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.

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

#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.

Let’s save the planet

My foot print is small

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

a healthy body will make us happy.

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.

94% of US citizens buy plastic water bottles, and around 50 billion of these plastic bottles are bought in America annually. The reason why this is so bad for the planet is because plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years to break down. Even worse, they aren’t biodegradable.The process of making plastic uses a huge amount of fossil fuels that later result in global warming. Not only can one singular plastic water bottle contribute significantly to global warming, it also puts marine life at a very high risk. Many marine animals after eating plastic or getting tangled up in plastic die every year. A solution to this is, instead of buying plastic water bottles in bulk, we can invest in just one reusable bottle and reduce the consumption of plastic bottles. Another solution is for companies to start using better and more eco friendly packaging.

i completely agree with what you're saying about the waste produced by plastic water bottles however, there are some places in America and around the world that are not fortunate enough to have clean tap water to fill reusable bottles therefore I think our first goal before cutting down on plastic bottle production should be too have clean tap water everywhere so people aren't forced to use plastic bottles that contribute to pollution.

In 2022, one of, if not the most significant pieces of climate change legislation in American history was passed, and yet most people do not know about it. If you are reading this post and racking your brain to find what newsworthy climate change bill you remember hearing about in 2022, and coming up empty handed, you are not alone. A lot of people do not know about the climate change law in the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, but it is major! With this bill, the United States of America dedicated $369 billion to climate and clean energy investments. $369 BILLION! For many Americans, this is not only a cause for celebration, but also a shock, because for so long, American climate change policy has seemingly floundered, and even regressed. But the IRA is a major step forward. According to Krupp 2022, "Multiple independent analyses show the [IRA] will reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions some 40% below 2005 levels by 2030 . . . "
     Gratitude for the climate legislation in the IRA is devoted to all of the tireless lobbyists and constituents who fought tirelessly to get this bill passed. Because of them, and because of the American representatives who decided to take a stand for America's future- for Earth's future, we can keep fighting to save this planet and its life from the destruction of climate change!

Works Cited:
https://www.edf.org/blog/2022/08/12/big … ate-change

We could cut back so far on deforestation and further reduce emissions if we just dialed back the capitalism a little bit.  It's genuinely agonizing how neglectful and ignorant these billionaires are.  FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TAYLOR SWIFT'S PRIVATE JET HAS IT'S OWN ANNUAL FOOTPRINT OF OVER 8000 TONNES.  THAT IS OVER 600 TIMES THE U.S AVERAGE PER CAPITA.  THAT IS ALMOST 2000 TIMES THE GLOBAL AVERAGE.  Stop claiming overpopulation is a valid reason to continue cutting down forests when you know damn well Oprah Winfrey has at least 8 multi million dollar estates just in the United States alone.  Coal burning might be one of the biggest contributions to global warming but do you wanna know what the most preventable one is?  Permitting white women with dreadlocks to go do iowaska in the middle of Nevada every year.  Burning Man puts out over 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere every year.  It's absolutely superfluous.  Just stop it.

Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdol … 4fb9e5c086

https://www.velvetropes.com/backstage/o … frey-house

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023 … 0annually.

Not exactly. There are many factors that contribute to climate change, including the actions of corporations, governments, and other institutions, as well as broader systemic issues such as economic and social inequality. In fact, 53.1% of our personal carbon footprint is burned without our consent.
The term carbon footprint also known as personal carbon footprint, was popularized by a 250 million advertising campaign by the oil and gas company BP in 2005 designed by Ogilvy and Mather which was a plan to divert attention from fossil fuel companies to individual consumers. Basically, reframing climate change and fossil fuel use as a personal problem in order for them to continue to burn 12 million times more fossil fuels than the average person.
Of course, we as individuals can and should do something for the environment such as conserving energy, reduce transportation emissions, use water wisely, reduce food waste and so much more. But, don’t let an oil company make you believe that you’re the source of this problem while they are the ones that have the biggest impact.

In short, I believe that we are to blame for climate change. There are many reasons why we are to blame for the planet warming and climate change. To start we have been emitting carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution into the atmosphere and caused the levels of carbon dioxide to increase. The Parts per million have always been below 300 but starting in the 1950s, the line started going up; and it hasn’t stopped. The proof that we are causing Climate Change is very evident and is very alarming to hear. As of May 2023, we are at 420 ppm of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. The severity of carbon dioxide and why it is important is that it is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gasses in a normal amount are good for the earth; it keeps us warm at night, when our side of the planet is facing away from the sun, and keeps us from overheating in the daytime, when our side of the planet is facing towards the sun. Greenhouse gasses keep us alive on this “goldilocks” or perfect planet. But when people hear about such a drastic change on this planet they tend to get afraid and put the blame on something else, like nature or some big gas companies. The idea of there is no climate change started right when the popularity of Climate Change Activists started to blow up. There were large numbers of protests around the US that startled the media and caused them to retaliate and spread “climate change hoax” propaganda about how climate change is false. On the individual scale, I believe we all have a part in it; if it's choosing to bring your reusable water bottle or get the free plastic one, choose to recycle the box or soda can instead of throwing it in the landfill. It takes everyone to do their part in choosing to save the planet. If we don’t we may not have many more years on this Earth.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/c … al-warming

https://climate.nasa.gov/

I agree that we as individuals are not fully to blame for climate change and that it is a systematic problem in governments and corporations. Many individuals, especially in lower income areas, are very uneducated about what is happening to the planet right now and how they are contributing to the problem. The lack of education on climate change can lead to misinformation about whats happening, which can lead to people denying what is going on. Not to mention that lots of people relay on jobs that produce a heavy amount of CO2 into the atmosphere without them being aware of it. the big corporations and governments on the other hand, are aware of what is going on to the environment but are choosing to ignore what is going on so that they can more money. Even though regular people do contribute to climate change, it is usually because they are not informed about what is going on, while the coperations and governments are fully aware of what is going on and choose to ignore it.

Climate change is a difficult problem that has been brought about by multiple causes. Although people definitely contribute to climate change, it is unfair to blame individuals mainly for it. The truth is that governments and businesses have a significantly greater influence over the environment than do individuals. For instance, 100 corporations contribute to the vast large quantities of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels, which are the main causes of climate change, are extracted, produced, and distributed by these corporations. Governments are crucial when it comes to environmental policy and industrial regulations. Governments have repeatedly failed to take significant climate change action because of political pressure or a lack of political will. It's important to keep in mind, though, that many of the problems caused by climate change are structural and call for a united effort. For example, switching to renewable energy sources requires essential improvements, which can only be carried out through government action. Systemic problems like economic and social inequality also have a role in climate change. It is necessary to solve these problems through changes in policy and group effort. In addition to this, it's still critical for people to limit their carbon footprint. Everyone can contribute to building a more sustainable future, and the act of doing so is crucial for all of us.

In my personal opinion, one individual is not to blame for climate change, but many individuals together. Yes, everyone does contribute to some part of climate change through their own choices that impact our environment. Their home lifestyle, energy consumption, and travel can add or decrease from the problem of climate change. Climate change is driven by the greenhouse gas emissions caused by us humans. Greenhouse gases can increase in our atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and energy use. Our choices as individuals and the choices made by individuals with more power than the average person greatly impact the rate at which we add greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. In order to fix this issue of climate change, it would require a collective effort of changes in our economical systems and the normalization of excessive energy use.
Site: https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science

I agree with your argument that a singular person should not be blamed or blame themselves for the whole of climate change. However I do think that every person does contribute to it partially and must self reflect sometimes. Yes, big corporations may be to blame for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, but the reasons that these companies run is because we as consumers buy from them. I think it would be more beneficial as a whole to not only self reflect on our own actions but also on the actions of companies. How can we as consumers have corporations take responsibility, how can we take responsibility?

Although I do love hearing people talk about the fact that the large corporations have been using the people as a scapegoat because of their waste to distract them from the fact that those corporations use an abysmal amount of carbon-based energy, this post does feel a little too aggressive. The only reason these companies are around is because customers buy from them, so it is also up to us to stop buying their products and to warn/spread the word to others about how much carbon they release into the atmosphere.

I feel like the human population will continue to grow exponentially for quite some time and then it will have a dramatic decrease because it's starting off exponentially but it's gonna move more towards a logistic growth rate and it's going to hit its carrying capacity. In the second link it explains that the human population will hit carrying capacity sometime in the time ahead.(with the links just copy them and then paste them onto a new tab) :>|-(c ; )>o

https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/ … definitely.

https://worldpopulationhistory.org/carrying-capacity/

I would start switching to  a Tesla, get an electric car, or even a hybrid. Try to reuse what you have and start saying no to fast fashion. Try something new and try going thrifting every once in awhile. Planting more greenery might happen to be a contribute to reducing carbon dioxide. Have sections for your trash. Recyclables, non recyclables , and glass.

Many people in the US throw away clothes that they no longer wear, even though there are easy ways to reuse them. Giving clothes to siblings or other relatives when you grow out of them is an extremely easy way to cut down on how much of your clothing goes to a landfill. There are also stores like Deseret Industries where you can take your used clothing, furniture, and books. The items are made available for much lower prices that make it easier for people with less money to afford.

If we all work to stop littering, start recycling more, and to reuse old items, we could help the environment lot, and greatly change the rate of turnover on daily products. Jeans and shirts often last a long time, and don't need to be gotten rid of when yo u don't wear them anymore. Instead, we could donate our old items like clothes, or even sell them for some money back. I think if we can stop the mentality of "Im just one person I can't make a big change" and start thinking of it like "Im just one person, but if I change, and you change, and we all change, that would make a huge impact!". This is very important on the way to saving our Earth, and necessary to thrive.

I agree, even participating in little activities could work wonders in promoting change. Also, the mentality of being only one person could eventually be helped if we took more time explaining the importance of helping the earth rather than just looking down upon people who have no idea where to start.

Fast fashion is defined by cheap and often trending clothing that is mass produced. A lot of people buy and get these clothes because of their low prices and  affordability.  This is a problem considering that the fashion industry accounts for over 10% of global carbon emissions. We should turn to other affordable solutions like thrifting your clothing, or to up-cycling them. We also have to factor in that you don’t have to completely stop consuming fast fashion, but to try to limit your consumption, and think about the average lifecycle of your garment: Will you repeatedly wear this item? or will you shove it in your closet, never to be seen again after two weeks? In conclusion, fast fashion impacts our environment severely and we should become more conscious of this and consume more sustainable fashion.

I agree, not to mention that most clothing that comes from fast fashion rips in about a week. Thrifting is great, though unfortunately more and more fast fashion brands have been showing up in local thrift stores.

Think about then impact of your privilege. For example, I am a white, upper-middle class person. This means that i will probably not experience food insecurity or live in a food desert in my lifetime. I also have access to climate eduction, sustainable shopping, and basic rights such as clean water. For a lot of people, fast fashion is the only way for them to buy clothes and we shouldn’t shame people for doing their best because, ultimately, the rich are the major contributors to climate change and capitalism further perpetuates that.

I agree I think that the more privileged will do lots of things without thinking about the people in need.

I think that we need to pay more attention on our impact on world because we are shaping our future.

I can agree. The way we act and carry out with our lives can be either beneficial or bad for our world. One way we can help our world that's very simple is cutting back on eating meat. Meat can contribute to greenhouse gases being released like carbon dioxide, Methane and nitrous oxide. One study said that 57% of greenhouse gas emission is due to meat production. So simply not eating as much meat to none, could help us take steps toward shaping our future better.

i agree too to this comment

I agree, if more people cared and payed attention to whats going on with the planet climate change wouldn't be so drastic and our planet would overall be more healthy.

Climate change in our world continues to be a big problem that us humans are trying to
fix. One of the main sources that causes tons of carbon emission and greenhouse gases
is our transportation. According to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Sinks 1990-2021 transportation was the largest portion (29%) of total U.S. GHG
emissions in 2021. MY total carbon emission is about 17,741 kgs of CO2 per year, but
the the amount of CO2 that is from my transportation is 13,160 kgs. I can tell that
more than half of my carbon emission does come from the transportation like many other people in our country. They mainly come from cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes. There are many ways we can still reduce the amount of carbon we put out from our transportation.The Center For Climate and Energy solution says that there is a variety we can help to reduce C02 from our transportation methods. They recommend biking, walking,or running,using electric vehicles, and carpooling with other people to cut down the extra miles. All of these ways are very simple and eco-friendly.

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast- … 0in%202021.

https://www.c2es.org/content/reducing-y … footprint/

The potential to stop the collapse of entire ecosystems is in our hands. The devastating effects of climate change include increased wildfires, worsening air quality, more frequent heat waves, worsening droughts, rising sea levels and flooding, and faster ice cap melting. Just because we are aware of what is happening does not mean that animals are. We might support activism, participate in demonstrations, and sign petitions to aid. If it were already too late, scientists and others would be advocating for change. Small actions multiplied by millions of people have the power to change the world!

I agree, Climate change is an undeniable reality that demands our immediate attention. The consequences of our actions have brought about significant changes to the environment, and these changes pose a grave threat to our survival. We must acknowledge the impact of our actions and make changes to the effects of climate change. We must take small steps to reduce our carbon footprint and work towards creating a sustainable world for ourselves and future generations.

As Climate change seems to be a bigger and bigger problem requiring the help of many individuals to start to solve we need to look to everyday solutions to help the problem. Firstly If at all you can you should take public transport of at the vary least try to travel with other people so that all of your travel carbon loads are shared and reducing the load if everyone went individually. Additionally Red meat is the most carbon intensive food group and if you can avoid purchasing and thus disincentivizing farms from having cows and other red meat animals and reducing CO2 production further.   

Sources https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/w … rticle.pdf

I totally agree with you, using public modes of transportation does share the carbon emission thats released into the atmosphere and when you drive in a car alone thats your carbon emissions but when you take public transportation it has a lot of benefits to the climate issue in the world right now. its also just something you can do everyday to stop this problem that effects every single one of us. Another way to help with the climate change problem is to purchase or rent a electric vehicle. The plant will thank you. The website IEA Global EV Data Explorer tracks how many electric batteries are purchase in the whole world each year, there has been a large increase from 2019 to 2022.

Source: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics … a-explorer

I completely agree with the idea that there are numerous ways we, as individuals, can contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. Simple actions, like unplugging devices when not in use, or even carpooling, can have a significant impact on the environment and the future of our planet. The issue of climate change is currently a major concern, and we must take responsibility for our actions to ensure a sustainable future. While it may take a collective effort to make a significant change, each individual can play their part in reducing their carbon footprint. One effective way to achieve this is through our mode of transportation. In fact, transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions were the leading contributor to climate change in November 2017. By carpooling, taking public transport, or even cycling, we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint. To put it into perspective, going without a car for a year can save up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of- … -footprint

The only way to save ourselves and Earth is to shut down everything. Shut down all the factories, all the manufacturers, stop mining for petroleum, stop everything. Reducing your carbon footprint is a good start to trying to make an effort, but not everyone is privileged enough to care about these issues. Not everyone is privileged enough to be able to worry about pollution. There are people whose priority is putting food on their family's table and not having to worry about their lights getting shut off.
So people in 1st world countries can continue to preach about reducing carbon footprint, but there's still hundreds of millions of people who can't afford to care about that. I know that's unrealistic to say that we should just shut down everything that's causing greenhouse gas emissions, but that's really the only truly effective way. We need to go back to primitive technology, we need to reverse industrialism.

People all over the world like shopping for clothes, household goods, gadgets, and other necessities, but we are unaware of how much carbon trash we generate while doing so. You are engaging in "first-hand shopping" when you purchase branded clothing at a mall. What is first-hand shopping, you ask? First-hand purchases put the environment at risk since a pair of jeans requires 3,781 liters of water to manufacture, from the production of the cotton to the delivery of the finished product to the store. First-hand purchases are things that haven't been worn by anyone and are brand new. That equates to the emission of around 33.4 kilograms of carbon equivalent.  That is all you need to buy a pair of jeans when you buy them directly. When you shop secondhand, such as by visiting a thrift store, you are lowering your carbon footprint by forgoing the purchase of a new pair of clothes in favor of burying ones that have been used once and are no longer desired. Because it prevents clothing from ending up in landfills, minimizes carbon and chemical pollution from the clothing industry, and uses less water, thrift shopping is healthy for the environment. Most secondhand stores also provide to regional causes, some of which might be environmental ones.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/featu … o-ambiente

https://topicinsights.com/sustainabilit … l%20causes.

My Idea is too add small, affordable water turbines at the bottom of the drainage pipes of roofs. The gravity would force the water to go down the drain pipe, and at the bottom there would be a water-mill-type turbine that would spin, therefore produce energy. These would be highly effective in places where it rains a lot, and would be affordable. Eventually they would pay themsleves off because the energy produced would cost more than the item.

I forgot to mention: This would help with global warming because it would utilize a system that is not being taken advantage of to produce energy, reducing the average energy usage of homes. Because the energy is not being used up from fossil fuels, it is beneficial towards reducing carbon footprints. House heating, cooling, and related energy consumption makes up proximately 20% of the gas emissions, so this would be effective in significantly reducing that numebr

Work Cited
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1 … olds%20(1).

Here are some lists of things you could do to decrease your Carbon Footprint:
1. Shorter showers may make a big difference.
2. Unplug the thing you dont's use
3. Switch to LED lightbulbs. This can save up to 90% of your energy costs!
4. Fix those leaky faucets.
5. Walk or bike when possible.
6. Fly less.
These were some examples but there are many ways to decrease your Carbon Footprint!

In my opinion the best/easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint is to walk/bike more. It is a very easy thing to and it saves you. from polluting a lot of C02. Also, an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to stop buying snacks with single use plastics. If you don't shop for your self then just ask your parents to stop buying them. If it's a must get item then say this. For instance, Fishy crackers come in 2 ways. 1 comes in individual packets while the other one has a lot of them in one singular bag. It's a little thing but it makes a difference.

I believe that the best way to decrease your carbon footprint is to drive less, wear more clothes instead of turning your heat on, and carpool more. We can decrease our carbon footprint by telling your friends or family to follow in your footsteps to do better for the world. Making these actions habits can maybe help our world out in the future. One step at a time

Other than carpooling, biking, walking, and using public transport more, another easy thing to do to decrease carbon footprint is to use less house warming or cooling, and instead use blankets or wear more clothing. Another thing that me and my family have started dpoing is remembering to turn off lights in our house whenever we go out, and even when we are not in that room. Also reusing plastic bags and tupperware. There are so many products that come in mutiple small plastic bags that are such a waste when we could reuse things, or just not over package products.

I believe that the best way to decrease your carbon footprint is to drive less, wear more clothes instead of turning your heat on, and carpool more. We can decrease our carbon footprint by telling your friends or family to follow in your footsteps to do better for the world. Making these actions habits can maybe help our world out in the future.

BTW: You can't Fly ?

some other ways you can decrease your carbon footprint is:
1. put a bucket in your shower to catch extra water and use that water to water your plants
2. take fewer flights or with fewer layovers
3. carpool or ride a bike if you don't have an electric car
4. use blankets or jackets so that you don't use as much heat
5. turn light of when you leave a room and un plug your computer and other things when they are done charging

Idk

Some individuals or groups may argue that the benefits of warfare make it justified to engage in war, but I strongly disagree. In my point of view, a war is never ever morally justifiable, regardless of the potential advantages.
    In war, many innocent children and adults lose their lives. The shootings, terror bombings, and as well as severe malnutrition, are the main causes of war-related deaths. When a war starts, many young individuals must engage in military service without knowing whether or not they'll return back to their homes safely. World War II is a prime representation of how brutal and devastating war can be. According to sources, it is estimated that 35 million to 60 million people died in WWII. (How Many People Died During World War II?, 2022)
    We simply do not actually gain anything at all from war. It causes havoc and mayhem. According to new research, the social and economic fabric of nations is very often damaged by war. (NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic, n.d.-b) War also causes reduction in material and human capital. Additionally , many of those who return after fighting in war suffer from PTSD. According to research , the symptoms of PTSD include intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. (Symptoms and Causes - Mayo Clinic, n.d.)
    There are many consequences of war that can change someone’s life forever. In research of Force , the effects of war are long term physical and psychological harm to children and also adults. (2020)  According to new research , some of the most threatening physical consequences of war are injury, sexual violence, malnutrition, illness and disability. (environment@fawco.org, 2022) These bad outcomes may fundamentally alter a person's way of life. And because of the trauma and depression , people may go so far as to commit suicide. Survivors of war also have to deal with the grief of losing some family members.
    Some individuals believe that because war has some advantages, it ought to be morally justified. Despite the fact that it is true that some benefits of war may exist, this does not necessarily imply that war is acceptable. War may benefit technology advances and military advances but it is because of war that people have to leave their homes in fear of losing their lives, go through trauma and also separation from their families.
    War can never be justified, war is devastating and destructive. Wars are fought because of the power thirsty governments and dictators, it is fought for misguided ideas of power and of righteousness. Many people die from war or lose their family members, they also have to bear the many consequences of war. People face death, injury and even sexual violence because of war. There is far too much damage and destruction caused by war that it cannot be justified. We should choose peace over war and violence. War causes too much damage to humans , animals and the environment.

