrifting helps to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted through the manufacturing and shipping of clothes. Also, thrifting can help improve relationships in our communities with local thrift stores and create an overall better environment and planet for our future.
Works cited:
https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazin … 0by%202030.
https://www.tru.earth/the-environmental … 20products.

I totally agree. This is a problem because Zara still uses cheap synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic to produce clothes. Synthetic materials are made from petroleum, a fossil fuel that's a major contributor to climate change. If Zara still uses this material this could be a reason why fossil fuels impacts our world. Using more expensive material that does not use fossil fuel material can be a good impact on CO2 levels dropping from clothing brands that are using these materials.

Think Big: A big idea to Whitby that could change Whitbys thinking on using alot of CO2. This idea is gathering lower school kids with their buddies and going to the garden, at the garden we will plant native plants that snatch CO2 out of the air. Planting these things could also give more plants for bees to polinate this could also help more honey get around with bees. The reason why we will plant native plants is because then the animals won't mind the new plants. These three benfits could make a impact on the community. The lower school kids could also be inspired and do this themsleves with their parents at home to also help the enviroment in the area they live in. This could be a great idea for the Whitby community!

Think Big: A big idea to Whitby that could change Whitbys thinking on using alot of CO2. This idea is gathering lower school kids with their buddies and going to the garden, at the garden we will plant native plants that snatch CO2 out of the air. Planting these things could also give more plants for bees to polinate this could also help more honey get around with bees. The reason why we will plant native plants is because then the animals won't mind the new plants. These three benfits could make a impact on the community. The lower school kids could also be inspired and do this themsleves with their parents at home to also help the enviroment in the area they live in. This could be a great idea for the Whitby community!

Think Big: A big idea to Whitby that could change Whitbys thinking on using alot of CO2. This idea is gathering lower school kids with their buddies and going to the garden, at the garden we will plant native plants that snatch CO2 out of the air. Planting these things could also give more plants for bees to polinate this could also help more honey get around with bees. The reason why we will plant native plants is because then the animals won't mind the new plants. These three benfits could make a impact on the community. The lower school kids could also be inspired and do this themsleves with their parents at home to also help the enviroment in the area they live in. This could be a great idea for the Whitby community!

I think as technology advances car dealerships will slowly move towards the electric car market. Especially after seeing how successful Tesla is.

I agree, it might also be easier to manufacture too.

I would say that yes this is a good Idea how ever the manufactuing and shiping still release emitions and it would requier you to drive 8,400 to 13,500 miles to couteract it. How ever the more souces of renewable energy plus the electrifcation of factorys and shiping vehicles would also grately help reduce emitons.

What to do with all the captured CO2 and make a profit the question we all wonder sometimes. Well why not try to make it into parts of a laptop computer, the casing of it can be made of carbon fiber and posably be used to make parts of resistors of carbon fiber and non conductive parts made it. Some conductive parts that don't need a lot of power and or heat sinks can be made of graphite. The carbon fiber can maybe be used to make the pcbs for the computer. The only problem is the proceses of turning captured CO2 in to carbon fiber takes a lot of energy to do since it is a highly inret (it isn't very reactive) and have to be heated to very high tempatues (200-5,500 C) so I will need to find a way to make it more efficient but I can put some reserch into it.

I feel that everyone can make a change and should try. You can help save the environment by doing the little things like turning off the lights in a room when you leave or turning off the water when you don't need it for example, when brushing your teeth turn the water off and when doing the dishes use a bowl of water instead of leaving it on. Also, you can carpool, which will also help with CO2 emissions. These little things might not seem like a lot but if everyone does it, there will be a change.

I agree everyone can do these things and they take little effort but make huge difference.

I agree that all the little things can make a bigger impact if everyone does it. However, we still need to talk about the actual bigger and more complex issues. Such as deforestation and burning fossil fuel. These Big corporations and manufactures are creating a bigger impact on the planet then you can ever make in your life. Each year approximately 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed. Deforestation is responsible for roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.And the burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of green house gases world wide.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/sci … ate-change

I agree that we can all individually contribute to the fight against climate change through our own actions and choices, however, there is only so much we can control. Unfortunately, no matter how many times an individual turns off the water while brushing their teeth, or engages in another environmentally friendly individual action, it cannot offset the damage done by large corporations. That is not to say that one should give up and not try at all- any water saved, cup recycled, distance walked, shirt thrifted, etc. is a triumph, but it simply does not have a large enough impact to make a very tangible difference against climate change. That impact must come from climate change policy! So advocate!

I agree. Sometimes we cannot help ourselves when practicing everyday activities, such as monitoring our shower duration, or how many times we use our dishwashers in a day. This isn't our fault, we are just doing this so we can help ourselves. Although, if we do slow practices, I do believe that we can help out or climate, even if it's just a little bit.

I fully agree with that any and everyone can change the would. I agree because even though you aren’t in control of everything you can control what's in your control. What I mean is this is that you can use cold water once in awhile instead of hot. You could stop the the water after you get the water you need on your toothbrush. There are many more things you can do for the world and you should.

Plastic water bottles can have variety of different type of water but most Clear/White caps are just tap water with good marketing. You can literally get the same water from your tap. According to the University of Queensland tap water is safer and contains less harmful chemicals in it. It's also cheaper to use tap water than bottled water which is usually at least a 400% markup according to Candjwater. Save money, save the world,save yourself,and drink tap water. You are spending 20 today to save 100s in the future.

I totally agree, but it’s not just the fact that it’s a waste of money but it’s also worse for the environment, taking 1000 years for them to decompose. Additionally, 80% of these water bottles end up in the ocean, harming the animals living there. In all honesty, people should boycott plastic water bottles, since all in all their a disadvantage. They harm the environment, they’re a waste of money and aren’t even any safer than tap water.

I agree that buying bottled water is practically useless in countries like Canada and the U.S, because we are privileged enough always access clean drinking water from the tap. But in some places, like parts of Africa, they don't even have taps. It is very hard for them to get clean drinking water, so the easiest or only option is to buy bottled water. Even though its bad for the earth, we have to remember we are all fighting climate change in deferent well climates.

I agree that they are a scam. Plastic water bottles started as a convenient way to easily get clean water, which eventually turned into another major way of contributing to global pollution. Destroying ocean habitats, contributing to landfills and climate change are not worth the small convenience in our day-to-day lives of purchasing these single-use plastic bottles. If everyone puts in the smallest effort to use a reusable bottle this will make a big difference and change the way plastic is affecting our Earth.

I agree with you for sure, using plastic bottles has chemicals from the bottle and we drink that which is super unhealthy if your constantly drinking from plastic. Plastic bottles kills the earth pretty badly so just drinking tap water is a good way to do their help to save the earth. Using tap water is also cheaper than spending at least $4 at a school vending machine, we can save money and use tap or a water fountain.