Although it would be great if everybody was educated about climate change, a very important factor is what people would be the most important to educate. I think that teachers and parents should acquire good knowledge of climate change because they are the adults that have the biggest impact on children and their learning. The younger generation is the generation that can create the biggest changes because they are the future. Spreading awareness about climate change and what we can do about it is important, but i think that we should especially educate teachers. I think if we educate teachers and parents, in only a few years time, there will be big changes and more people will have knowledge of climate change, and what is going on.

I agree with your statements but I would also like to make a point that, during the time that we take to educate people and younger generations about the climate change we are also going to be more affected by it, therefore it would take a minimum of 10 years to fully educate people on such big topic. I would suggest that more school take initiative to take a part in programs such as GLOBE that not only educates students, teachers and others but is also measuring climate change and helpig the scientist from NASA and others to help us save our planet.

It is a proven fact that the average person produces less carbon emissions than the average successful corporation. When we step back and acknowledge this, it's important to ask the question of who's to blame. 

While it is important to hold yourself accountable for your carbon footprint, we should not ignore the fact that the majority of carbon emissions aren’t coming from individuals themselves, but from big corporations. We should not turn a blind eye to this and we should hold these companies more accountable, and more focused should be directed towards them in the carbon footprint conversation.

I totally agree with this. While it is important to be self aware of you own carbon emissions, one individual contributes hardly anything compared to big companies and corporations. I still believe that peoples personal emissions are way higher than they should be, yet big companies that are emitting exponentially more carbon should be held much more accountable than the average person. I believe that large, successful companies should have more rules that regulate their emissions and make their companies more efficient, because at the end of the day, they are the ones with the biggest impact on our collective carbon footprint.

Activism has a long history in the United States and depending on who you're speaking to the meaning changes drastically. I think all of us here can agree that our planet is dying, continuing at our current rates or ramping up those rates of carbon emissions or other greenhouse gases are going to inevitably cause one of the greatest catastrophes in human history, possibly making the planet unlivable. but if we've known this from the 1960s and onward. Why have we done absolutely nothing about it besides minor reforms that no institutions hold countries truly accountable for? And only when it is beneficial for the nation state to curtail carbon emissions in the short-term do they take action? For example France, which is widely regarded as one of the most  clean energy producing Nations in Europe, exports a lot of its energy to other nations within the European Union. due to the nuclear power plants that are in France they are able to “cleanly produce energy”(I will talk about why I quoted that later) They are able to sustain themselves with said energy while only using minor amounts of  fossil fuels.  France is taking initiative with EU policy to limit the ability to consume fossil fuel products and energy. Which is a good thing but you have to understand the reason why France is really doing it. If  France has a monopoly or leading at least in different energy sectors after fossil fuels would be banned or Limited they would have control not only in the energy Market, but also geopolitical influence Within the EU. France would be such an indisposable player that without it the EU would lose much of its ability to power itself and we already saw with the War in Ukraine how that would play out if major energy sectors got shut down. so with this example we can see nation states will only take action if it is in there best interests to do so, just as Noam Chomsky said “The duty of the nation state is to protect itself no matter the cost”

Now a very important piece to cover is the term “clean energy” or “green energy”  because in reality most green energy or clean energy is not either of those things. In the context of what France does for its nuclear power plants there is very little natural uranium or the elements used to create the necessary processes that nuclear power plants rely on. North Africa and Canada are those major natural resource Traders that possess large quantities of uranium used to power French nuclear power plants. In Canada and North Africa there are huge labor rights violations especially putting an emphasis on North Africa due to the authoritarian structures placed within how business is conducted and the massive inequality.  Mining natural resources is incredibly detrimental to the environment as well which to be fair does not come close to burning fossil fuels but has completely different consequences that are not as directly Linked like burning fossil fuels are. Nuclear power plants are a great alternative but let us not fool ourselves that we are also destroying the planet around us when we use it. not only is France just trying to get  ahead of the market by making trade deals and monopolizing the energy sector in the EU but they're doing it in the name of creating a Greener world. This is a Completely dishonest attempt at just trying to Corner the market and have greater political influence.  This isn't about climate change, this is the same system that has been enabling people and institutions to Perpetuate the problems.

So how do we fix the system when the protectors of the system will only work in the preservation of the state and the wellbeing of it? How do we work to build a world Where  the moral thing to do and ethical thing to do is priority over the interest of the nation state. Even if the nation states interests have positive outcomes there is still the problem of how do we have the preservation of humanity over the preservation of the system.  radical action that includes a variety of strategies from destruction of private property to  arresting individuals that are not only largely benefiting immorally but also the individuals complicit within the action. Violence should not be the first measure but when you run out of options and your world is burning what other alternative is there? Another example to explain to How crucial Political violence is when trying to create Broad Social and economic change is the Civil Rights movement. it's often narrativeized that  Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were different sides of the debate of whether violence is justifiable but they were simply two sides of the same coin. both of them recognized that if they took a only non-violent approach it wouldn't be as effective a movement and possibly we wouldn't have seen civil rights be passed for several more years or possible decades. They also realized a  completely violent movement would just be labeled as terrorists and the substance of their words would fall short compared to the narrativization. We have a strong non-violent branch of individuals in the world advocating for climate change reform but we do not have a strong enough violent sector of individuals. The world is burning and we're going to turn to a crisp if we continue to let this fire Rage. Start a fire to end a fire.

So my central question is what can we do without having some kind of Civil disobedience to show how serious this issue is?

(This does not advocate for violence in any way shape or form, I deserve any action taken by individuals to break any state or federal laws in the name of climate change or any other  civil disobedience for legal reasons)

For hundreds of year our economics structures have incentivized exploitation of labor, resources, and the environment around us with basing our market structure around the accumulation of capital and profit. This is obvious when we take a brief look at how corporations and governments that are in the pocket of western business' interests treat the natural resources of nation states. In classical economic theory one of the first things a nation should do is to extract resources to increase the capital flowing through a nation. Colonialism justified by religious, eugenics, or any other pseudoscience to just accumulate wealth off of our world. In Neocolonialism we go to impoverished nations with high quantities of resources and put them in debt traps by the IMF and World Bank(institutions specifically created  to invest in developing countries that are desperate for funding and investment after centuries of colonialism ruining the possibility for the nations to develop independently.) We created funding to shift the directions of these nations legally by creating as already mentioned debt traps and contracts that

"Cutting expenditures or raising revenues, also known as austerity.
Focusing economic output on direct export and resource extraction,
Devaluation of currencies,
Trade liberalisation, or lifting import and export restrictions,
Increasing the stability of investment (by supplementing foreign direct investment with the opening of facilities for the domestic market),
Balancing budgets and not overspending,
Removing price controls and state subsidies,
Privatization, or divestiture of all or part of state-owned enterprises,
Enhancing the rights of foreign investors vis-a-vis national laws,
Improving governance and fighting corruption,"

Well, by forcing these nations contractually to extract resources and purchasing them for pennies on the dollar it not only exploits the already battered nations but the people within the nations, the resources, but also not allow for more sustainable practices by removing "export restrictions"

This is just one part of a larger system that will go beyond nation states and geopolitics just to create profit so how do we stop or fix these systems that are the main reasons for the world we live in today? How do we stop a system that plays off the weaknesses of humanity if we want to save the protentional of humanity? How do we create a system that puts people and the world over profit when the system is what Thomas Hobbes wrote about, The Leviathan. "A powerful force of nature resistance against which was to be futile if all bowed before and contributed to the establishment of a powerful state that state would in return secure the well-being of all who were part of it that through a collective effort a collective good."

It might not be a nation state that the leviathan was supposed to be but this Leviathan is more powerful then any nation-state could ever be for one reason, you can't escape it. How do you fix  a undemocratic, market driven, all powerful institution that only cares about creating capital while humanitarianism is sidelined and our world burns for this creature of our make?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internati … etary_Fund
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/

Ways you can help save the environment is by doing the tedious things like turning off the lights in your room when you are done with them or turning off the water when you are brushing your teeth. Also, you can carpool, which will also help with CO2 emissions. These are the things that you can do to help the earth. It may not seem like a lot but when everyone does it, it leads to a whole lot of change.

These are all great examples of ways to help, biking and walking to close enough places can help with CO2 emissions and help you get more exercise as well. I totally agree that the smaller things help make a big impact. Another example of something that helps out is bringing your own reusable drink cups when you stop at places like starbucks, sometimes you can even get a very small discount from doing this! You can also make a habit of purchasing food and other products that don’t use plastic packaging.  Not only does this reduce waste it cuts emissions used to manufacture the packaging. Volunteering for clean ups and other activities like this around your neighborhood  help a ton and can encourage them to hold these events more often.

I think that these are some excellent points. If enough of us can take many small actions, they are capable of adding up to produce something much more beneficial. Doing things like turning off the lights whenever you leave a room, turning off the water when brushing your teeth, taking shorter showers, and stopping the water when you don't need it, can all do a lot to help reduce carbon emissions. Transportation is another thing to consider, as lots of transportation has huge environmental impacts, producing large amounts of carbon dioxide. If we switch to electric cars, hybrid cars, public transportation, or even to walking or biking, it can be very beneficial. I live in a small rural town where these options aren’t as available, but i walk and bike whenever I can. Carpooling is also another thing to consider, especially for those living in more rural towns, as while maybe we don’t have as easy access for public transportation, biking, walking, and electric cars, we can always try to carpool so there is one less trip.

People ignore carbon footprints for some reason. I understand if you don´t care but for others not know or be oblivious. How can we spread the message so Many people know.

This is a very good question because it is one I am not sure about myself. There are many reasons I feel for this but I do believe there is one really basic reason why. I think It is not talked about enough for people to even care or know about it period. This needs to be a bigger topic in climate change because if we can all lower are carbon foot print our climate would be is a much better place.

Many individuals are aware of their carbon footprints, yet many are indifferent because they do not contemplate the big picture or what can happen in the long run. This reveals how selfish and self-centered people are since they either don't care about long-term effects and take no action, or they don't care at all.

Their are many people in the world who are aware of how big their carbon footprint is. Those people that know about the carbon that they are producing are probably trying to do something about it. But there are still many people who are aware about this topic but they aren't looking at the bigger picture. Like what our world become in the next 50 years if we don't do anything. They could also be thinking if that one person is doing much more than the average person then it could be the same if I continue to not change anything.

I think we should decrease the amount of plastic used worldwide and enforce the use of reusable bags. Countries should come together and enforce the use of reusable bags and enforce consequences for countries that don't implement those certain rules.

This is totally agreed, since plastic bags contribute to water pollution such as plastic pollution that kills marine creatures and burning plastic bags add on to air pollution.
Countries like Taiwan forces you to pay for the plastic bag, encouraging the use of reusable bags.

lsauia, I agree with your statement plastic bags are a huge problem worldwide. Enforcing a reusable bag, however, would also be a problem as they cost more money to be put in every store worldwide. Though they would economically be good they would affect the usage of money in further events worldwide if all countries use their own money to support these bags.

I agree that we should reduce our plastic bag consumption. Aside from promoting the usage of reusable bags in stores, I think it would also be a good idea to take existing single-use bags for repurposing. For example, plastic bags can be used to make yarn, which can then be used for creative projects. It’s also important that the right types of reusable bags are promoted, since bags such as cotton bags can actually cause more destruction to our environment!

I totally agree with this, because people in their everyday life use so many plastic bags and then just throw them away and aren't able to reuse them. It takes these bags 1,000 years to decompose witch means that trillions of toxic particles enter our earths soil.

An international system of outlawing plastic bags would have amazing benefits for our environment, but how would it be implemented in developing nations or areas in which plastic bags are infinitely more convenient for a citizen?

I fully agree that we should utilize fewer plastic bags. In addition to encouraging the use of reusable bags in stores, I believe it would be a good idea to reuse current single-use bags. Additionally, it's critical to promote the proper kinds of reusable bags, as those made of cotton can endanger our environment even more.

Utilizing less one time use resources in general would be great for the environment. This includes electricity instead of gas which is a one time thing. The repercussions for not implementing the plastic bag mandate is a very good idea and should be implemented around the world

I fully agree. I totally agree...we at A3 Studio Web do some social campaigns against pollution.

I totally agree...we at A3 Studio Web do some social campaigns against pollution.

Two heads are always better than one. This is correct. I believe it is critical to raise awareness about the problem and how it affects each individual. People may feel responsible and want to assist and support if they are aware that they are contributing significantly to the global carbon footprint. There is a better chance of finding a solution if more people try to reduce their personal, community, national, and global carbon footprints. More people can help if the message is spread. Even if they cannot find a solution to global warming, they can change their habits that harm the environment and increase their carbon footprint.

I agree. People should spread awareness by maybe posting more about it and having people of influence speak about it publicly.

This idea is good in theory but I don't know if that many people would care. I would love to see people react to global warming, but many would not do much to reduce their carbon footprint

By disposing our litter away in a recycling trash can, we could help save the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the possibility our ecosystem becoming polluted. We should have the 4 types of recycling pins available almost anywhere they're needed and trash could be thrown away, such as shopping centers, parks, schools, and any other public areas.

Why do we used CO2e in carbon footprint?? and what is CO2e??

I think that if some energy efficient international group was formed to fund each other to start powering the world with a sustainable resource such as wind or solar, it would not only greatly decrease carbon emissions, but also give us a permanent source of renewable constant energy. The problem is a lot of areas of the world aren't advanced enough, or wouldn't be willing to become part of this program

I think government regulation is a very effective way to regulate production like this. The UN, for example, agreed on policy change that helped fix the ozone layer and banned DDT, etc. Sustainable energy production needs to be more widespread for sure.

Nuclear Fission is an amazing way to pave a path for our planet to using zero-emission renewable energy. So what is it exactly? Well it a source of energy that is produced through the process of fission, the splitting of uranium atoms. The heat produced from this process is used to create steam that then spins a turbine (a giant mechanical wheel) which generates electricity. It can protect air quality as it does not produce any harmful pollutants that can cause severe air pollution such as smog. Even though it may seem it costs a lot of money to create and maintain these facilities, it is worth it. Firstly, nuclear energy has the highest capacity factor out of all the other alternatives to generating energy. The capacity factor just means the overall maximum output, so nuclear energy produces the maximum energy 92% of the time each year. Now compare this with the maximum output of fossil fuels, which is just 40%. Nuclear energy facilities also require much less maintenance, as they are designed to operate for long periods of time. Now there might be worries on the radioactive waste that is being produced. Well, this waste is extremely dense with energy and can still be reused for energy, but storing it is easy as there is not much to store, and thick concrete walls are enough to hold the waste in place.

People should we colonize mars and consider earth a lost cause?

Guys, how could we decrease the pollution???

Good questions there are a lot of ways and solutions. We can reduce the number of trips you take in the car to aviod gas and then climate change and then the habitat of animals getting destroyed (ex: penguins,polar bears and more).

We can also turn off the lights when therenot in use.

We can stop using plastic bags and plastic bottles and use reusable ones so that wecan aviod polluting.

We can also reycle and  reuse to aviod trash spreading evayrwhere.

Those are just someways to decrease pollution but there are many mores.

Help us trun our planet to this to that !

I think the main problem of Taiwan's pollution is that we use too much energy and most of the energy aren't produced by renewable resources. Only less than 10% of Taiwan's electricity are formed by renewable resources.

Another problem is when people buy things that are "green" it has matierials that are better for the environment, but it doesn't help when it is made in a factory in China where they aren't going to control emisions. Its the same thing with electric cars they commonly release the same amount of carbon dioxide as gas powered cars due to their lithium batteries. And the cars are made in countries that aren't going to have factories or any care for if it releases carbon dioxide. Even the ones in America produce a ridiculous amount of carbon dioxide, since the process of obtaining the matierials is pretty bad for the environment. And they still run off gas or the electric pumps are charged with gas. Its not common for them to produce more carbon dioxide. We need to first start off by replacing our energy grid with renewables, since without that we will be producing carbon dioxide no matter what. For example investing in nuclear would be a big help. Or even solar panels, and there is even a problem with solar panels since they also use rare Earth metals, so we also need to stop relying on countries that use this since they don't care, and use methods that release a great amount of carbon dioxide. And there is also a problem with nuclear since all of the Uranium needed is located in the Kazakhs and Africa. Both of these regions are riddled with instablity. The biggest things we could do right now in my opinion would be to stablize these regions and get the world on the same side, and invest in renewables with the assistance of the world. ANd since most of these materials are in these unstable countries it is important to be friendly with them, and to stablize theses regions.

I believe a good solution to the reduction of carbon emissions would be reducing power generation to Eco friendly means that are reusable or have little impact on the environment. Some of these means are solar farms, wind turbines, hydroelectric plants, nuclear power plants, and more

hello there

I have been addicted to lots of stuff, how can i get out of it?

In the future I believe that all homes could include solar panels or that another invention will be created to help lower our carbon footprint that can be used for houses and therefore lowering our carbon footprints quicker.

Another thing that people could do to their homes is to just paint their homes white instead of other strong colors like black. White doesn't attract the sun's rays as much as black does. For example, Greece. They paint most of their houses white.

Fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide which warms the Earth. If we switched to renewable energy, we could reduce our carbon footprint.

I agree, less fossil fuels means less carbon in the air.

The end goal of all this is to fix and reverse climate change/ be in control. It is not entirely clear how we do this as removing some of these green house gasses from the atmosphere is a complex task. We understand how to stop climate change from worsening, but how do we reverse it to get back to a healthy 350ppm?

I had the same thought. Not sure exactly how to lower it

An idea to help reduce our communities carbon footprint is by cutting down on paper use and waste and to start using electronics to complete our assignments. Another idea to reduce our carbon footprints is to use fewer plastic products by using reusable bags instead of plastic bags and to use metal water bottles instead of unreusable plastic water bottles.

I agree, but how can we better limit the materials that are used to create plastic bags and unreusable plastic water bottles.

That's a good point but I think the bigger issue is not the plastic itself but how we recycle it. Speaking about paper is a completely different thing: even if the paper waste can be a big problem, cutting down trees for paper doesn't affect too much the enviroment because almost all of the trees cut down are replaced by the same paper (and wood) companies. It is estimated that a number about 4 million treess are cut down and then replaced by paper and wood companies every day.
Of course recycling paper and managing to treat the waste in a way that doesn't damage the environment is a good thing and it will always be helpful!

I agree w all ur points, another suggestion might be that we could use more metal in things like straws, utensils, dishes, and more. That way they would be reusable and wouldn’t harm our planet as much.

Less paper and plastic, more electric- A student proposed in schools we use less paper assignments and less plastic tools and to instead keep the majority of assignments online. Although this will cut significantly down on paper usage which is a cause of high carbon footprints, cellular data produces carbon. Meaning there are pros and cons to both ways of assignments. I do not think this is a major problem we need to solve in the moment.

I agree, if we can find something to replace plastic that is better for the environment, that will change things for the better. And, we must recycle all the plastic we use.

I agrree with this statement. Its me Yung cashregister aka lilbroomstick

hi guys

I agree

People can start using green technology more often instead of using fossil fuels to power stuff.

eat less meat and force places to stop selling it so much

Increase students ' self-esteem
I can not find in any country an efficient study program for children students that increases their self-esteem: https://rateioparaconcursos.net/

word

I do not know about the rest of the world, but in America we do not have many trains. This seems to be a way to have efficient, sustainable ways to move far especially in rural areas. They seem to solve a lot of problems.

Yes I think we should have more long-distance passenger trains, like Japan's high-speed rail network or even maglev trains.

It’s all a matter of do we have the land to make said trains because even energy efficient trains take a lot to build and underground needs a lot of excavation. I do think it will benefit us but its all about is the risk worth the reward or is it too late to move towards trains.

Making public transportation available for more people around the world

I agree with making public transportation available for everyone. But i think it should be limited in cities and people should bike more in cities. Biking is better for the environment and its also a good way to get around in cities.

I think that public transportation can be a good option everywhere. Even if in more remote areas there are only a few buses or trains, that can make all the difference. If these lead into towns and make frequent stops, many more wouldn’t forced to drive cars to get to work and run errands.

We need to use more public transport or bicycle or go walking.
We have to make less trash.
We have to turn off the light when we don´t use it.

I agree with your opinion. If more people instead of have a car ride dedice to take a bus to go to work, or even use a bike if the workplace isn’t too far, I’m sure air quality will increase.

completely agree, also eletric bike and eletric scooter can be really good

I agree totally with u, in fact i stop to go to school for example with the car and now i only go with my bike. I also use it  for go out with my friends or to go to the gym.

I completely agree with this, as someone who uses a bike to go around for most travel around time its a nice way to travel and stay healthy while keeping carbon emmissions low.

I completely agree, transportation is one of the greatest contributors to carbon emissions, and if we cut down on that, it’ll definitely be one of the more effective ways to cut down on peoples personal emissions heavily

I agree that we should be more aware of what emissions we are putting into the atmosphere, and public transportation is a great way to do that, but in some regions of the world, public transportation/riding a bike is not very practical or simply not possible. This is why I think that electric vehicles are a big part of the solution to this problem, because they are so much more gas-efficient (if they even require gas) and do not put anywhere close to as much carbon through emissions into the atmosphere as gas-powered cars.

Coming from a place where there is little to no public transportation and the weather doesn’t always permit riding a bike or walking, i think we should definitely start using EVs but we should also institute some public transportation and if that public transportation could be electrically powered that’s even better too. Adèu

I certainly agree that more public transportation (bikes or paved sidewalks for walking) at ready access to everyone would help shrink the carbon footprint of those who use them. While I think EVs could be a solution to our mainly fuel-based travel, they are more expensive outright (though these numbers are trending lower!).
For students in any form of education, especially if they live on or near campus, having their university rent out bikes during warm months for a small fee could be an option. The school would collect money from kids who ride the bikes and use it to fund other areas of education where their carbon footprint could be reduced (creating a composting system, working towards purchasing solar panels or a windmill, supporting local farms/markets).

I completely agree! As someone who lives in a more rural part of the U.S., our public transportation is minimal to nonexistent. In the 20s and 30s, with the advent of mass car production, the auto industry lobbied for policies that led to the dismantling of public transportation and reliance on personal cars in the U.S. This is largely the reason for why people today, especially in rural areas, are so dependant on personal vehihicles. It was the big industries way of making sure consumers would be dependent on their product. This necessity on cars means more cars are made and shipped around the world. It means more cars are on the road and are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and inturn, impacting our planet. With the rise of EVs people are now making personal decisions to switch, but we are still carrying the necessity of personal vehicles.
Many countries have a robust and convenient public transportation system, which significantly reduces carbon emissions. For example, in Italy, no matter how rural your town may be, there is a bus within walking distance that will take you to larger population centers where you will find additional busses, trains etc. So from any part of Italy, you can take public transportation to any other part of Italy -- or to most of Europe.
A comprehensive, convenient and efficient public transportation system that runs on green electric energy would make a significant impact in reducing carbon emissions in our country. A cultural shift would also need to happen to shift from our reliance on person vehicles.

A few years ago I heard of an idea to get around the time it takes to charge an EV battery. Every EV would have a battery that is detachable (since most people only drive a few 10s of miles a day or less, it doesn't have to be the whole battery pack) so that you could just drive up to a battery switching station and have the dead battery come out the bottom or something and be replaced with a charged one. Also the electric company would own the removable batteries to use for energy storage in high-demand times.

Plastic used to be a want for how it can be flexible but it backfired it was too flexible we used it in almost every piece of technology but it didn’t used to be like that glass can/should be used in its place for bottles we can also just use bees wax for wrapping instead of plastic bags we need to change how we think about plastic and look back into the past for how they made things work without plastic

[ sorry for the bad spelling in spots i am just really bad at writing ]

we need to act more on climate change becouse it is efecting us way more in the future

I agree. However, its also effecting us now. We keep emitting carbon dioxide therefore, the global temperature is continuing to rise. We do need to act in order to stop the increase of fossil fuel burning, globally. One way is tracking are carbon footprint and if most of the people in the world recognize there carbon footprint and change they, therefore, change the carbon they emit. It’s like a chain reaction and if everyone changes there ways we can make a positive instead of negative impact on the environment.

We need to use more public transport or bicycle or go walking.
We have to make less trash.
We have to turn off the light when we don´t use it.

In order to reduce global carbon emissions, we need to rethink our approach to energy. Currently, most of our energy comes from natural gas, petroleum, and coal. Although these methods supply high amounts of energy, they are terrible for the environment. Each of these energy sources creates various heat trapping gases which, as the name suggests, prevent heat from leaving earth’s atmosphere. These gases steadily increase the temperature of the earth. In order to prevent this, we need to increase our use of renewable energy. One extremely popular way of producing renewable energy is through solar panels. Solar panels convert energy from the sun into usable energy. Overall, by increasing our usage of solar panels, we can drastically reduce global carbon emissions.
https://www.americangeosciences.org/cri … ted-states

Some people can't afford solar panels. Is there a cheaper solution for those people who cant?

what about the people who cant afford solar panels and is there a cheaper option to save energy?

I think that instead of driving gas powered cars we should start using electric cars, bikes,and electric scooters. We should try to avoid gas cars because they pollute the air so if we stop using them we would pollute the air less. So in my opinion we should mainly avoid gas cars.

This is a great idea gas powered cars release a lot of carbon into the atmosphere and electric cars would be a better option.

One of many ways to decrease the carbon footprints globally is to stop producing water bottles and start to recycle them so they can be used to make new ones.

My carbon footprint is more or less than I expected.
To improve it I have to try to eat more local food, don´t use the car as much, walk more and try don´t to leave the lights on for so long.

I like this is a good idea because to grow more local food helps out the framers and the environment.

I think this is a good idea to help lower your carbon food print, considering how much carbon cars give off.

One idea that can help reduce carbon footprint is by using cars less and walking because people now use gas-powered cars and we should start using electric cars and try to avoid gas cars because more gas-made cars are not helping the earth with all the pollution.

This is a good idea since this would help lower our carbon footprint by using electric cars and walking more but what about the ones that can't afford electric cars and need big vehicles to work?

Plastic over all is bad and we should reduce our usage of it and replace it with more reusable rather than have single use plastics.

yes we know that plastic is bad buthow can we use less plastic if the packets of water bottle have so much plastice and we can't do nothing about it.

yes we know that plastic is bad buthow can we use less plastic if the packets of water bottle have so much plastice and we can't do nothing about it.

using too much plastic is bad for the earth but we also can use it for water and more we just need to us less of it.

one way we can reduce carbon footprint is by using electric cars.

I think this is a good idea because electric cars don't release carbon like gas-powered cars

The future is getting closer each time and their should be more electric cars for the human population to use, to have a better effect for our environment and health. I know that there are many gasolines cars that are fun to watch like their reving engine but we should know that they have a big impact in a carbon footprint. I myself prefer gasoline cars because I enjoy them, but it is better to have electric car and there is already predictions that by 2040 half of all passenger vehicles sold will be electric.

Yes electric cars are very nice, I agree Mr. Ruiz, they eliminate a lot of the detrimental aspects posed by gasoline cars. Not just improving the environment as a whole, it also works almost exactly like gasoline cars, if not better, like the self-driving system built into it so people are less likely to make dumb mistakes when driving. Thank goodness Mr. Musk is making electric cars available on a large scale.

I also agree because many people now use gas powered cars rather than electric cars. Electric cars are also really nice they might even work better than gas powered cars. But in my opinion I would rather use electric cars.

One way I can reduce my carbon footprint in Porterville, Ca is use my bike more or walk more.

One way we can reduce carbon footprints is to travel less and walk more

how can we travel less if some people live far away from the destination  they need to get to.

Solar Panels can be a good investment, it doesn't produce air pollution nor greenhouse gases like other things. Solar panels goes off of the solar energy and that has a positive effect on the environment. It also reduces the usage of natural resources/fossil fuels. The only problem is that they're to expensive for people to afford and we also need those greenhouse gases.

I agree with you because if we use solar panels it will bring down the energy cost of schools

We often get stuck again and again with the same problems, and need to think differently.

CalisteniaPro

If we reduce the amount of food we eat and how often we get the food we can reduce the carbon footprint by a lot. A couple ways are growing some of our own food and purchasing less food when we shop or purchasing more food in one big trip to cut down on transportation as well.

Hi! Im here because i want to tell you about the pollution in the world and how you can help to save it!
All we nkow that there is a lot of pollution on the world and each day gets worse. But do you think you can do something??
The world is very big. About 7700 million people or more live in it! But, you can contribute in a small way doing things like recycling (paper, plastic, bottles, etc.) use renewable energy, eat local products, or using public transport...
Think about more things you can do to help and reduce your carbon footprint and help with your small way!!!
I hope this help you to understand all we can help to save the world.
BYEEE!!!

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report on food waste".(https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/conten … -lockdown/).

Yes, I totally agree! Together we can do so much...And you know how they say..."Big things have small beginnings." So, why wouldn't we all gather and help our big home, our planet Earth! ●'◡'●

It’s true that each little action we do on a daily basis contribute to the protection of our planet, some people think that it is useless but if we act together then it will slow down the production of carbon and therefore keep our planet as long as possible.

I also agree that doing a small thing such as recycling can turn into something bigger. Lots of people believe that these small things don't really matter because they don't make a big difference. But if everyone on Earth consistently reduces their carbon footprint, even by a little, a huge difference will be made.

stop using papers in school

The halt of paper-printing in schools could definitely work as long as there is access to computers and other technology. If a school did have access to these things, not using printed papers could be a great way to introduce and become accustomed to the act of giving up a material for the sake of the planet.

However, in some country, due to fear of abusing technology. The ideals of taking digital note is unlikely to be widely adopted.

I think that this is seeming more and more achievable now after online school. It is possible since we digitally submitted everything for the last year, but it is hard with test taking and math classes to make that work. Also, just emphasizing the importance of recycling paper when we do use it.

This sounds like a good idea in theory, but in many low income schools and communities it is difficult to have the funds to purchase computers and other technology for all students to access/utilize in order to take notes and do worksheets.

Our world is going through something it has not been gone through before. We are seeing the effects of climate change and it is only get worst every year. I believe that we as a community of human beings can try and do something to at least not worsen the situation. I think we should all try and reduce our greenhouse emissions as much as possible. We can do this by using less plastic, use our heaters or A/C's only when we really need to and so on.

I think it would be very beneficial if we could integrate sustainable materials and household utilities into our customary standard of living. Through time, certain appliances have been introduced to the public, and once their use proved to be extremely helpful, we never turned back, and regarded their use as a necessity, or something relatively close to it (at least in the majority of households and facilities in some countries including the one I live in). We have and can survive without plumbing systems, lightbulbs, and refrigerators in our dwellings, but they are commonplace due to the benefits they provide. For example, refrigerators are not absolutely crucial to us, and food can be stored in other ways, but they help food last longer and contribute to a sanitary life. So, what about something like solar panels? - Their use compared to other energy sources decrease carbon footprints, and they contribute to a decrease in climate change, and a better environment, which does affect our lives. If we held the condition of the environment to the same regard as convenience, things like solar panels and sustainable materials would be much more prevalent and expected.

I believe there are several ways to reduce the global carbon footprint; here are a few of my suggestions. From a young age, we should teach children how to reduce their carbon footprint so that they can continue to practice these practices throughout their lives. I also feel it would be a good idea to identify countries like India or China that are having trouble reducing their carbon footprint so that we can provide more assistance to them. The most crucial step in reducing your carbon footprint is to figure out how you contribute the most, so you can adjust your habits and reduce the global carbon footprint.

Reducing our carbon footprint is something we need to do urgently. It is something every student should be passionate about. In order to do this, I think we must learn about the effect it has on our future. Maybe if professionals came into schools or a regular basis the message would get across.

Yes I agree that it is very important to discuss climate change in schools to be able to push for change. Especially since younger generations are the ones who are most likely going to be able to change the world. In order to do this we need to find new more engaging ways to educate people and students. I think this because I find that many people have heard of climate change and don’t want to again when it’s something that we can’t just ignore. I think having people like you said come into schools and start up projects that bring awareness about this issue would be more effective because, it lets students explore the topic in a different way while still being able to educate others.

i see where you are going a i think that also. we should be learning more about it because are parents don’t go to school we do so we can learn about it an teach are parents and they can start a change

I also agree that we should implement more lectures about climate change-related issues (like the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) in education systems worldwide. Like user Mimi47, I have also noticed that not everyone is the most knowledgeable about the topic of climate change. I myself did not know much about what climate change really is, what causes it, and how it affects everyone and everything on this planet until recently. Most people seem to have the basic idea and even false ideas (for some) of what climate change is. However, I think basic knowledge about this topic is not enough. Everyone should know that our individual actions are causing climate change to occur at a faster rate. We should all be educated about how we can help reduce the negative effects of our daily activities on the environment. Learning about how we can take action and actually execute it can lead to change for the better. I believe that we should all be aware of this issue to a certain degree. Educating the youth is a good place to start because we still have many years ahead of us to fix the wrongs of the generations prior to ours. We can also make a bigger impact by the influence of social media to spread more information about climate change.

i agree but i also think that it might be hard to schedule and hard for children of younger ages to understand

Completely agree, the generation that is in school right now are going to be the ones to really make a change with the climate crisis, they are the ones that need to be educated at a very early age.

I agree that it should be an important discussion in schools because one of the main reason we haven't acted already is the lack of education on this topic.

I agree, the people that we are teaching now are the people who are the ones that will be able to make a change, and if we teach them how to make a change then we can help slow down climate change.

I agree as well, there is a lack of education about climate change. I feel privileged to be able to learn about climate change but it should not be privilege it should be a right. Especially for the people that are going to grow up and have to find solutions to climate change like me. I think that teachers should also learn more about climate change if possible so that they do not need to invite specialists because even though that would be cool on occasion I think that climate change education should be incorporated on an every day basis. I also think that it should not be up to the students to have to do all the research for themselves. Of course if the students want to do research on their own that is great but the teachers ad parents should help them find reliable information.

i 100% agree with all of you. climate change is such an important issue and yet students are not getting enough education about it. with the lack of education, many students will continue doing certain actions without acknowledging that those actions are harmful and are one of the major reasons why our planet is suffering. students who wants to help fight climate change may not even know where to start as they never learned or discussed this topic at school. Its important for students in my generation to learn about climate change because in my opinion, we can make a huge improvement if we all have the same goal to improve our planet for the better.

I agree with you, I believe it is really important to be educated about climate change. Like it's been said above I feel privileged to be learning about climate change and I feel everyone should get an opportunity to learn about it too. We share this planet with 7 billion other human beings and not only some of them should learning about this stuff. If we are going to work together to stop climate change everyone should be educated about what is happening and what they can do. Also like what is said above some people might not know what they are doing is negativly impacting the environment because of a lack of education.

Imagine what our current situation would be like if our parents or even their parents where taught about climate change in school. I feel one of the biggest reasons the problem we have seems so unsolvable is because we have been working up to it for so long. imagine having climate rallies and widespread clime change education in the 1930-1950's. Our current situation would be so different. I Think it would be an amazing idea to start implementing climate awareness into our education systems as soon as possible.

Yes, climate change is something that we have to teach more in-depth about in schools. I did not know how bad climate change was until I was actually taught about it in school, which I am very thankful of. This topic needs to be talked about more, it is almost like people are treating climate change as if we aren't starting to face the consequences of our actions and disasters all over the world are not caused or influenced in the slightest by climate change. We need to start by educating children on this topic, no matter what age. This is not something that is going to fix itself and we all have a role to play in this issue.

I believe that if we had been taught about environmental science/climate change during the previous generations, we would be at a much better spot right now. However, we didn't... so in order to make up for that, schools must emphasize the issue by teaching MULTIPLE classes. We should have not only have 1 class but many, so more students can join and learn about what they need to do. This is a serious issue, and more classes and resources to teach students and people about it will help.

I completely agree with this post because the carbon footprint, greenhouse gases, and all of the many crisis that are happening within our ecosystem affects all of us and our future. if we dont begin to spread the message now, both us and our future generations will be in great danger, along with many organisms and our earth.

I agree with this. Us students are not always taught about Carbon Footprints, let alone ever hear about it. I am fifteen years old and in my freshman year of high school, I just now have found out about Carbon Footprints. I have never heard of them before and I view that as an issue. We should be taught and educated on this important topic because of the fact that our earth is potentially in danger. Learning and reflecting on this can help many, many students work on reducing our CF.

I agree with the thought of having more discussions regarding climate change and how we can prevent it. However, I think this plan could be more effective if schools also were forced to use clean energy that wouldn’t pollute the air. An even more effective route could be requiring a certain amount of hours of community service done regarding climate change in order to graduate from high school. While these are more effective ways to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it could anger people who are not interested in doing such tasks.

So true, besties. Educating kids in advance at a young age would have a greater impact and lead to them taking more action as adults. It would especially help emphasize that climate change is a long-term problem that can’t be ignored, even if we want to. I also agree with @lopezm3954 that community service relating to climate change should be required; even if some students don’t like it, they’ll have helped at least once, and it might spur other kids to take further action on their own.

Reducing carbon footprint is an urgent matter and something must be done to help reduce the damage that is already done. However, balancing 6 other subjects on top of this will be stressful on the kids.

A idea for reducing the global carbon footprint of america is installing solar panels for powering all public facilities and for most small businesses, this would lower the global carbon footprint of america by a substantial amount.

A while ago, Hydrogen fuel cell cars were invented. They are powerful, as well as environmentally friendly, because they do not use gas. But why are more people not using them? They are just not accessible enough. There are only about 5 charging stations throughout California. We should start thinking of more ways to add these environmentally friendly cars to our lives by making them more accessible.

I'm hungry

What percentage of people have been on a boat?

Boats are crucial for product transportation, we can't just get rid of them, they are the ones that bring us all our food, clothes, personal items, they are (I think) cheaper and more efficient. Unless your talking about personal boats or cruise type boats

Yes, boats are bad for the environment, but they help us transport resources to the places we need. We also use them for military purposes.

Its not Us being on boats, its boats transporting 15,000-20,000 crates per trip. If you were to say "boats are useless" then I guess you wont get anything anymore i.e toilet paper, toys, computers, cars ect...

Each person has to play their own role on helping the environment. Limiting food consummation and recycling helps limit a person's carbon foot print. Also using plug in cars and limiting traveling also helps to limit a person's carbon footprint. One by one, people contributing to lowering their carbon footprint will help lead to a more sustainable environment. Are planet has done so much for us, it is our turn to give it something in return.

I believe in schools we should be taught young how to reduce our carbon footprint and from a young age we are taught to recycle and not to waste the things we are blessed with. Also this way more people will be more aware and not think global warming is fake. We should be taught early in elementary school and do projects to reduce it instead of later on in middle school or high school.

Produce less plastic

Equal to less CO2

stop printing paper in school

If the big plastic companies would stop producing plastic they would recycle the plastic in the ocean and clean it. The sea would be cleaner and the world would be a better place.

I think there are various ways to decrease the global carbon footprint here are some of my ideas. We should teach kids ways to decrease the carbon footprint from a young age so they can use these habits they learned for the rest of their lives. I also believe a good idea would be to identify the countries like India or China that have difficulty decreasing their carbon footprint so we can give them extra help. The most important step to decreasing the carbon footprint is to identify how you most contribute to the carbon footprint so you can change your habits and lower the global carbon footprint.

think big
in my opinion this is a very good topic to talk and think about. I think that this quote is true and very useful in real life in particular in the 'trip' that will finally reduce our carbon footprint. for sure we have to start from simple and daily actions to make a change but to make a very significant difference we have to make bigger decisions like stop use petrol-moved cars and in less or more 2 or 3 years use only eletric cars in order to save our beautiful planet. and what about you? what is your big thought that will save our planet?

The best way to reduce carbon footprint is to make people understood a global problem,and band together for making our nature as it was many years ago.

Habiter sur une petite île perdue au milieu de l'océan me faisait penser à tord que mon impact carbone allait être moindre comparé à celui des autres étudiants. Ici, nous réalisons de petites distances au quotidien et nous n'utilisons pas de chauffage en hiver. Néanmoins, un élément crucial nous rend plus polluants que le reste du monde: notre éloignement. Tout ce que nous achetons provient de l'extérieur qui est situé à des milliers de kilomètres de nous et transporté par bateau ou par avion. Voir notre famille nous impose de traverser deux océans, soit plus de 18000km, ce qui correspond à 18h d'avion. En conséquence, mon empreinte carbone est trois fois plus importante que l'empreinte carbone moyenne mondiale. L'urgence est là. Il nous faut travailler sur de nouveaux carburants pour nos transports. Les dégagements de kérosène ne sont plus acceptables et l'adoption de l'hydrogène comme nouveau carburant apparaît comme étant nécessaire et primordiale pour opérer de véritables changements.
Plus tard, j'aimerai me diriger vers le domaine du luxe car je suis intimement persuadée de la nécessité qui s'impose à nous de changer les choses dans les secteurs qui changent le moins, tel que les transports ou le luxe. Dès maintenant, il nous faut changer les règles quasiment ancestrales de ces secteurs pour les adapter à l'urgence de la crise climatique actuelle.

Data in tons of CO2 equivalent:

China: 9.800.000.000
U.S: 5.270.000.000
India: 2.467.000.000
Russia: 1.693.000.000
Japan: 1.205.000.000
Germany: 799.000.000
Iran: 672.000.00
Saudi Arabia: 635.000.000
South Korea: 616.000.000
Canada: 573.000.000

well done Aya i love your idea.

OMG is very terrible

Hello Aya with these data, we will be able to make people aware that the contamination is very great.

thank you this is helpful data

one idea is to create plastic alternatives out of compostable materials such as sunflower seed shells

Hi

hi

An important part of making sure you are living an ECO friendly life is reusing and reducing.Instead of always using a new plastic water bottle every day, try saving up for a re-usable one instead! You don't really have to change much, just notice the little things like turning off the lights when done and maybe taking a ride or walk outside instead of taking a car. Another good way to reduce your carbon footprint is by carpooling with others (although this can be difficult because of COVID) if possible, try to find someone in your bubble, it can even be a member in your family if they can drive (like an older sibling or parent)

In my family as we buy and use food that comes in plastic containers we wash and reuse them. Taking cold showers uses less energy than hot showers. So people could try to take cold showers especially in the summer. My family has immensely reduced the amount of animal products that we eat, and this reduces emissions by a lot. Along with this we alway try to buy our food locally sourced and organic. Additionally we have our own garden to that we take and eat from. Our family is lucky enough to be able to afford an electric bike so that my parents can bike to work and I can bike to and from my extracurriculars.

Also there are businesses you can subscribe to that can take not normally recyclable things and recycle them for you, such as plastic wrap and packing foam. This makes it so garbage dumps don't get overflowed by things that don't have to be in there.

Smog, formed mainly above urban centres, is composed mainly of tropospheric ozone (O3) primary particulate matter such as pollen and dust and secondary particulate matter such as sulphur oxides, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia gas.Smog is a big problem of every city with good industry but how can we stop it?We shouldnt use cars that often, our electricity should be on only when we are using it and stuff like that.But are we really doing it and why not tell me in comments down below
From Fran

Hey Fran, I am frustrated by this as well.  I believe that polluters should have to pay to pollute- in other words pay for the real costs of that pollution in terms of illness and environmental damage.  That will quickly become an incentive for the polluters to figure out a way to pollute less.

The first important thing is to know what your carbon footprint is, and from there, you can see what things you need to reduce in your everyday life to reduce your carbon footprint. I didn't know what my carbon footprint was until I did this, and now I know what things I need to do to help the planet and my community by reducing my carbon footprint. The most important step is knowledge about carbon footprint and how that affects the Earth negatively, and how your everyday routine might be harming our Earth. The top 3 easy and convenient things everyone can do to minimize their carbon footprint are driving less, meaning walking, biking, or taking transportation to places you want instead of just using your car every day. You can also buy a hybrid/electric car, so you don't have to use gas which harms our Earth. Another thing you can do is make sure all the plugs and lights are off when not in use. This is very common and is one of the reasons why people's carbon footprint is such a big number. The third and easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is STOP buying plastic water bottles. It is very harmful to this Earth. You can start buying reusable water bottles and reusable shopping bags instead of using plastic bags. I think those four ideas are good ways for reducing personal, community, country, and even global carbon footprints. Even though these steps seem like a small action, they are very impactful, and they will eventually add up and became bigger things. Knowledge is also powerful because if you teach kids at a young age about our environment, there is a high chance that they will do beneficial things in the future in terms of Earth and then pass it on to their generations.

These are my sources that I used:

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of- … -footprint

https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/top-10 … save-money

Some contributions that we can make to reduce our carbon footprints are paying attention to the reducing, recycling, and reusing rule. Unplugging our devices when they are charged, and taking transportation if it is an option. For school lunches there are already vegetarian options but I had the idea that every other month or so cafeteria's should only serve vegetarian food to reduce the amount of meat being served. Personally, I need to take shorter showers!

Humans can make big changes. We could do it by recycling properly and composting. We can plant trees, shop wisely and take shorter showers. Adults should drive electric cars and teach good Earth-saving habits to their kids.

Which aspect of everydaylife do you think is the most harmful, and how can we make it less so?

I think the most harmful things to our enviroment are: driving too much, buying too much of clothes, Buying single-use items, drinking bottled water and many more things and we need to change this somehow to save our planet.

I think the most harmful everyday life things that we do is overuse electricity, water, food, and cars. Most people don't turn off their lights after leaving the room which causes a good amount of electricity to be wasted. Only around 0.3 percent of water is actually usable on our planet and we are overusing the water by showering too long, leaving the faucet on, and etc. There is also a lot of food wasted every year because people don't finish many of the foods they buy, if these foods aren't composted and are put in landfills, they'll cause a load ton of methane gas which is really bad for the environment. We need to focus on reducing every aspects of our life .

It's not hard to be a healthy and ECO green person! But imagine if u want to be like Greta Thunberg, now that would be hard. She doesn't take flights, and travels by a single ship all alone from her hometown to the city of New York just to join a climate change protest. Is it something that you could do overnight??? The answer would be no. Currently, just by turning off the lights when somebody forgets, using ur own bag when ur offered a plastic one would be what we would be capable of. However, in the long run, its just not enough. I urge everybody to join MUN conferences to understand the situation we are in today, we debate, and think of solutions in detail. To become leaders of the 21st century might not be as easy, but at least we can try.

cool

It would drastically lower the carbon footprint so should we? how do we execute this?

In my opinion, I don’t think there should be a limit on how many cars a family unit can have. I think this because if there is only one car, that specific car would be used a lot causing pollution to occur. If one car is used the same as 2 cars combined, both scenarios would cause the same levels of pollution. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if there is one car or two cars, it only matters how much you drive.

The most easiest way to reduce our carbon footprints is to start by unplugging our devices when fully charged or turning of our lights when they aren't needed . We can also try not to go out as much well at least not waisting gas .

The statement is very true

I really like your statement, and I think you should tell more people about it.

i agree with that statement, we need more people too see this.

if we are thinking big all together than i really we can build a flying cars

We like meat. Sausages, bacon, and burgers, sizzling away in a frying pan, just waiting to be eaten. However, the price of one mouthful of meat is hundreds of kilograms of carbon, not including the methane produced by the animals themselves. Therefore, by  raising the price of meat through taxes and funneling that money towards the climate, we can reverse or at least slow the damage caused. There will be an outcry over this. There will be a lot of companies angry over this. But, for the good of our children, our children’s children, and all of our descendants, it is one of the best moves towards a better future.

I love this idea of raising prices on meat because the production and process of selling meat is very costly towards our environment and produces a ton of carbon. A lot of us need protein so we shouldn't completely cut meat from our diets but raising the prices might help us lower our carbon footprint over time.

I agree strongly. We, consumers, should definitely become more aware of what we buy and take action for the better good. Raising prices especially on meat products doesn't just lessen the carbon foot prints but it also benefits massively on human/consumer health.

Sure it is fine, but along with the raised prices, the quality of the meat should be raised too.

the easiest way to reduce our carbon footprints is by starting to unplug our devices when fully charged , why have them plugged in if they can't charge more . Also we can reduce footprints by not going out as much well what I mean is to not use to much gas because that's not good for the environment.

Great idea bro! Sometimes things are just that easy

As cows and animal livestock take up space and release carbon I think we should shift to different sources of meat like insects for example. Reasoning why is that insects are actually very nutritious having even more amounts of iron, healthy fats, protein, and calcium than even beef. Along with they are most space and cost effective breeding than cows and other larger animals. Plus some insects are already mainstream in many countries already. If we were to think big shift from beef to insects would be a good idea.

I know that this port ably isn’t the first idea that comes to mind for a huge idea when it comes to reducing carbon, but producing artificial beef and other proteins could really help reduce CO2 emissions. As many people know, methane is produced from primarily cows, as well as other farm animals such as pigs. Then, through a chemical reaction in the atmosphere, methane becomes CO2. Recently, scientists have discovered a way to use the cells of these animals to grow meat that is edible. So if this becomes widespread in the near future, you could have a nice steak that did not come from a cow being killed. This would lessen the need for so many cows in our society. I am aware that milk is still a priority, but breeding cows just to be killed would be unnecessary, so it would reduce the methane impacts from cows. And, if researchers and scientists find a way to do this same process with other animals that produce methane, the effects would be very good in regard to reducing the carbon footprint.

I meant to put “probably” at the start, I guess autocorrect didn’t like that for some reason! Sorry for the inconvenience.

I agree that this has enormous potential.  Even if a laboratory grown "nice steak" would be unconvincing to carniovores, there are so many products made from ground meat, etc, and I am sure that the lab grown meat would be indistinguishable in most of those contexts

I'm mostly vegan, and while I don't really "miss" meat, I would be really interested to try a hamburger from lab grown animal cells. 

What about you, SmallChili: do you east meat and if there were lab grown meat would you choose that instead?

I haven’t thought much about the idea of artificial meat, but I agree that it has a lot of potential. I eat meat almost every meal, not really my choice, but I could still do more about it. I personally have been a part of the process of raising animals, usually chickens, for slaughter, and have been taught that they’re just animals and they’re specifically bred to be eaten. Sometimes I would really like for none of those animals to have to die. Alas, its meat, and its one of the most accessible and easy ways to get all the nutrition we need. Lab grown meat would be a welcome change for me. These days, they can probably make anything taste real/good, so why not? I would definitely choose to eat artificial meat if it was an option for me.

Hodin, I do eat meat frequently in my diet, and especially after analyzing the impact of methane on the environment and additionally the killing of many animals for meat, I would definitely choose to use this lab grown meat, as it would me feel better about my impact on the environment and the animals raised for slaughter.

I agree with the idea of artificial meat. I think this is a great idea because let alone the meat industry being bad for the environment its also just  a very toxic environment. The owners aren’t always kind to the animals and its just morally wrong. So i think this will reduce that and help the environment immensely.

Explain to people that climate change is here and it happening, yes they might know it here but some might not take it seriously so we should explain to them and show them that its something we should take very seriously.

Hello everyone!  Paying attention to the footprint of my locality and comparing them with those of other parts of the world amazes me  the great variations that there are. I honestly think that all the inhabitants of the planet should pledge about caring for the planet and be a little more competent when it comes to taking care of the planet.  We are still in time to avoid a great catastrophe in the world, having said that, what do y'all think?

Hello! Yes, we should all be taking more care around what we do in our day-to-day life that affects the climate. If we all make an effort right now, we can avoid more climate catastrophes in the future. The biggest problem is the staggering number of people who don’t believe in climate change. Any thoughts?

I believe that teachers in science should teach their students what a carbon footprint is to better take care of the planets

I know for us teens it is hard for us to reuse and repurpose because who doesn't like new things. But, now it's time for us to really buckle down and start doing things selfless. Here are some examples of how I reuse and repurpose. First, we have all seen or heard about the horrible effects of fast fashion. Corporations like forever 21, Gap, old navy are producing in large quantities. This leads to an absurd amount of carbon emission being released . People who love fashion like me can begin to reduce our carbon footprint by thrifting. Yes I know this may be a scary word but it is affordable and sustainable. To start you should go to local thrift stores looking for shirts and things that aren't denim because it is very hard to find good denim at thrift stores.It may take a little bit of time but you can find name brand items that are cheaper and more sustainable. It's easier to purchase things like accessories and shoes from regular stores and find you outfits and thrifts.

I agree that fast fashion is destroying our environment by trading off a reduction of cost of clothes that are "trending for a environmentally harmful materials and dyes. It has led to many people around the world developing a habit that is extremely detrimental to the world we live in. I advocate for people to buy clothes that they can wear for a longer period of time even though it might be a bit more costly because in the end the negative impact fast fashion has is not worth it. It is well known that fast fashion is the second biggest polluter of clean water worldwide, since many of these large corporations H&M, Zara, etc, has their factories in countries like Indonesia, India, and Cambodia, where the government do not regulate or enforce laws that prohibits these factories from dumping their toxic waste into rivers, and lakes, resulting in heavily polluted waters which affects the daily lives of its residents, and the environment of their countries.

I agree with this 100% I’m not a big fan on new clothes especially the price tag on them. You can definitely find a couple name brand clothes at a GoodWill or Salvation Army or your local thrift store. Those key thing I want to address is the materials and pollution it takes to create brand new clothes. The killing/mistreatment of animals to get their pelts and fur. The pollution the factories emit from creating the clothes and other things that contribute. The best way to do it is just to buy older clothes and some have never even been worn!

In the long term, a circular economy would be very beneficial to the environment. Essentially, a circular economy would force large corporations to make their products more environmentally friendly and reduce the pollution from factories. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.or … my/concept

One big endeavor to reduce carbon footprint globally is the development of carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) technologies.

There are already CCS plants in development and in use at power plants globally, but figuring out a way to use CCS to reduce the legacy load of CO2 is essential. The concentration of a pollutant is inversely related to the cost to extract it, so it will be harder and more expensive to take CO2 out of the general atmosphere than from a streamlined exhaust pipe at a power plant.

Finding a solution would be revolutionary in slowing or even stopping climate change.

Some people think, 'If I am only one person, what can I really do'? But if everyone think that nothing will get done. I definitely think we should start with ourselves. Even small things like, walking to school, riding a bike or even using public transport instead of driving a car, recycling,reusing, buying local products,don't use placstic bags, or plant a tree... If every person did just one thing to save our planet, our planet would be a better place. I am sure if we start from small steps they will definitely lead us to bigger ones.

I totally agree with small steps leading us to bigger ones. One thing that people do to reduce their carbon footprint is stop eating animals and animal products. I know from experience that if someone close to you becomes vegetarian or vegan they can have impact on what you eat. So if someone thinks that their decisions to try to reduce their carbon footprint will not affect the people around them, I think they're wrong. Also if you decide to recycle all your trash people will maybe realise that they should do it as well. I think that everything you do to try and help the planet affects how they people around you think.

I also agree with this in that we can all make a difference. Sometimes it can seem useless by use trying to save energy by doing things in your house. This is not true because not only does that small task add up over time, but it also inspires others to do the same. According to The Guardian, "A household running a dryer 200 times a year could save nearly half a tonne of CO2e by switching to a clothes rack or washing line." Just by doing something so simple as not using our dryer, it would save as much 1/2 tonne of CO2. Compared to the amount the world gives off of carbon, this may seem minuscule. By doing this, it could spread throughout your community creating a much larger effect. For example if everyone on your block did this, which is probably around 20 to 30 people, this would save 10 to 15 tonnes of C02.

Exactly, and another step one could take would be to actively try to educate others in how they can be better with controlling their carbon footprint. Many organizations strive to reach a large amount of people, but I think that there are always a lot of people who miss the information, or just dismiss it. When someone receives information from a close friend they are more likely to believe/follow through with the advice.

I agree, every person can do something to help. It is just one small step, but it gradually  over time becomes larger and larger. If every person who thought that what they did wouldn't make a difference, did something small like plant a tree, or recycle more, and such, it would have a massively positive effect on our planet.

I agree, any small thing can help. Overtime, small steps become larger and larger until they make a huge impact. If every person who thought that what they did wouldn't make a difference, did something small like plant a tree, or recycle more, and such, it would have a massively positive effect on our planet.

I agree that even small steps are essential to reducing our carbon footprint and making our planet a better place. Seemingly trivial changes to our every day lives such as taking public transportation instead of driving can make an enormous difference and improvement in the wellbeing of our planet. According to the Federal Transit Administration, 29% of greenhouse gas emissions are due to transportation. This means that if more people make the small change of taking public transportation more often, there will be fewer vehicles on the road, therefore, decreasing transportation-caused greenhouse gas emissions and making our planet a better place.

I agree that even the small things can help, just because you are one individual doesn't mean you can't help. As time progresses, the small steps you created build up, until there is something substantial that you created, and it has a positive impact on the environment. Things as simple as recycling, carpooling, or even printing on both sides (because you use half as much paper) can and will have a positive impact on the environment.

I definitely agree with you. Though, we are really small parts of our environment as a whole we are huge parts in our community. If everyone begins to do small things that take a little bit more time, like recycling or walking or the other examples that you said. Our community can become more environmentally friendly so does our whole planet. But, the real question is why haven't people begun to be the small parts of the solution How can we as young adults begin to be the solution  to the whole problem and influence the adults around us. How can we show them that the lifestyle they were raised to think isn't sustainable.

I agree, it is easy to have the simple mindset of being only one person who can't make a difference, but it is important to do what you can to make a difference - whether it's something as small as recycling or bigger, such as purchasing an electric car.

I think this is the reason that climate change has gotten so out of hand. People on an individual level just don't think that their lives will make a difference, so they don't do anything about it. All of this adds up though, so even if everyone shaved off 1 kg off their carbon footprint, that's nearly 8 million tons saved worldwide.

I totally agree, most people think that they can't have an impact even if they do something. Because of that, there is no impact because if everyone is thinking that then no change can happen. But, if everyone believed that their individual actions could make a difference then there will be big changes in not only the goal towards no/minimal emissions but society as a whole. Though I believe each individual won't be making HUGE changes, all of them together can create massive change. For this to happen though, we'll all need to believe that we can make a difference.

I thought that parents of nowadays should educate their children with a meaning of "no wasting things".
Why the parents? Why the children?
Children are the future and then all depends of them.

I totally agree. Our thoughts and ideas should be going towards to future in order to preserve and protect our planet. Waste in general is a huge issue on Earth, and the people of today need to know what we are up against. We need to keep the planet safe and beautiful for many generations to come.

I agree that we need to imprint onto younger generations the best ways of reducing our carbon footprints and maintaining safe greenhouse gas levels for our planet. In fact, to take that even further, I think it might also be a good idea for kids in elementary schools to have special classes on this topic, where they learn about climate change, and practice ways of being efficient and resourceful in everyday life. It's better to start this kind of education earlier so that the practices become more common among generations.

I agree that to solve the problems of carbon footprint, there needs to be a change in the way people perceive the effects of their actions. Educating young children is a good place to begin.

I agree 100%. People need to be educated about how our world works, and the impacts that all humans have on it. This is a very important topic when it comes to the Carbon Footprint and Recycling things. Clean energy also needs to be more widespread throughout the whole world too. To start this all people young and old must be educated about this.

I agree all people need to be educated in the effects of humans on the environment and carbon emissions so that we can preserve the world for the future generations.

I agree that young people should be taught that being wasteful is not good, but in certain ways. My parents always taught me to recycle as much as possible, and that every box can be reused in some way, both of which I now realize are very useful skills to have and very beneficial to the environment. However, I feel that teaching kids to not waste food, while good when they are young, should be more redirecting to teaching kids to protest corporate food waste when they are older, as domestic food waste is inconsequential compared to corporate food waste. Therefore, I do believe that you should teach your children to not waste our resources, and to tell others to do the same.

You're completely right, the future state of the environment does depend on children now. I personally know that I have always been taught to conserve water, electricity, and other resources like paper as much as I can. However, I think we should do better as a society to make these habits more widespread beyond just parents taking responsibility to teach this. In what ways have you been taught to conserve? Is it something you see a lot of people in your country teaching their children?

I agree! In my house I was always told not to waste my food, but in the occasion that my sisters and I didn't finish our food, our scraps would go to our chickens (as long as it wasn't chicken). Because of this we wasted a lot less food and we are able to then get eggs from our chickens.

In my opinion, It is important to teach children not to waste things, but it's more important to teach them to avoid doing things that may indirectly cause waste. An example of this is supporting or buying from corporations that produce incredibly large amounts of waste. Just buying from corporations and industries that produce thousands or millions of tons of waste is the same as saying that you're okay with it and they can continue "wasting things". If children are taught to stand up to these massive industries and stop buying from them until they change, then they'll be forced to give in. Because their main goal is making money, consumers are the ones who have the power and if the future generations come together and simply stop buying from them, then we'll see massive changes in all industries.

Water may be something you take for granted. Lots of places all around the earth dont have access to clean water. This means that when you are brushing your teeth, turn of the sink or when you are taking a shower, maybe go a little shorter. Even the smallest amount of water makes a difference

I agree with you but I also think that we should reduce the number of baths we take because the amount of water spent is really unnecessarily huge

I completely agree with you. Every little amount of water saved counts because you never know when an area is going to go in a drought and when we as humans are going to need that water for different activities. Saving a little bit of water builds up over time and eventually can save a lot and make things thrive and live more all healthier. Therefore, I am going to try and take shorter showers or maybe put a big bowl under the shower to collect additional water to use later for things such as planting when I am waiting for the shower to heat up. I need to monitor my water usage now too, especially, when washing my hands. Saving is water is good because a year ago California went in a drought right where I live and the state was scrambling and trying to come up with any ideas just to find water and preserve it. IF people save water and use less of it, droughts may never happen and living things could flourish rather than die.

Another great way to save water is through choosing what you buy more carefully. Only about 10 percent of water is used domestically, while the remaining 90 percent is used for industry and agriculture.  We can significantly cut down on our water usage by using less of water intensive products such as new technology or meat.  In addition, saving electricity helps as well.  In fact, some hydroelectric plants can emit more greenhouse gases than coal fired ones. So, be careful about domestic consumption, but do not ignore consumption from products.  And, BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL IF YOUR WATER SOURCE IS GROUNDWATER OR AN ENDORHEIC BASIN!!!!

These are some very great points. I believe that many people all over the world (including me) do not realize how much water we are using on a daily basis. Monitoring how much water we use could be beneficial to us and the environment.

All of you bring up some great points. Lots of people across the world, even some in our own backyards do not have enough water to live on like we do. By monitoring how much we use, we can share what we don't use in whatever ways we can.

Hello,i totally agree. I think we have to take care of our water utilization. Indeed there is a lot of people who don't have an access to water!
We could equip our taps with a water saver and flush the toilet less often.

I am going to be completely honest, I am a frequent hour long bath/shower taker. I've been taking hour long baths/showers as young as I can remember. However, my frequent hour long baths/showers are extremely harmful towards the atmosphere. Hot showers/ baths releases large amounts of CO2 into the atmospheres. It takes energy to heat the water tank to keep it hot. If my calculations are right, that would mean my hour long showers release around 27 pounds of CO2 gas. That is insane. I never knew that. From now on I will be more conscious when it comes to my showers/ baths. But not to mention the amount of gallons of water we use is insane. It takes 2 gallons of water to brush your teeth for 1 minute only (if you leave the water running). It takes 1.6 to 4 gallons just to flush a toilet. I never knew how much I've taken for granted when it comes to my usage with water.

I also agree that water is something people take for granted, including myself. The result of this has started to show with some cities in Mexico running out of water. This has resulted in them turning off water permanently and relying on daily water rations. Many companies also take water for granted and continue to pump it out of the ground affecting the surrounding ecosystems. Nestle alone removes 4.7 million litres of water from Canada's Guelph region EACH day and they only pay $503.71 per one MILLION litres. I feel as though we should raise the price of water for larger companies and farms. This could result in a rise in innovation for more water-efficient practices and devices.

In our community we have a composting system for our schools' foods. I think this has impacted our environment positively and if we continue using more adaptations to maintain a stable environment. That will benefit our futures.

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I think that eventually in the close future everyone should think about switching to a hybrid or even an all electric car if they haven't already. Just from switching to a gasoline powered car to an electric car can save over 4.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Especially with car companies starting to make more new models of cars that are hybrid or at least support a eco mode to make the cars more fuel efficient.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cli … -footprint

Hello kind sir
https://tenor.com/search/trust-me-gifs

Hello, I agree with your point that hybrid and electric cars could become viable. However, all electric and hybrid cars right now (Mercedes EQ C/S/S SUV/E, Volkswagen GTE/e-golf/e-up!, Tesla Model S/Y/X/3/Roadster/Semi/Cybertruck, Jaguar E-Pace, Toyota Prius, BMW i8/i3) are facing issues, including quality control, low sales, high prices, a general lack of charging infrastructure, range anxiety, cramped space, no power, brutal accidents, and much more. It's true that's its important to save carbon dioxide but until electric cars can match petrol power no one will be willing to use these products. Also, these electric cars also have unethical sources of power - the electricity that is being drawn from the chargers from the power plant isn't exactly what you'd call "green". Secondly, the multitude of electric cars on the road have only had a minor impact on emissions, because it's still being offset by the big producers of carbon dioxide. This eco mode you talk of only really exists in BMW cars, and even then it just makes you uncomfortable by turning off the air conditioning and the radio, which throws you back into a Dark Ages like prison cell.

Us in the USA, the state, or even the countries around us need to start cleaning and making sure that we actually have a mind set to clean and protect what needs to be clean. With the coronavirus, it hurt alot of people and made everyone go crazy because it effect all of us since we are not ready for it.

I fully agree we gotta clean up the planet.

We need to clean. Everyone needs to do their part, no matter how small it may be.

The  U.S.  has failed us a cleaner future and instead brought us towards a point of no return, this is due to the lack of enthusiasm in corporations and  business leaders to lower greenhouse gas emission rates which is strengthened by capitalism and the greedy people who control the market and factories, without their help the greenhouse gas emission rates continue to rise making the future generation’s work harder. So what can we do? Well for now all we can do is try to use less as students but once we’re adults and can have a real say in what we do and such we should organize, we have to have group up to make sure our voices are heard, if we don't try as much as we can nothing will change it will only get worse. Everyone everywhere needs to speak up and come together no matter what country you're from this is a global crisis and it can only be solved by a global effort. If we all stand up and get our voices heard something is bound to change and with time and persistence it will we can’t give up until something is done to set things right again.

I have been fascinated with the idea of materials such as graphene, nanotubes, and diamond for quite a while. All of these have very intriguing properties, especially when it comes to physical strength. All are also made entirely from carbon. If there were some way to efficiently extract elemental carbon from the CO2 in the air and the plastic in the ocean, and fabricate these materials easily and cheaply, these high-tech forms of carbon might be able to replace less sustainable resources that we currently rely on.

Well this is mostly for America but if we had a transcontinental railroad that could connect poorer rural areas with richer areas we could make travel affordable and much more sustainable that planes. This would also have many societal benefits because it would allow people to get better educations that they would not traditionally be able to get based off of their geographical location.

Overall the world needs to lower their carbon footprint. If we all try and conserve energy, food, and fossil fuels it will bring the carbon emissions down. If countries made laws to try and get rid of fossil fuels and change their energy supply it would also help greatly.

There are a number of ways we could decrease out total carbon footprint. Some ways include using less water in the shower, when brushing our teeth, and washing dishes. We could stop using cars so much and maybe bike to your destination as it is a great source of exercise.

Thinking big, I think it would be good to tackle the CO2 emission from vehicles. Vehicles are such a widely and frequently used tool to get around, everyday by billions of people in fact. But they are known for producing a lot of CO2 because they are fueled by gas. I think a good idea would be to start many campaigns all over the world that promote the use of fully electric cars, and other modes of transportation such as bikes. This would really cut down on peoples carbon footprint relating to transportation.

A way to help lower carbon footprints is to do everything you can to try to lower it. Every little detail you take to lower your carbon footprint is useful because eventually if everybody chips in a little it can lower our total carbon footprint drastically. Stuff like taking a shorter shower or not using the lights when there is light outside will lower your carbon emissions slightly, but will make a bigger impact later on. Different regions also can lower their carbon footprint in different areas. Some nations may have higher transportation footprint numbers, but a different nation may need to conserve around the home.

if we want to change the future of the Earth's climate, we have to start with little things like : spend less time under the shower, do some carpooling or even switch the lights off when nobody needs them. If everybody on the earth do simple little things like that, we can change things about our climate which is deteriorating.
This is a call to everybody on this planet, please change simple things like those wrote above, in your life so that we can fight against global warming and pollution together.
Tevainui Hamblin, French Polynesia.

I 100% agree, everyone needs to start thinking about the little things that can help our planet. Not everything we should do has to be so big or out of the way, there's smaller changes that everyone can change in their daily lives that start to add up and can help make a big impact on our planet. Little changes can be like shorter shower times, walking or riding a bike to closer locations, or reusing containers.

Agreed! Climate change is something that I feed most people ignore as a real problem, but it is and should be treated as such. If everyone took it upon themselves to change something small I believe it would make a huge impact.

Yes! My family and I do as much as we can little by little. From quick showers, to growing food or buying locally grown food. Recycling, and reusing. We starting a first compost and excited to see how this goes. Hopefully soon use only solar powered energy at home.

when I was 16-17yo, I used to go the high school riding my bike. Sometimes, the time I took to go to the high school was quicker than driving to school. It was due to road traffic. There are too much cars in our little island and I find it a shame because we live in a little "paradise" and it spoils our environment.

 « If we have the will to change this world, we can do it. We have to think big. »
We need action now! This can not be our new normal.

It could be a good idea to have every household regulated for the amount of water,trash, recycled items. Amount of things and no more then you should need to keep resources available and not as much waste.

I like what you are saying about regulating product control. There can be a study done to see how much water, food, electricity someone needs in their daily lives. It would all depend on how many people live in a household. But, it could really make a difference to waste management and water used.

The meat industry (especially in the United States) is causing serious damage to our planet. I understand that humans have been eating meat since the beginning however, maybe it's time for that to change. Our food industries have evolved past the need for meat as you can find plant-based proteins and vitamins fairly easy these days. You don't have to eat meat to survive. For this post, I want to disregard the ethics of eating meat and focus solely on its environmental impact.

     One of the issues with the meat industry is that it is economically driven. This creates importance on the economy over the well being and sustainability of our planet. The idea that money is more important than our planet is the idea in the CEO's head of the company that got your food to your plate. Of course, this isn't true in every case, but the ego of some drivies our planet to an unsolvable situation.

     To keep the animals we eat feed, it requires a massive amount of water and land. It would take much less land, water, and energy if we were to sustain ourselves from only plants. We need to find a way to sustain the growing population. Cattle's methane gas emissions contribute to 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Your lifetime of carpooling will not even make a significant "dent" in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the food industry. We do small actions to save the planet when we could reorganize our systems to sustain life on earth. After all, we are evolving...don't you think our policies should too?
Ryan Jones - Florida, U.S.A.

Sources:
https://agreenerworld.org/a-greener-wor … n8EALw_wcB

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/envi … nge/#close

We need to take actions about this big problem, and make people understand that our planet matters

Tenemos que tomar conciencia sobre los futuros daños que estamos generando por el consumo inconsciente, el cambio empieza con uno mismo, sacar lo bueno del avance de la tecnología. Tratar de reducir las emisiones de GEI  a la atmósfera y por tanto, la reducción del consumo energético. Para ello es posible  para los comercios implantar medidas eficaces, ya que estos son por los que mas se deteriora el mundo.

I believe that the time is drawing nearer and nearer when we as a world have to shift over to renewable energy. This switch is already happening right now with the development of more efficient and more cost-friendly infrastructure. But, for the most part, we are still reliant on coal and oil to power our homes. I think that one thing that we as a world can do to shift from fossil fuels to renewables is stop giving big oil and coal companies money through investing. BlackRock, one of the biggest financial institutions in the world recently announced that they would not longer be investing in coal. BlackRock has almost 160 billion dollars in assets, and so this decision will hugely impact the coal industry. I also think that one way that people can supplement their power is by installing solar panels on their roofs. Solar panels is a cost efficient way to pay less for power, and it also minimizes the amount of fossil fuels that are burned for power. I think that we as a world need to wake up to the crisis that is before our eyes and act. Our President resents the fact that climate change is real, but the fact is that without the financial support of the government, we will not be able to make the switch. So, therefore, even though we are already making big steps towards a clean energy powered world, we need to think bigger and use all the resources at our disposal to bring down fossil fuels and switch to a completely green and renewable energy system.
If you want to lear more check these out:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/clim … ecast.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/clim … nergy.html

I totally agree with this. The problem is that so much infrastructure is based in coal, and that people are so resistant to change. Even though much of the changes that need to happen to transition to renewables could be executed relatively seamlessly, many of the people in power at the moment are working tirelessly against it at the moment. You had mentioned President Trump, someone surrounded by people with a direct stake in the oil and coal business. This is an issue only exacerbated by intense lobbying from coal companies. Just under $125 million was spent by oil and gas companies in 2019 alone(1). Robert Murray is an example of this. He owns Murray Energy, and is a huge proponent of coal, ignoring its short and long term health risks and working with officials, such as President Trump, to keep the coal industry alive(2).

(1)https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lob … r=s&id=E01
(2)https://www.npr.org/2019/11/07/77576452 … e-for-coal

i'm some what iffy on how reliable renewables are, although i do think we should use it it should not be our main source of power if anything it should be a backup energy source. the reason that renewables like wind and solar are so unreliable is that there will not always be wind and it won't always be a sunny day. take germany for example there a lot of there power comes from renewables and because of this when there is no wind and its cloudy the power grid under performs and you can have a huge amount of your power generation under perform but in 2017 this happen and germany had to put up with mass blackouts the dailycaller said "Germany’s power grid almost collapsed in January due to poor performance from wind turbines and solar panels" the same goes with energy surpluses will go with germany as the example again. in 2016 germany had so much power that they had to start paying people to use more electricity germany also sells there energy to other countries when this happens. all in all I think that nuclear is better for generating power

sources
https://qz.com/680661/germany-had-so-mu … ectricity/
https://dailycaller.com/2017/02/28/germ … cooperate/

adding to OMuchmore's point, I think that not only is there so much infrastructure in place which helps the coal industry, there is comparatively so little infrastructure for the alternative, that is the renewable energy business. Coal has been around for so many years that it is so heavily engrained in our society today, and I think that is why it is so prevalent and hard to get around. This makes me think of Australia's coal business, which has been around almost since the white man came to the land, and they have been mining ever since. Australia doesn't want to get rid of the coal business, as it helps the economy so much and it makes so many jobs. Things like this make it very hard to get rid of coal and progress into other ways of clean, renewable energy.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr … mmon-sense

Among the issues discussed when talking about carbon emissions, I would argue that travel and commute has the largest effect. Part of this is that it is such a necessity, making it so hard to reduce. But something that surprised me more was air travel. It seems like it would have relatively low emissions, as it doesn't have starts and stops, isn't affected by traffic, and is like a mega carpool with tens, if not hundreds of people. However, in practice, emissions are extremely high in aviation. Air travel alone produced an estimated 900 million metric tons of CO2 in 2018, showing that the huge demand vastly outweighs the minor emissions cuts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/clim … sions.html

I also would argue that transportation is one of the leading factors in carbon emissions. As transportation has become such an essential part of our society, it is difficult to limit or reduce it. However, I speculate people have the ability to walk places way more than they are doing now. Walking place to place can become tiresome and annoying, for I admit that if I am given the option to either walk or take a car somewhere within walking distance, I would choose the car. This proves that our society has become conditioned to taking the easy way out, and it has cost us the health of our Earth. Not to mention, physical activity and being outside raises mental health and improves memory/cognitive abilities. Therefore, I encourage everyone, myself included, to make this difficult change and together we will be on the road to a healthier Earth and a happier body.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-spe … thy-2017-7

I agree that transportation plays a key role in carbon emissions. Transportation creates almost one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and the necessity of changing how we, as people on the earth, commute is obvious. Although it may seem irrelevant, one way we can reduce transportation and its daunting effect on the earth is through purchasing food and goods locally. Goods from local businesses are transported significantly fewer miles than goods from a big supermarket or corporation that flies and ships their products from all around the world. Stopping worldwide product shipments by buying locally can significantly reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emissions.

http://www.gogreen.org/blog/the-environ … ng-locally

I think that it's important for us to not only think big but also think strategically. What I mean by this is the way the world is right now, there is no way we can eliminate Climate Change overnight, so we need to start smaller scale and build up. Simply planting trees anywhere and everywhere we can or changing or diets and transportation methods make a big difference. At the same time, I also believe that we need to take action now before it's too late. For example, major factories create an immense amount of pollution and greenhouse gasses affecting our world today. In fact, a recent study from Nasa showed that because of China having to close down many of its factories (due to the Coronavirus) pollution emissions from China have dwindled. Now I'm not saying that all major factories should be shut down, because in our modern world that is not a realistic option. However, I do think that there are things we can do to change our factories and the way they run in order to create a better future for the world. Imagine if major factories created products using engines and technology that turned the carbon dioxide being emitted in clean oxygen that can flow throughout the surrounding areas. Perhaps this is not realistic, but the more we all come up with and share big ideas as well as find key problems that need to be solved, the closer we get to ensuring a brighter future.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/image … over-china (this is the Nasa article if your curious)

I think that it's important for us to not only think big but also think strategically. What I mean by this is the way the world is right now, there is no way we can eliminate Climate Change overnight, so we need to start smaller scale and build up. Simply planting trees anywhere and everywhere we can or changing or diets and transportation methods make a big difference. At the same time, I also believe that we need to take action now before it's too late. For example, major factories create an immense amount of pollution and greenhouse gasses affecting our world today. In fact, a recent study from Nasa showed that because of China having to close down many of its factories (due to the Coronavirus) pollution emissions from China have dwindled. Now I'm not saying that all major factories should be shut down, because in our modern world that is not a realistic option. However, I do think that there are things we can do to change our factories and the way they run in order to create a better future for the world. Imagine if major factories created products using engines and technology that turned the carbon dioxide being emitted in clean oxygen that can flow throughout the surrounding areas. Perhaps this is not realistic, but the more we all come up with and share big ideas as well as find key problems that need to be solved, the closer we get to ensuring a brighter future.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/image … over-china (this is the Nasa article if your curious)

Is it more accurate to talk about carbon emissions per person or the size of land?

At home, sometimes I leave things plugged in like leaving my phone and computer charged throughout the day even when it is all charged up 100%. Based on talking to my parents and family, I have learned that that is bad to do and just wastes energy creating a bigger carbon footprint and polluting the environment. I am going to try and unplug accessories when they get closed to all the way charged now so that I don't waste the environment.

The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has caused many to self-quarantine. Self quarantining is when an individual chooses to limit contact with others to avoid getting or spreading a virus such as the coronavirus. When someone self quarantines they will often stop using carbon-heavy modes of transportation because they aren't going anywhere. In addition, people staying home from work in factories may cause heavy polluting factories to shut down. All these factors combined lead to a large reduction in the global carbon footprint, showing a good side to the deadly coronavirus.
see https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- … rc404=true for more

To start off, I can easily say that there is definitely going to be a major reduction in global emissions from this virus because of transportation. At this time in the pandemic, fewer and fewer people are able to travel by plane which reduces global emissions a lot. Not only planes but also cars and public transportation because many people are trying the best to not come in contact with others. Businesses are getting shut down and schools all over the world are closing which reduces global emissions. Food waste is also a lot lower because fewer people want to eat out at restaurants at this time. According to the New York Times, 25% of food purchased out is wasted where when you make food at home you have the ability to choose how much food to make. When more and more people stay at home, it does mean there will be more greenhouse gasses emitted, which also impacts global emission. As this virus becomes more serious there are some ups and downs to how it is impacting our global emission.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/clim … print.html

How can we make traveling more environmentally friendly?

Carbon offset

by Traveling inside our own country or minimising the travels to 1 per year or 1 per 2 years.

I think if we travel with carpools and use bikes and walking over driving if we can, it would improve the environment. Everytime we as humans use cars that take gas, we pollute the environment. If we can walk and bike over driving, we keep the environment clean and healthy and improve the atmosphere. Also, if we can, carpooling with others saves gas and pollution because driving with one car is better that driving and polluting the environment with 2 or 3 or even more. According to WheelZine, Carpooling means more people in a single car, means less number of individual cars on the road; and what does that lead to? Less pollution! Less air pollution, less noise pollution, less carbon emission, less greenhouse gas emission." This means carpooling saves the environment. Walking, biking, and carpooling can all save the world and its environment.
Website: https://wheelzine.com/why-is-carpooling … nvironment

Cars and trucks account for a combined 70+% of carbon emissions produced by transportation. Most people driving are just commuting because they don't want to take the bus, mainly because they think it is slow and unsanitary. But, if people would stop driving their cars the roads would be more open for public transportation reducing the carbon footprint of transportation.

Our world is suffering, because of us, we were left to take care of it; instead, we're tearing it down little by little. our planet is going through a climate crisis and if we don't take action it will not end up well. But what can we do to efficiently prevent this crisis to keep getting worse

I agree, I think we can stop using products that hurt the environment and try to get into contact with world leaders and ask them to create laws against these harmful products.

You are totally right. We keep doing bad things to the earth for us, the short term. I a couple year who knows what our world will look like because of our selfishness. But, we can change. Day by day we have to clean the earth to get it back to what it once was!

Switching to more natural ways to power our things is a great way save the earth. Solar panels can be placed on top of our houses and will collect solar rays to create electricity. By using solar panels you will no longer need to receive electricity from coal. The method of collecting electricity from coal releases countless green house gases into the atmosphere slowly deteriorating it.

I agree 100 percent that we are destroying our own world. What we can do to save our earth is stop using plastics and start carpooling when we go places. When we use cars we let off toxins into the earth that day by day our earth is breaking down. We need to look to ourselves and see what we are doing and make changes.

I agree. There are many steps we can take to reduce how much waste we are producing and how to slow this climate crisis down. One step we can take is using less plastic and use other materials such as paper. Another step we could take is using solar panels because that is using natural resources to make our energy. Lastly, we can use energy efficient cars or transportation to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Slowly we can learn to change our ways to save the earth.  https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-you-ca … al-warming

I completely agree. A lot of our world’s problem is that not a lot of people are doing anything to even help preserve our earth. In order to help our planet, everyone has to do their part. It doesn’t have to be anything super big, it can be just being cautious of where you throw your trash away and put it in the correct bins. People could also bring reusable bags when grocery shopping and use reusable water bottles instead of getting a new plastic one everyday, then throwing it out. We can also carpool with people and this will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted into the air. Personally, some of the things I do is I always use a reusable water bottle, and my family and I use reusable shopping bags when we go grocery shopping. In order for our world to get better, everyone needs to start  doing their part. Here is a link to some more things everyone can do to help the environment: https://www.fastweb.com/student-life/ar … nvironment

A simple way for every household to reduce their carbon footprints is by unplugging all of your electronics when you are not using them. According to the US Department of Energy, 75% of the electricity used to power home appliances is consumed when they are turned off. Anytime a cord is plugged into a socket, it’s drawing energy – so although your device isn’t charging, you’re still contributing to your carbon footprint. Unplugging your electronics when you are not using them is a really simple way to reduce your carbon footprint.

The environmental impact from meat industry is huge. It contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degeneration and deforestation. Nowhere is this impact more apparent than climate change. Livestock farming contributes 18% of human produced greenhouse gas worldwide.

I agree with everything you said but it seems like the solution to this problem is complex. I also think that the meat industry is a big problem but it seems as though the best solution to solving it isn't by gutting the industry. From a UNU report on the meat industry, it looks like meat markets are set to grow, but that killing an industry has the negative effects on both job and economic loss but more directly anti-sentiment towards climate change solutions. The area of most growth and current consumption is China, so this also looks like a multinational problem. This seems like the type of thing that would require slow change to work, but unfortunately time is running out. It seems like the best solution might be to educate consumers and emphasize the importance of meat and the devastating risks, who would hopefully chose more environmentally sustainable diets.
https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/eating-less … ays-report

We need to stop using to much water ,recyclingour products and not wast food please do it
Do you agree with me respond

I agree with you

I believe that using so much water isnt as big of a problem as using so much plastic.

Thats true because water is our natural resource but we take other resources and make plastic out of it and it really harms the earth. Although water is also polluted we should focus on the awful factories and gas that goes to our air that we breathe every day

I agree with you especially that we need to stop wasting food because there are people in the world that do not get any food and we are here living our lives and throwing away one third of all the food we grow.

I agree with you, its very important to safe as much water as we can and stop throwing so much food away.

I agree with you because we never know what can happen, even though some people have enough water are a lot of people who don´t  and we really need to stop throwing so mush food away and try our best to find any solution to hunger.

What can we to be safe. what do you do to protect yourself?

Before we even start blaming specific country, company or person for causing the global warming, I think we should all start from ourselves. We can continue saying that everything needs to change in order to stop the harm on our planet, but how could everything change, if we don't? Step by step, we can still make it.

we can start with everyone taking care of themselves and start thinking about what we are doing wrong with our earth and what we can improve. for example, we might stop buying unnecessary products that will only last for a long time without touching us. maybe we could start by walking more and running less. so we could do a lot more, but first and foremost to think about each one what people are doing.

Global warming is probably everyone´s fault who have lived on this earth, we have all done something that is bad for our planet. But we can´t just keep blaming eachother, we have to take responsibility and do something. Like just try to walk more or riding a bike instead of driving everywhere. Try to cut most of animal products out of your diet like meat. there is so much we can do ourselves for our planet, so we must try. Think positive and start a new and a healthy life for our planet

Do you think there will be cured for Covid-19?

One way we can reduce carbon emissions is to donate more stuff like cloths instead of just throwing them away. And another thing we should do is turn off all the lights and water when were not using them

I agree with you.
We can also get used clothes when we need new ones. Because theres plenty of them in the world and we don't need to waste material for something that is already there.

I total agree that everyone needs to donate their clothes to reduce carbon emission. But, people also need to be aware of fast fashion, and to make sure you aren't buying fast fashion clothing stores. Fast fashion is inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by factories in response to the latest trends. Store such as forever 21 or any chain clothing store around the world are fast fashion stores. More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, which are derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill  it will not decay. Also, about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated. With new trends coming out everyday, clothes are being pumped out of factories, most are going to end up in the landfill. We waste all this clothing that we don't need, so next time you are buying for a chain clothing shop, ask yourself if you really need this piece of clothing.

Here an article from the The New York times that discusses how fast fashion is affecting our planet:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/book … lanet.html

After looking at how high my carbon total was, I thought that it was time to make some changes. I talk to both my parents and decided to go part-time vegan. Researchers at the University of Oxford say that taking meat and other dairy products out of your own diet could be the single best thing to do towards climate change. It also can reduce your Co2 emissions by 73%.

I was also thinking of starting a conversation with my peers about how heating and air conditioning contributes to our earths greenhouse gases. Not only is it expensive (it makes up two-thirds of an average citizens energy bills) but it also makes a total of 6,400 pounds per person. These studies make me want to give energy to my house by solar power.

A design of making better carbon come out of your chimney by installing a filtration inside your chimney with fans that blow the smoke into the filter cleaning the carbon that doesnt need to be in the air into better air that wont effect the carbon.

Do you think you have a larger amount of carbon footprints where you live?

theres more we could be doing to stop climate change even though it isnt as big of an issue in our area

Do you think our generation could be the one that is going to stop or at least slow down climate changes and global warming? I find it interesting how majority of my friends are aware of the problem of climate changes and pollution, but rarely anyone does something big to contribute in saving the planet. For example, the most common argument on "why do you still buy plastic" is "well, if only me and couple of others stops buying it, it will still be produced and someone else is goint to use it. I think that is the biggest problem, our belief that we as individuals can't do anything.

I feel like it will take years to solve the problem of global warming or not solve it at all;0

we have to realize that these changes, such as less plastic waste, less processed beef, and less fuel emissions, aren’t just for a few years until we “fix” climate change. THEY’RE PERMANENT SO WE CAN KEEP THE PLANET SAFE. thank you

Yes!, if we ride bikes more and use cars less, take showers not baths and use less sweet water on everything, we can help our world to recover from what WE did.

yeah we need to wake up and realize that we actually have to take action, otherwise we might not have a planet for the next generation...

Us teenagers have definitely contributed to the problem.  But it sucks because we are going to have to fix what past generations did to the environment and they aren’t going to do anything about it based on what they’ve done so far. So because they aren’t picking up their slack WE have to, and we have to now, and do everything we can to combat climate change!

Plastic is one of the biggest problems of pollution for our environment from land to the sea. Even with recycling and of people using other methods than using plastic, it still ends up in our lives and end up being used without us even realizing we’re using it. We tend to be so wasteful instead of thinking about reusing or switching to more environmentally friendly material better use. Just from using different alternative options would help the environment as well as one’s carbon footprint improve.
https://www.madesafe.org/reduce-reuse-r … -r-refuse/

thank you for sharing that link. it's really important to educate ourselves and others as much as possible, so sharing information helps.

I could probably take less flights a year and get more LEDs in my house

I could conserve more water and turn out the lights when not using them, and reuse materials.

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Spitting straight FIRE

I know that China produces the most, what about the least?

Drive less by doing this it will drastically decrease your carbon footprint. If you have the chance to to bike then i say go right ahead with there are over 65 million cyclists in the United States, a number that has risen dramatically over the past five years. Also by cities making locations within walking distance that also will decrease Co2 admissions. Public transportation any new bus routes are even turning to hybrids, solar power, and other eco-friendly alternatives. In the U.S., public transportation saves 37 million tons of carbon emissions every year.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-instan … 73ab57a383

I agree with this post because of most of the time people mostly use car than public transportation and cars cause Co2 more than public transportation. If we do what it said in the post maybe our earth will cause lesser greenhouse gases than before. Therefore it said that only in USA save 37 million carbon emissions per year but if everyone on the earth tries to save it maybe we will save carbon emission than this.

I agree with this but, how could a country who is less developed afford or invest on clean public transportation? Thailand for example has a bunch of public buses but most of them are old and dirty. I feel that this contributes to carbon emissions. I think what you are saying could apply to countries who are developed but I think it would be very hard for countries that are less developed because they may not be able to invest money on that.

I definitely agree that you have other options than driving your own car you should definitely go with the other options. Biking is a great way to reduce carbon footprint drastically. Although it's quite dangerous. They could definitely improve in bike lane systems to make it safer for riders. Also changing cars and buses to becoming hybrid or electric is definitely great. This will cut down the CO2 level by a lot and will have a positive effect on climate change. Are you currently a college student or an adult that is using a car or using more effecients way to go to your destination.

I agree with this. As many people uses their own car, CO2 emission will also increase, which causes air pollution. Therefore using a transportation or transportation the releases less CO2 such as bike, will help the society to make the air quality better.

A way we can reduce our carbon foot print is we eat less I say if you need 3000 calories a day i say eat 1000-500 less calories that way it reduces your carbon footprint. Another way to reduce your way carbon foot print through eating is eat less red meat it takes 11 times more water just to produce a hamburger and american eat about 8.5 ounces of red meat a day by eating less red meat we could save 5000 gallons of water that may not seem like a lot but if everyone in the world started tomorrow that would be a drastic change to the entire world carbon foot print.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-instan … 73ab57a383

It was a creative and interesting idea of reducing carbon footprint by reducing calories and the consumption of red meat. It sounds feasible and easy to follow for some people. However, there are many cultures that consume red meat on a daily basis. For example, Korea. Korea has a lot of side dishes that use red meat as the main ingredient and to change this culture that has been passed on for more than centuries, it will be more challenging. What are your solution and idea to reduce the carbon footprint for those who want to help the environment but is struggling due to personal reasons (such as culture or their health issues; anorexia.)

Carbon Footprint, an evaluation of the amount of carbon that an individual releases. The higher the carbon footprint the more resources used by the individual, and the more greenhouse gases they provide. In order to produce meat, not only do we kill animals which results in the population to majorly drop causing ecosystem changes. It also takes a lot of land to be able to produce that meat. We cut down an immense amount of trees, and large acres of land to keep those animals to make them healthy before turning them into food. Changes in the ecosystem and deforestation or clearcutting are major reasons for climate change because the cycle of redeeming the toxins in the air is disrupted. Producing meat causes not only a change in the population density of the animals but also climate change which affects all living things on Earth.

I agree with this comment. There are 7 ways to make our carbon footprint become lesser, and I think these all ways are all usefull. This comment mentioned that ' if you need 3000 calories a day I say eat 1000-500 fewer calories that way it reduces your carbon footprint.'  Although when my family or Japanese want my county to reduce our carbon footprint, we will just take a some medicine or healthy food. we don't quit eating as much as what US think.

There is an interesting article/podcast from NPR in which they imagine a possible future in which we have brought global warming to a halt. They talk about what such a future would look like and what steps we would have taken to get there. I found the article to be both informative and entertaining. What are your thoughts?

It's 2050 And This Is How We Stopped Climate Change

GMAPES, thanks for sharing this!

Plastic in the ocean is currently one of our biggest environmental issues. As a society we continue to come up with ways to solve this problem; majority of the solutions I've seen is large groups going out to clean the beaches. I have recently came across a video of a man who bundles the plastic he has found and made a livable island out of. He bundles the trash and puts pallets and sand on top for a foundation, to keep everything together he plants mangroves that grow around the floating island. This man is recycling plastic by using it as a foundation for his own living needs. With the rising ocean a recycled floating island seems like a very good solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv42E_0PnAs

The changes that can help halt or slow climate change have to go to the root of the bigger problem: over-polluting factories and corporations. While proposing consumer solutions like metal straws or reusable materials can be useful, placing stricter regulations on harmful companies will ultimately do more to combat climate change.

How much energy do you think we would save if we kept the insides of our houses, offices, schools, etc. closer to the temperature of the outside world. I live in Florida, where is regularly 90+ in Fahrenheit, so I am by no means advocating that we should abstain from AC. Rather I believe that if we were to make the concise of the energy that our schools use alone keeping everything 72 degrees in side. So a jump to lets say 75, isn't to extreme, people that stay inside wouldn't have to wear a jacket for their desk job during summer when they stay inside. It wouldn't be to much to ask out of people or a business, hopefully just enough to make a change.

My gov. recommends a change of 7-10 degrees for 8 hrs to save 10% on the bill. For the school,and government buildings, if we turn the AC off when not in use or business hours and bring the temperature 5 degrees closer during the day should help none the less.
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/thermostats

In my opinion I think we should build more cars and buses that are solar,wind or water powered. We should also stop making plastic and use renewable things like school lunch containers or water bottles. We should also stop building factories that is causing carbon emissions and climate change.

What we can do to help reduce our carbon footprint is by trying to go zero waste and being careful with wasteful packaging that is just going to be thrown away from protecting its product. Also by using reusable containers and kitchenware instead of plastic cups, foam plates , and other wasteful kitchenware products that get thrown away after one use.

We need to think big because that's how we make the world go forward.

I have a lot of big ideas but one idea that I have that can actually make a difference would be artificially  tree that suck up a lot of the carbon dioxide and reduce a lot of course we will have real trees but with this artificially trees they can take a lot of the carbon dioxide and reduce the pollution of the world.

I feel you can start reducing is by recycling.Since a lot of people don't recycle at all it gets in the ocean and it affects all the animals and plus the water.If a lot of people start recycling there would be more animals in the ocean or they won't be affected by all the plastic that goes in the ocean.

I am very interested in estimating carbon footprint of students in relation to their perceived psychosocial barriers and knowledge level on carbon footprint since I always believe that the youth can be a big help in reducing the world's carbon footprint, only if we just let them influence others through proper channels. Therefore I think that data of studies like I mention above (estimation of carbon footprint in relation to psychosocial barriers and knowledge level) can back up our claims in reducing the footprint. Who's with me?

There are numerous ways we can reduce our carbon footprint. There are really simple ones that I am sure some of us forget to do. These include turning off the lights when we are not using them, turning off the water when we do not need it, walking places instead of driving, taking shorter showers, and much much more. We can even sorta reduce our carbon footprint by educating others about these ways to decrease our footprint.

I agree strongly with this. The point about education is especially important. However, I would say that students are taught small things to save the environment, like turning off the lights or water. Students aren't taught the systemic problems in our society, which are the root causes of climate change, pollution, and others.

I agree with you, Bella. I think that educating a lot of kids in schools about easy and simple ways to reduce their carbon footprint will really help in the long run. People would start to get educated on these topics and would gradually start to increase the ways that they can reduce their footprint. Even though you can teach the kids these things some will still forget sometimes and will not do it. I am guilty of this. Sometimes I forget to turn off my lights or turning off the water.

Everyone sometimes wonders about aliens, and are we alone in the universe. Set's say we are alone. For now of course, because there might be planets similar to Earth that have just begun developing life ( but that is a discussion for another time). If we are the only sentient beings in the universe we have to start acting like it, take some responsibilities. we are the only ones that are aware of space and all it's wonders. but we are polluting it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't explore space on the contrary, I'm thrilled that we are even trying to understand space and how it works. but we have to be cautious. the junk we leave will be there forever ( or at least until that hypothetical species  on that hypothetical other Earth-like planet doesn't develop the technology to come to our system).

The cost of recycling has gone up a large amount since China, the country that most nations send their recycling to, has stopped accepting important garbage. There are few alternatives because recycled plastic is less pure and valuable than non-recycled plastic, making recycling hard to do and make profit. There are some ways that this issue can be solved, however. Both Germany and Sweden have very progressive policies around recycling. The German government sponsors and promotes policies that make packaging out of “bio-based materials”. Both Germany and Sweden have lots of education about the environment and recycling, another policy the United States can and should follow.

I have all was thought if I got to a position of political power I would push for a bill that slowly eliminated all cars that ran completely on gas pushing for all hybrids or electric cars. Another idea of mine was to make the construction of any new buildings have to be LEED certified or above hopefully pushing for the higher levels. I’m not sure how long this would take or what it would take; probably some commission but I hope to see this happen.

A way to help prevent the large increase in temperature over the years would be to use solar panels more. Solar panels are very efficient and would be a huge impact to save our planet. Solar energy is the light and heat that comes from the sun. This can be used in many different ways such as sunlight being converted into electricity, solar thermal technology where the heat from the sun is used to make hot water or steam. These are only a few ways out of thousands to help reduce carbon and these sources will bring us closer to saving our planet.

Yeah I totally agree with that, new kinds of environmental friendly energy sources are great for our planet! We should definitely generate more electricity from wind, sun, water and so on instead of burning coal (if there are still some). This would be great to keep the air clean and slow down the global warming effects.

An 2014 article by Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor of the New Scientist, describes the growing desire to utilize seaweed for various medical and energy related purposes, as well as using the gel collected from the seaweed to help protect organisms from disease and manage diabetes. However, there is concern about the sustainability concerning available ocean area, and whether seaweed should even be farmed in the ocean as opposed to in water areas on land farms.

There are lots of ways to reduce carbon footprint, it's very simple and everyone can do this. We can use less electricity, less plastic product. We can do recycle whenever possible. We we go out, we can try to use public transportation like train, metro, subway, bus, or bike. When we choose car, we can choose electric car such as Tesla. We should also turn off the heat, the air conditioner, and the water when we don't need them. However, there are lots of way we can reduce our carbon footprint.

If We could develop a catalytic converter type device for our public and personal vehicles that could suppress or even eliminate our carbon output it would drastically decrease our carbon footprint.
What are some other ideas to reduce our carbon footprint?

There are many things that we can do to reduce our carbon footprint. For starters, conserving energy is a key component. Changing out old incandescent lightbulbs to newer, more efficient lightbulbs would reduce their carbon output. Also, turning off your lights when you aren't using them helps preserve energy too. Another way to reduce our carbon footprint is by burning less fuels. This being said, electric cars that don't require gas are much better for the environment. If buying an electric car is unrealistic, carpooling reduces the amount of cars on the road, less fuel burning. Other modes of transportation like taking public transportation, biking, or even walking also lowers the carbon dioxide that is produced. Additionally, reduce the use of plastic is a huge help. The ban of plastic bags, styrofoam, and soon to be plastic straws in California has significantly lowered our carbon footprint. By having less plastic, it isn't being throw into the oceans, and fa ctories don't have to burn fossil fuels to make it. Recycling is also a great was to reduce the production of carbon dioxide. It allows up to reuse materials that have already been created.

There are so many ways to reduce our carbon emission, and most of them are really simple but we forget ( or atleast i do). Turning off the water when brushing your teeth is a simple way as well as turning off the lights when they are not in use. Also, walking to destinations that are in walking distance. I have grown so used to uber, lyft, and driving that I rarely walk anywhere.

It is not long until climate change becomes irreversible and this generation needs to solve the problem or deal with the consequences. A way to ensure that the problem is solved is to increase the number of classes that teach about green technology. At this point, we as a society are exposed to so much technology so if we can make green technology, saving the earth cool, it would bring some serious power to the fight against climate change. By teaching people about climate change it will teach them to not only reduce their carbon footprint but get them thinking about how to reduce other people's carbon footprint.
https://oceanleadership.org/effects-cli … ns-report/

I agree! Educating people about this is a great way to improve.

the changes we do can are big if we get out of our comfortable spaces and l know most of us don't like changes but you have to think that the world is our hands the kid now rule but if we don't change it hard so lets make a change

I agree. Some of us do not realize the potential and power that we have to fix/ change our world. I think that a lot of us are addicted to our digital devices that we do not completely realize what is actually happening around us.

Everyone can help make our planet a better place to live, but we have to start from ourselves first. Nowadays, we have machines who do everything for us (cooking, cleaning, washing…) and people are used to that. I'm not saying the machines are bad for us and can't help the environment because most of the products are made to save electricity or water. But I think we can all agree that we all have become slaves of technology.
Instead of spending your day on your laptop, phone or watching TV, go out and enjoy nature with your friends. There are a lot of beautiful places all over the world. Also, when you meet your friends, skip the Cafe and go to a playground or take a walk.
When you're done using the laprop, turn it off. When you dont need light, turn it off. Don't leave your TV on all the time, if you're not watching it, turn it off.
This is just some small things we can do for our planet and for ourselves, but it's a start.

I think that with the new discoveries in technology everyday, people can get lost in the screen to a point where they can't think of doing anything else but use their devices. I agree with you technology and machines have greatly benefited us, but with all this power comes responsibility. We need to decrease the time we spend on digital things and not abuse it.

To prevent the large increase in temperature over the years, one huge impact would be solar panels. The goal is to make the planet a solar based planet, from electric cars, to windmills and with over 50,000 forms of solar energy we could use, it would reduce carbon by a great amount. I also think there should be a tax on Carbon as well as making it more convenient for people to recycle as more of a motive and not a requirement.

I just wanted to say that based on what I know about climate change; one thing we NEED, if we are going to prevent our global temp. from rising 2 degrees Celsius is solar panels. With solar panels we would be able to slow down global warming without losing our tech. (Sorry for any miss spelling)

I think if we make a peace of legislation the help regulate greenhouse gasses, waist an pollution we would be able to see an end in the near future for climate change. this peace of legislation would tax carbon, make it desirable to recycle and use recycled products. and find a longterm solution of our waist. and with all of this it would make it easer for families to recycle and use green energy but also on a larger scale would see significant reductions. It would incept be similar to the green new deal it would cover more cause of pollutants.

I dont think we would be able to do this because some nations rely entirely on oil and forcing them to stop or force them to pay would not work.

I agree

[Image](//muut.com/u/footprint/s3/:footprint:keIE:image.jpg.jpg)

Save the environment. The whole world depends on you.  stop thinking you can't make a change because "how much can 1 human do?". 1 human can do A LOT of things and change the world for the better - just believe and do your best.

Nowadays, with our constant use of social media, I've been seeing many posts about climate change and political awareness. All of these are very inspiring, educational, relevant, and interesting to learn about, however, I feel like we need to do more. Posting on social media may spread the news about a horrible event that took place, but what do we do from there? We need to be taking our new knowledge out into the world and using it to make bigger changes. There are many ways that we may view as small, but they do make a difference. Signing a petition you see online that you support, voting in the elections (if of age), sending an email to a representative or even going to talk in person, and so much more. And I'm not saying that we should stop posting about these things on our stories, because like I said, I think they are important, but let's go the extra mile and take action!

Currently, the most popular sources of energy in the United States are gas and coal. Also, the United States emits the second most carbon dioxide of all nations in the world. These sources are not sustainable. More sustainable sources, such as water and wind energy are increasingly popular, but are not prominent enough to make a significant difference in carbon emissions in the US. Nuclear energy is much more efficient than gas and coal; although, stigma around the word "nuclear" has caused many plants in the US to close down. Which energy source do you believe the US should focus on increasing?

I think the the United States should focus on clean reliable energy sources such as   more clean nuclear energy or even more clean sources such as wind power. What do you think will happen to the energy production of the United States in the next  10 years and how do you feel we as a people will be affected?

What do you feel that the best alternative energy source to coal and gas is?

Yeah ,I agree with you .

I think not only the US, but the entire world should work on trying to use renewable/sustainable energy sources. This would greatly benefit the environment and our atmosphere if the world came together. Here is a website that explains what sustainable energy is, and some examples of it: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/ … energy.php

Yes, I agree with you. I think that the United States should spend more time and money on ways to reduce the amount of Co2 emissions and focus and preventing Climate change

What types of methods do you feel that that the government could take in reducing the about of plastic waste in the oceans and co2 emissions from energy producers such as coal and gas?

How do you think we can transition from coal to water and wind on a national scale? What would be the best way to make this viable in the future?

Even though we may not realize it we emit fossil fuels all day, every day. We emit more than we think when using technology, charging our devices, driving cars, cooking, etc. These big parts of our days, although it may seem difficult, can be altered and can save us years of good and healthy air to breath. If we implement things like public transportation and less screen time into our lives the world would be a much more suitable environment for all organisms. If everyone works together to try and make our atmosphere stronger, we may someday achieve a better state.

Public transportation is one of the best ways for reducing CO2 emissions. Whenever I'm needing to get somewhere, first I think if I am able to take an AC Transit bus, Bart, or even carpool with someone else. It's cheap and the best way to travel without increasing your carbon footprint. In order to improve this system, maybe the government can find a way to make it accessible in even more locations locally, and easier for those who do not have money with them to pay for it.

I agree and I try to take public transport as much as possible so I don't have to ask my parents just to drive me considering I'm not yet driving myself. When I will be driving by myself I will try to drive my friends when we're going somewhere so we don't have to go separate to the location but by one car.

I agree with you, Savannah, but is public transportation truly the best way to travel? According to mother nature network, a single bus from 2006 at 50% capacity (for passengers,) produces 892 grams per kilometer (g/pk) of CO2, opposed to 0 g/pk for cyclists. This means that even though you can reduce CO2 emissions through public transportation, the only way to truly make transportation emissions sustainable would be to walk or bike. According to totalwomenscycling, for every kilometer cycled by one person, only 33 grams of CO2 are released (accounting for maintenance and operation energy). This is a level of CO2 that is sustainable to the earth, and significantly better than public transportation. Additionally, biking is good for your body, so it benefits both the environment and your health. These reasons lead me to believe that biking, rather than public transportation, is the best method of transportation.

Sources:
https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportatio n/stories/12-reasons-to-start-using-a-bicycle-for-transportation

https://totalwomenscycling.com/news/hap … s-bicycles

I use public transportation all the time as well. But of course, it's not always the most effective way of getting around. Public transportation in the Bay Area goes most places but some places it's just more convenient to use a car. I think if we added more bart/AC transit routes it would decrease the CO2 emissions even more because it would be more accessible.

I agree with you. Use as more public transportation is a good way for reducing CO2 emissions, but maybe is not the best way of getting around. For use the public transportation in the Dublin and Oakland, it only effective of going few place but most places it's better to use car. As use car will increase CO2 footprint, we can choose take an carpool or bike if it's possible. If we added more bart routes will perfectly solve most of the problems and decrease the CO2 emissions.

I also agree with you. Public transportation is a great way to reduce a community's carbon footprint. I think that our community as well as communities  across the globe should invest in more sustainable infrastructure, and this starts with creating more convenient and efficient public transportation, like the intercontinental train system in Europe.

I agree as well, having city governments invest revenue to public transportation will only be beneficial. The more people take public transportation, the less CO2 is emitted from their individual cars. As cars are on of the biggest CO2 emitters, this leads to a better environment and better public health. I do agree that public transportation may not be the most efficeint way of getting around, but if time is a factor, one could take bart, bike, or even carpool to reduce the amount of CO2 in the environment. A new train system may be out of reach, but I think even something as small as an upgrade to bart would have a great impart on the Bay Area.

I think we should bike or use buses in a city instead of driving around. It would reduce traffic and CO2 pollution

Or we could put shops and things together so you don't need to DRIVE  600 MILES FOR A DARN SAUSAGE!
If shops and houses were closer to each other then less driving will occur and that means less co2 will be createdd

Public transport is a great idea and more people should consider using the city bus, carpool with other people or riding a bike. All these decrease CO2 emissions and would be better than always using a car.

This is one of the great things about schools supplying an Orca card, we don't need to get driven around everywhere separately when we can just hop on the bus free of charge.

I use public transportation a lot and we get fee fare by being students in the city public school system. I know there is also reduced fare for kids and seniors.

I agree and I personally take bus and Bart from my school to house. I live far away so when I take Bart and bus I lower my carbon footprint by not going by car. Also on average people save around  $9,738 a year by taking public transportation. For example, If the drive is 20-miles to and from your destination, the switch to public transportation can lower your carbon footprint by 4,800 pounds per year.

Public transportation is an optimal solution for the problem of increased carbon dioxide emissions. This solution may not be convenient for many who live in rural areas or are not able to easily access public transportation, the use of a car or other automobile may be unavoidable. If we really want to decrease carbon dioxide emissions we must strive to make public transportation easily accessible for all. Society today is reluctant to change what they are used to and if that change is a difficult one it will be even harder to implement in large quantities, we must establish a way so that most if not all of society looks at public transportation as a positive change.

In an article that talks about how carpooling can save the Earth https://www.conservationmagazine.org/20 … he-world/, it also talks about the impact of public transportation like taxis. Taxis are estimated to have on average about 400,000 trips per day. ABout half of those trips are with more than one passenger. This means that by sharing your taxi, you allow more about 200,000 cars are taken off the road. 200,000 cars can produce up to 2400000 because the average gas tank can hold about 12 gallons of gas.

Public transportation is a very good idea if someone wants to start limiting the amount of Carbon dioxide that they release into the atmosphere. Another way that we can stop using more CO2 is by carpooling. If we begin to carpool more people won't have to use cars as much thus limiting the amount of carbon dioxide we emit in our atmosphere.

I totally agree with you. I think that public transportation is great way to reduce CO2 emissions. I take the bus to and from school everyday. On the weekends whenever I travel somewhere I try to take like bart or ac transit or just carpool with friends. Using public transit is a simple way to lower your carbon footprint and its's very easy to implement.

Public transportation is a great way to control and reduce the CO2 we emit. taking the bus or the train every day with lots of other people on it saves us way more energy and fit air to breathe, rather than each person driving their own individual pollutant car. Making small changes to everyday life like this is what everyone needs to start doing if we really want our atmosphere to become healthy.

An idea I have for reducing community or maybe even global carbon footprints is going zero waste. Lauren Singer is an environmental activist who runs a blog named "Trash is for Tossers". I have been following her and reading her posts for a couple of years now and she has always been a huge inspiration for me to reduce my waste as much as possible. She is able to fit five years worth of trash in one mason jar which is just amazing to me. Of course, going zero waste does not happen overnight and it's not easy. You have to purchase the right usable items and necessities, find alternatives for food that are package free, or buy products that are recyclable or will not produce waste, etc... No one is perfect and not everyone can fit all of their trash into a mason jar simply because some necessities are not used without producing some form of waste. Although, I believe if everyone at else tried their best to go zero waste we would be living in a much more healthier environment that we will all benefit from. And there are some very easy ways to begin such shopping in bulk, br inging your own reusable cutlery while eating out at a place that uses plastic utensils, use a reusable bag while shopping, compost your food scraps, just to name a few. Going zero waste (or reducing your waste as much as possible) helps the environment so much and definitely reduces a large portion of your carbon footprint. (I encourage people to have a look at her blog and maybe rethink your lifestyle and try to reduce your waste as much as you can. Here's a link to her blog: http://trashisfortossers.com)

Solar panels are a smart solution to many environmental problems the world faces today. Rather than emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, solar panels produce clean and safe energy that does little to no damage to the atmosphere. As the Union of Concerned Scientists writes, solar panels can significantly lower a community's carbon footprint as well as make the community a healthier environment to live or work in.  What is even better is that according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's studies, by the year of 2050 the omission of carbon dioxide can potentially lower by 81% if we reuse 80% of electricity from sustainable sources such as solar panels. With this being said, given the fact that solar panels are a clean and safe form of renewable energy, by incorporating them into our homes, our community can be healthier and our carbon footprint may lower, limiting the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere one step at a time.

In the Ocean Pacific, there is an island of 3 million of tons of plastics, that is a big how the Iberian Peninsula. It is accumulating from 1980.
The turtles and others animals eat a lot of trash and than they die. We are the cause of their die, because we use and than throw the trash (most plastic), in places we should not. [Aa59fb166378734fdb46df769ae847ea_XL](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:haX8:aa59fb166378734fdb46df769ae847ea_xl.jpg.jpg)  [Pacific-Trash-Vortex-678x381](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:VgL7:pacifictrashvortex678x381.jpg.jpg)

This is such an important topic to draw attention to. These garbage patches are affecting our oceans and their inhabitants greatly. There is also a huge problem of garbage washing up on beaches as well. This is another huge problem that needs to be addressed.

I read an article on this once, it is a very prominent issue that must be addressed. The great pacific garbage patch is the size of Texas, which is an enormous state. There are people inventing robots to clean it up but that will not be enough to stop the cumulation of the garbage patch.

I agree with this statement and I feel that we should spread awareness because most don't realize that there is 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in oceans and that for every square mile of ocean anywhere on earth is polluted with plastic. This plastic pollution kills upwards of  1 million marine animals and birds each year. Even producing plastic is bad for our earth as about 6 kg of carbon dioxide is created during production and incineration of plastic.

The Green New Deal is a proposed program that would help address climate change and economic inequality. It would "upgrade our infrastructure, revitalize our energy system, retrofit our buildings, and restore our ecosystems." (https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/what-green-new-deal) It is a bold idea in order to stop financial inequality and climate change at the same time because they truly come hand in hand. It would offer more energy efficient homes, help communities withstand floods and hurricanes, give access to wind and solar power, replace lead pipes, clean waste sites, reduce air and water pollution from oil and gas, etc.

It can seem intimidating or scary to purchase solar panels but it should be viewed more as an investment. Solar panels lower your energy bill and increase your home value by nearly $17,000. Furthermore, you will eventually be able to make your money back from purchasing solar panels, as you will not have to spend (as much) money on electric utility. In addition, solar panels help prevent CO2 and other greenhouse gases from entering our atmosphere because solar panels are a source of renewable energy. Please consider investing in solar panels because not only you would benefit from it, so would the Earth.

I completely agree; I feel as though utilizing solar panels is an amazing solution to not only reducing one's carbon footprint, but also their personal electricity cost. Solar panels are one of very many renewable energy sources, therefore if we were to promote other sustainable solutions, energy sources, and/or practices, it can overall be beneficial to the earth as a whole.

Natalei Woltman, 14
North Carolina

I totally agree with you, Axel! I think there are a lot of big and bold things to help reducing personal, community, country and even global carbon footprints. One thing that I really believe in is solar panels. I have don't some calculations on my house alone and not only would that be helping my carbon footprint but also saving me 14,000 dollars over 20 years. That may not sound like a lot for 20 years but if you think about it, that's still 14,000 dollars! And if we're talking about saving money on a smaller scale, you would be saving 100 dollars a month… that sound pretty good to me. Solar energy creates clean, renewable power from the sun and benefits the environment in many different ways. Alternatives to fossil fuels reduce carbon footprint at home and abroad, reducing greenhouse gases around the globe and helping your carbon footprint all around. Solar is known to have a favorable impact on the environment for this reason because it is super easy with a great impact. There are so many ways to reduce your overall carbon footprint that are easy but solar is cost-ef fective, footprint effective, and more. A website that has really beneficial information on the Health & Environmental Benefits of Solar Energy: news.energysage.com/…/al-benefits-of-solar-energy

I completely agree with you. Using solar panels is great for reducing your carbon footprint (by a lot) as well as lowering your personal energy bill. Solar energy is one of the few renewable resources we have access to, so it would be stupid for us NOT to use solar panels. If people are worried about the cost it is for solar panels, the benefits much outweigh the price, and may even save you money in the future. Solar panels can severely decrease your energy bill and your CO2 consumption, so it is a great investment.

I agree with the investment in solar but I also believe that the government needs to take part in this. One way they can do this is through tax incentives for using solar and a carbon tax that will push people away from non sustainable energy sources to solar. I believe that this will have the most impact on solar energy.

I agree with the investment of solar panels. It seems like a lot of money and expensive, but it definitely is worth it for your energy bills and for the environment. Since much of the world's electricity is produced by fossil fuels, solar energy would help to reduce the amount of carbon emitted from such activities or functions. It also utilizes natural resources in the best way possible for the environment, while still being efficient for usage. As Energysage (https://news.energysage.com/health-envi … ar-energy/) describes, greenhouse gases in general are dramatically reduced with solar panels. With electronics becoming more and more common in the world, solar panels will definitely be the future in reducing greenhouse gases, while maintaining a solid energy source.

I think there are a lot of big and bold things to help reducing personal, community, country and even global carbon footprints. One thing that I really believe in is solar panels. I have don't some calculations on my house alone and not only would that be helping my carbon footprint but also saving me 14,000 dollars over 20 years. That may not sound like a lot for 20 years but if you think about it, that's still 14,000 dollars! And if we're talking about saving money on a smaller scale, you would be saving 100 dollars a month... that sound pretty good to me. Solar energy creates clean, renewable power from the sun and benefits the environment in many different ways. Alternatives to fossil fuels reduce carbon footprint at home and abroad, reducing greenhouse gases around the globe and helping your carbon footprint all around. Solar is known to have a favorable impact on the environment for this reason because it is super easy with a great impact. There are so many ways to reduce your overall carbon footprint that are easy but solar is cost-effective, footprint effective,  and more. A website that has really beneficial information on the Health & Environmental Benefits of Solar Energy: https://news.energysage.com/health-envi … ar-energy/

$11.5 billion dollars a year is spent picking up litter each year. The fact of the matter is, we have way to much trash being littered and going into our oceans, being consumed by birds or other animals. Trash debris is really effecting our environment.  A great example to show exactly how much trash we have is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as garbage island. This is an accumulation of trash in the ocean that is about 600,000 square miles long, that is two times the size of Texas. This was formed through all of the trash build up being pushed together from currents. Often times people throw their trash onto the ground or into the wrong bins. One way to fix that is to have multiple kinds of bins for trash and recycling. For example there could be three recycling bins, plastics, cardboard and paper. This would help keep everything organized and ensure it is being disposed of and reused properly.  As for trash, most people just throw everything and anything in the trash. It is a lot more difficult to separate our trash bins because most things end up in the sa me place. That is why I think that we should start creating products that are way more environmental friendly. For example compostable cups, plates, and utensils should be sold more regularly. As well as selling less plastic bottles of water at places where it isn't necessary and insist people use reusable ones. Restaurants should only give straws upon request. Finally, large companies that use a lot of useless plastics, such as soda companies, and online delivery services should think about using more environmental friendly materials or limit the amount of plastic they use. All of these solutions could help lower the amount of waste we produce each year and possibly save marine animal.

I just wanted to talk about this organisation that I discovered about a year ago and that I personally love.
Everything started from two guys that wanted to surf and, as they arrived at the beach, they found it full of junk. This made them think a lot and they started assuming people to puck up the trash from the ocean and from the beaches. How do they pay them? Well, we can buy a bracelet (that is totally from recycled materials, if I'm not wrong) and help them and it really isn't expensive.
Every month they also have partnerships with other associations, so there are different colours of the bracelets and now they're getting a little more known, so I just wanted to spread this amazing thing. You can also help cleaning up!
If someone is interested, here's their site: https://4ocean.com/

I agree with you. These organisations are very amazing!
I find very admirable people who start these activities without any profit but only because they care about our planet and who lives on it. It's important to sustain their cause with our help and I think that everybody can afford to give some money to them. This simple gesture can help nature and safeguard it!

I completely agree with you. It is an awesome way to get involved and help reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean. 4ocean is a United States company focused on removing plastic waste from the ocean and is funded by selling bracelets made from recycled materials. By purchasing a bracelet, you’ll remove a pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines while protecting the Great Barrier Reef and all the species it supports from ocean plastic and other threats. 4,248,777 pounds of trash have currently been removed by paid 4ocean employees.

All around the world, trash is littered on the ground and in the water. Many people just think about the affect on the land when it really also affects the water. Today, there are 5,250,000,000,000 pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Although we have known about the amount of trash in the ocean, only now are we seeing the consequences. Not only does it affect the marine life but it is also putting chemicals into the ocean that are killing things like birds.

I agree that this is a serious problem, Elliott.  What ideas do you have where we as individuals and communities could work to try to solve the problem?

I agree with you, marine animals have been greatly suffering so many years from the pollution in the ocean. According to http://oceancrusaders.org/plastic-crusa … tatistics/ 100,00 marine animals die per year, along with 1 million sea birds due to pollution. It is really devasting to know all the living things that I die because we are careless of our trash and cleaning up after ourselves. It is always good to be aware to pick up after ourselves because you never know where the trash can end up and if you see trash you should throw it away even if it's not yours.

I completely agree with this.  We as people spend waste way too many materials and resources on things that will eventually just end up back in the ocean.  One way we could stop our materials from going into the ocean is by using less of the harmful materials.  According to euronews.com, most littered objects are food wrappers and containers.  Maybe a good way to save our ocean is to waste less of these kinds of objects.

I completely agree with what you are saying. I feel like the topic of trash in the ocean is a topic that isn't discussed nearly enough especially with the severity and risk of it. I think people are a little intimidated and don't know what to do with all of the trash in the ocean, but I think we have to start taking more steps to start making dents in that huge number. As well as this, I think the public needs to be educated more about the effects of incorrectly disposing of their trash, such as just tossing it on the ground or in a body of water connected to the ocean.

I think a start would be to find some decomposable materials to make some of our most prominent packagings out of, like for instance an aluminum can or plastic substitute, and that could help prevent further pollution

I completely agree that this. Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis. Billions of pounds of plastic is floating on the surface and is being swept away by the current, creating a large mass, twice the size of Texas. Thousands of marine animals, die grisly deaths from eating and getting caught in the plastic. We can help reduce the amount of plastic is by using reusable water bottles and grocery bags.

There needs to be a widespread alternative way to create energy that does not involve burning fossil fuels. I think the way to do this is by making solar energy a  widespread energy source in factories. Also, we could apply solar energy to cars which would help stop the large amount of CO2 in the atmosphere because of vehicles. I also think that electric cars should become more widespread and affordable. This will also help with the amount of CO2 being let into the atmosphere.

I agree with this a lot. Solar energy is a relatively easy fix for main energy sources. I also really appreciate when I see buildings with solar panels as I know that they are extremely beneficial for the environment. I think a good way for the use of solar panels to be spread around the world is if big companies put panels on all of their stores/buildings. This could easily promote the use of solar energy and alternate energy sources.

I definitely agree, solar energy is a really great solution for the amount of carbon we emit, and switching the world to solar power could decrease carbon rates exponentially. I like the idea for factories to start doing this, large companies like Google, Apple, and Starbucks, have started to convert to solar energy. Not only will this help the environment, it costs less! In 2016, solar power became the cheapest energy source in the world, even passing up wind energy! This would be very beneficial in multiple ways, and would even help the economy of large companies! Solar energy is definitely the way to go.
https://news.energysage.com/solar-facto … facturing/

I also agree. Americans waste so much money and energy, but solar panels are a solution to this problem. Many people think that solar panels are expensive and a hassle to keep up. Although some of this is true, installing solar panels will eventually both save you money as energy. Why spend large amounts of money on your electricity bill when you could be cutting down on it and practically get most of your energy for free. Overall, Solar panels are an easy way to benefit both your world and your pocket.

I definitely agree with you Frances! Solar energy is so much better for the environment and if it's implemented more, the rate of  CO2 emissions will go down a lot. A lot of people worry about the cost of solar panels, but they have actually been found to be a lot cheaper in the long run than other energy sources. Many big companies today are switching over to be completely powered by solar energy. Not only is this saving these companies money and energy, but it is also promoting the use of solar energy.

Try using public transit more often, i know people dont want to because they dont want to stand outside waiting for a bus, or be late to events because they missed the bus. and from my perspective, its not that bad. it all takes planning and  organization. if you dont want to take the bus, at least carpool or drive less. the carbon footprint from transportation vehicles only is very high. so by putting down the keys and grabbing a bus pass will make a positive impact on this earth.

Yes! Public transit is great and an easy alternative solution to cars. Public transit is designed for people to get around the city so when people say that it's too far or too long to get to a certain destination, I think it's just an excuse.

yes

Yes, I totally agree. You can see public transportation in big cities like New York, but you rarely see public transportation in small cities or towns. However, I also think public transportation is changing from buses to more comfortable styles, such as Urbers and Lyfts.  Unlike buses, this allows you to ride with the people you chose and you don't have to make stops. If you feel unsafe in these types of transportation, you can always carpool with other friends and family to maximize efficiency.

I agree that people should use public transportation more. because if more people took public transportation there would be fewer cars on the road, which would lead to a smaller carbon footprint. According to the Federal Transit Administration, "Transportation accounts for 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. By moving more people with fewer vehicles, public transportation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions" The quote shows that with fewer cars on the road our carbon footprint would be less. This would benefit the environment by reducing our carbon footprint, which would slow down climate change.

Now hear me out, because this sounds very strange by the title alone. When the Industrial Revolution hit places such as England, America, and China, the general quality of life went up. One consequence to this was a sharp increase in carbon emissions because factories that were brought by the revolution ran on coal power as well as electricity. Ever since, industrialized countries have notably been producing much more carbon emissions than others. Granted, the Industrial Revolution was a step in a good direction however humanity may need to take a step back as well in order to help control our greenhouse gasses in order to find a long-term solution.

Sources:
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/10- … world.html
http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/en/CO2-emissions

One thing that I was thinking about recently is using solar power on electronics, mainly phones. You’ve probably used a calculator that has some tiny solar panels on it. These would be similar to those. There would be a few mini solar panels on a phone that could help charge it. Obviously, phones would still need to be charged using a cord, but the solar power would reduce the amount of time they would be charged with one. With solar power charging the phone more, less carbon dioxide would be put into the atmosphere. With over 2 billion people owning a phone, the drop in carbon dioxide being put into the atmosphere would be very significant.

I think this is a great idea! It is a great alternative but it may be very expensive and sadly, I don't think many people would be willing to spend extra for something like this. Maybe if people were more educated and willing to help reduce carbon footprints, this would be an option.

While this is a great idea, the energy output of just 1 strip of the solar powered calculators is 0.4-0.6v and to charge a phone requires at least 5 volts of running power. Even with 9 of these strips attached to your phone, like I said, there needs to be running power so get it to charge even a little bit. On the other hand, this little tech is cheap and easy to fit on ur case.

I really like your idea I think. its a really good idea. I think it will bring a new age to the technology phones have. I also think that will go great with the new galaxy s10 has where you can share power with other devices. it would create a better way to give power to other devices. and we could also have like solar power stands in the park where people can come to charge their phone. either way, I think it's very smart and I think you should go after this.

One of the biggest contributors to climate change is vehicles that run on fossil fuels. Luckily, there are many environmentally friendly alternatives to driving. For example, simply deciding to walk or bike to close by destinations is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint. Many people choose to drive to a place that they could easily walk to. By being more mindful of distances, you can decide whether or not it's really necessary to drive. If you need to get somewhere that's farther away, you could also take public transportation or carpool to help reduce CO2 emissions. Simply choosing a more environmentally friendly form of transportations can make a big difference.

This is definitely a topic that everyone is partially neglecting at the moment and that people can do more about. I personally think that people only drive where they can walk due to a matter of indolence and not wanting to work out. Not only can walking or biking to places possible reduce the Co2 emission in the atmosphere, but it can also provide a salubrious experience for one's well being. Carpool and public transportation are definitely more environmentally friendly as everyone is taking one vehicle instead of one hundred people taking a hundred vehicles.

Using environmentally friendly transportation is something that more people need to do. When some people hear about this, they think of expensive Tesla's and other expensive electric cars. But that definitely is not the only form of environmentally friendly form of transportation. There is public transit, biking, and of course walking just to name a few. Even carpooling is better than nothing. If people have the chance to use an environmentally friendly form of transportation they should take advantage of it!

I totally agree with this topic of transportation. People are now using cars to get everywhere, and are very dependent on them. Some places are far away and it is sometimes necessary to drive, but I agree that people need to use more public transportation so that we can reduce our carbon footprints. We have so many public transportations options, like buses, shuttles to school, and Bart that can take us to our destination. If we started to carpool and take more public transportation I agree that we can lower our carbon footprint levels.

He always things his head is clear

by eating meat we are devastating our planet. the agriculture and livestock industries contribute the most amount of co2 emissions to climate change. for every 1lb of beef it takes over 2000 gallons of water to produce. forest are being cut down to make room for the demand of meat in this world. if we stopped eating meat we could stop climate change from being an even bigger threat. so please, consider what's on your plate. it won't be easy so start slow to make a big impact.

There are some very good points hear. If everyone did stop eating meat our we could stop destroying land and killing our planet with the threat of climate change. That is in an ideal world though, it has to be kept in mind that people could have a lot of trouble with not eating meat because it has been eaten for generations and it would be a huge shock to the system. So if we set reasonable goals for not eating meat it would still strongly help the issue of climate change.

reducing our meat consumption is very important if we are going to take a stand against climate change. we should start by slowly changing our diets. this includes choosing a more sustainable meal when you go to a restaurant, buying organic and locally grown produce, and most importantly inspiring others to make a change. although meat may be tasty, the damage its doing to our world doesn't make it worth it.

always be with your head up

I was thinking that maybe we could lessen the use of fossil fuels by using public transports or not using a automobile to reach your destination more often. If everyone does this, this might have a huge impact on the environment and maybe lessen the amount of pollution that we already have on Earth.

I totally agree. In China, they banned 2.5 million cars for just two weeks and their IPM dropped from around 175 to just 17. Cars are a very large contributor to global warming.

Have you ever heard of fast fashion? Well fast fashion is like, when you want to buy a nice shirt at a shirt store, then you come back the next week and see a new shirt they have and you really want it, although your closets already a way too full for this one new shirt. So to buy the new shirt that you really want you throw two of your shirts in the garbage or you donate it, then next week you do the exact same thing, and then the cycle keeps going on and on for weeks. If you agree this is pretty wasteful. Tons and Tons of clothing that can be reused is being thrown in our landfills every year. Also some programs that say they reuse your old clothing only end up using 1/4 of the clothing that is given to them. It's just not as simple as you think to reuse fabric like that. Although I had a thought on a public transit bus one day looking at the seats people were sitting on, I thought about how inside those seats were stuffing like fluff, but what if we could take really old/bad clothing that can't be worn anymore and ripe the threads off one by one or at least into small  pieces of fabric and used that as stuffing for seats on buses. So some of the clothing from fast fashion can be donated than thrown away, you could donate them to a homeless shelter or a thrift shop, any way that someone else can wear the clothing that you don't want anymore. Then the clothing that can't be given away can go in pillows and and seat cushions instead of our landfills or even other countries landfills.

2 years ago I had a science teacher that did a presentation about Bea Johnson and her philosophy of zero waste.
Bea Johnson is the founder of the zero waste lifestyle movement and since 2008 with a lifestyle based on “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot” she began to reduce her family’s trash to a simply jar.
She has an interesting website where you can find information about her experience, her zero waste home, her book, talks and mostly important and curious where you can buy sustainable products. Take a look https://zerowastehome.com
She promotes reusable products for shopping (bottles, bags, containers, jars..), kitchen (washcloths, jars, scoops..), hygiene & beauty (powder brushes, hair brushes, spray bottles, menstrual cups..), housekeeping (spray bottles, dusters..), garden, office & school, clothing and so on.
She began her zero waste lifestyle from her home and I think that we can learn a lot about her experience.
I could not live a lifestyle like hers b ut I am trying to begin changing little things for example using reusable shopping bags, menstrual cups.. and if everyone could do the same, together we can make the difference.

thankyou for sharing this amazing example! I was just talking about spreading positive example thru social media in a post and I coudn't bring any real account as an example, because there aren't many big accounts with this values on instagram,  but now that you talked about Bea Johnson I'm happy to look her ideas and suggestions on how to reduce my carbon footprint (at least a little bit)

Yes, I also think the zero waste policy is very intriguing. I learned a lot of valuable information through Bea Johnson’s action.

I saw a video about this as well, I thought it was very interesting and something that would be amazing to explore further. I wish it was more realistic for more people

I think this is a good idea, but this might be hard for the average person to do. To help, I think we should pressure companies to make their packaging out of materials that can be recycled. Also, there should be more recycling bins in each neighborhood. This way fewer materials would be used and factories would produce fewer carbon emissions.

62% of greenhouse gas emissions come from developing countries. Personally, I think that a huge problem is that while emissions are actually starting to shrink in places like the US, France, and the UK, developing countries seem to be picking up more. China has long since surpassed the US as the world's largest polluter, and by a hefty margin of nearly 4 times what the US produces. 6 of the top 10 polluters are developing countries. I believe there's a reason for this. Developing countries, without investing in highly polluting industries, can't grow, as greener solutions to problems take much more capita. Furthermore, they lack the technology and education in the general population to grow. This is where the real work has to be done, in my opinion. We need to create economically viable ways to grow developing economies. As individuals, we can only do so much by changing the way we live, but a global, economically viable solution is the only way anyone can reduce emissions for the long term.

Hello everyone!  In economics class we started talking about GDP (gross domestic product) for some time. For those who do not know it, the GDP was created by the capitalist countries that wanted to show that they were better than the USSR and their economic system. Even today, it is still considered the best method of measuring well-being. However, many economists begin to think that it cannot measure real well-being. Stefano Zamagni, an Italian economist, also supports this statement. He proposes an example that underlines the incorrectness of this measure: if you cut down all the trees in a forest, the GDP would rise, but it would not be good for the environment.
So should we change the measuring instrument or keep it but with other instruments at its side?

This is a really great question. I think that we should keep GDP (in order to be able to compare our current economic situation with the past) but we should use other instruments as "corrections" of GDP. We should create a like a HDI (Human Development Index) for economy which would "calculate" the health of our  system in general, including our impact on the climate. We could do it with implementing other indicators such as (for example) Carbon Emissions, Percentage of waste that is recycled, number of green houses, quality of public transportation and so on..
This is not going to change everything but in the long terms could lead to a real change in how we consider economic growth and in what we consider (economically) valuable

Lilu0 is an association in my high school that want to reduce the climate footprint of the school by sensitization of the students about pollution and climate change. They also organize protests: for example, last year they remove the trash cans from the biology classrooms, so that the students are less encouraged to produce garbage.
In my opinion Lilu0 is a good organization but most of the students find it useless: it won’t make the difference. I think that everyone should do what he can to improve the conditions of our planet.
Bye! What is your opinion about it?

I think that lilu0 is a good idea, because is a opportunity to be a better school. But the members of this commission see only a small part of the problem. They think that recycle the trash is the biggest problem but for example the canteen sells sandwiches and macedonia packaged with plastic. I think they are focused on only an aspect, they have to see the problem in its entirety

Hello all users of this website!
According to an inquiry of “Global Survey of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability” consumers are increasingly "eco-responsible" and are willing to spend more on sustainable brands and green products. A “green economy” is an economic system whose main development factor is the reduction of environmental impact. This type of economy take into account all potential environmental damage and tries to compensate the biological impact it has on the environment. However, care must be taken not to confuse the “green economy”with “sustainable development”which is more of an economic principle based on industrial and productive development that respects the environment. The "green economy" also carries on the possibility of making profits while you are help the environment. “green economy” should be understood as an objective not alternative, but instrumental to the promotion of "sustainable development". The objective of this new economic system is to overcome the old economic model based on the exploitation of natural resources and  low attention to environmental impacts.
Thanks to the inquiry it seems that this new model is having success, also because it allows companies to find profits.
Do you believe in this new type of economic model? Do you buy products from companies that follow it?

All negative connotations aside, nuclear energy is the best green alternative for the future. It works rain or shine, beating solar, wind, and hydro power as it works 24/7. Its incredulously safe contrary to the status quo's belief. After all, all nuclear disasters were caused by human error and nature, not the reactor itself. It has not killed anyone directly either. And it releases barely any carbon dioxide into the air while they build it. Apart from that it does not release any greenhouse gas. Already it is the 2nd main energy source for the U.S. only topped by fossil fuels. It is also a renewable energy source. There are reactors out there that take the nuclear waste to reuse, again and again until it is a non-radioactive material. With all this in mind, nuclear energy does more good than harm and should be the energy source for the future.

Yeah, but is there any way to counter the downsides of nuclear energy? For example, wouldn’t it be dangerous to build one and how are we going to pay for many of the nuclear reactors?

Once again you have been infected with the negative ideology the status quo has established upon you. It is not dangerous. Hiroshima, Chernobyl, and 3-mile Island- The three worst disasters in nuclear history have had no direct deaths, nor has any other disaster. Each of these events only occurred because of human error and for Hiroshima, a tsunami. In each of these events, either protocol was not followed or safety precautions were neglected, and people fail to realize this. Even now 90% of Japan is powered by nuclear energy. Yes it has a high cost, but with that thinking, you are saying you would rather put money above lives. Climate change will kill us all if we do not stop it, and you are worried about money? How are you going to pay for any other energy source? And please expand on the downsides of nuclear energy.

Taxing polluters for how much carbon emissions they have can help the environment so many ways. This discourages these polluters to emit carbon into the atmosphere in fear of losing money. In my state, an initiative is being proposed for midterms that is supposed to do this and add onto our existing state laws and counteract the laws the Trump administration is trying to enforce so polluters aren't taxed. However, this also hurts taxpayers and the middle class and wouldn't really help the cause it is claiming to help. Please tell me what you think of this. The initiative is 1631 if you want to look more into it.

That is not exactly how carbon fees work. They set a limit, if a polluter goes over the limit, they will get charged. Almost all the time, it is not the middle class. So it's not hurting them. This system is designed to target big companies and corporations, the ones with factories and emit tons of emissions every year. This will mainly affect them. If you want another system, here in California we have what is called a Cap and Trade Program. But in the end, any initiative to lower emissions on a large scale is good no matter what.

I think people in big cities should ride the bus or subway to get to work/school because if everyone had their own vehicle there would be endless traffic. Sitting in a running vehicle is not good for the environment and it causes a lot of unneeded stress. Even carpooling would be a better option. And recycling is always a good way to make your carbon footprint smaller.
   People who live in rural areas can do their part too by recycling, composting, and growing their own food. I also think car companies should switch to hybrids because cars are a major part of the air pollution. People who switch to hybrid cars save money on gas and help save the earth.

Innovation is the key to achieving sustainable growth and helping to create a more just and environmentally friendly society!

population even more. Also riding a subway is faster and doesn't pollute the earth as much so i hope people don't use cars as much in cities i hope they use more subways.

Think Big

    Thinking big can be helpful. People think big on lots of stuff like windmills because if a windmill is not in the right spot the blades on it will not catch the wind and turn. Me personally, I’m going to cut back on tv and lights. I don't know what other people might do -but just think big on cutting back on energy useage. If we try to, we can stop climate change. Little by little we can and will win. But that’s only if smart and creative people start making creative things, big things, things like... well I don’t know i’m not much of a thinker.

Everyone can help make our planet a better place to live, but we have to start from ourselves first. Nowadays, we have machines who do everything for us (cooking, cleaning, washing...) and people are used to that. I'm not saying the machines are bad for us and can't help the environment because most of the products are made to save electricity or water. But I think we can all agree that we all have become slaves of technology.
While saving the planet, we can save ourselves too. Exposed to radiation, people have to cut down Internet, Videogames, etc.
Instead of spending your day on your laptop, phone or watching TV, go out and enjoy nature with your friends. There are a lot of beautiful places all over the world. Also, when you meet your friends, skip the Cafe and go to a playground or take a walk.
When you're done using the laprop, turn it off. When you dont need light, turn it off. Don't leave your TV on all the time, if you're not watching it, turn it off.
Th is is just some small things we can do for our planet and for ourselves, but it's a start.
Feel free to leave a comment

yes, connecting with nature is an important step, I agree!  Just that connection in our own communities can inspire us to seek sustainable solutions to climate change and other environmental challenges.

Nowadays people don't appreciate what they have and what Earth gives them. I think it should be in everyones interest to preserve our environment and everything what it offers to us.
In my opinion some of the solutions could be: planting more trees, not throwing litter outside the trash bins and not using plastic bags.
For example, everytime I go to the store I always bring my cotton bag and I always remind my friends not to litter.

Think Big

I live in the bay area where people commute to work from very far distances which is releasing a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the air. On my way to school every morning I see the cars going in the other direction stuck in traffic and most people are alone in their cars which is a big problem for the atmosphere. I believe that transportation is one of the biggest problems for the atmosphere around the world today. A way that we could prevent the amount of carbon dioxide being put into the air by cars is having people carpool to work and other places they are going. The state could make incentives for carpooling like not having to pay tolls on the road and things like that so more people will start carpooling. When people carpool it will reduce the amount of cars that are on the road by a large amount. If three people join a carpool only one car will be on the road compared to three cars.

I agree. There is already a small incentive with the faster carpool lanes on the highway but the no toll idea is good. One issue might be the method to make sure the lane is being used properly because people might try to go through with only one person but if that can be figured out it's a good fix.

I also agree. Our imagination is limitless so why no use that imagination to create big things. Here is a big idea, why not create a trash shoot to the sun. This could clear up so much and help with the pollution we are already dealing with. Also we can get the trash out of the ocean. This will very much help the life there.

I very much agree that transportation is a huge contributor to the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and like your ideas on improving the carpool system. However, I also believe that improving public transportation would have an even greater effect on reducing the emission of carbon from transportation. Although vehicles like buses and trains are better for the environment than cars, a lot of people don’t use them because they are less convenient or less accessible. However, I believe that if public transportation could reach a level where it was easy, efficient, and convenient for people to use, it would have an even greater impact on reducing the emission of carbon than carpool alone.

Most places in the world rely on mobile transportation to transport from place to place. I think the creation of transportation that runs off of energy from a solar panel ran vehicle will help the atmosphere from being less polluted. The usage of burning of fossil fuel of cars will be reduced with this solution. Vehicles are the main reason for global warming. Vehicles give off about 24 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas. Reducing the usage of oil is the real solution. So with a Eco-friendly satellite vehicles, we can solve this issues.

I agree, but these vehicles are unavailable now to most and there is no need to wait for them when we can reduce the worlds carbon footprint now. For example instead of going everywhere by car, we can take public transportation like trains and buses, or if you live out of the city you could walk or bike. By doing this there is no doubt we will lower the carbon footprint. If you must take a car, then try carpooling so that you let of the amount of CO2 for only one car instead of two. There are gas saver cars that are better for the eco system and can go far distances on less gas, and these can also move us in the right direction towards a smaller carbon footprint.

Sweden is a great example of a resourceful and sustainable country. One city in Sweden, Växjö is trying to become fossil-fuel free by 2030. They are reaching this goal by getting their electricity from trees. Other cities power buildings through body heat, and solar panels. Sweden is a good example of a sustainable country because of how they harness their resources. I believe that in the US, we should try to set goals for us to become more sustainable.

To reduce carbon footprints, farming and caring for your own gardens, so you do not have to drive to get food. Living close to the city or somewhere where you can walk/bike to get the things you need for everyday life will reduce carbon footprints. Always remember to turn off your lights, stove, etc. (anything that uses energy).

To reduce our carbon footprints we can use or install solar panels. These solar panels will take the sun's energy and convert it to electricity for our homes. Solar panels can cut the price of an original power bill. Wind turbine's are also a good way to create new electricity. We can plant our own food to reduce chemical additives that stores might use in our foods. Farming helps clean the air because plants use carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. Animals rely on plants to survive. Using cars causes a lot of pollution in the air so we can carpool, ride bikes, or walk to lower their effects. The pollution affects people, animals, and nature. Some ways to reduce our carbon footprint are simple like turning off the lights or water when not used. These things can really make a difference in the whole world.

I agree! Creating your own farming space can really make a difference in how our energy is used. Home grown food is always more healthy than store bought food. This is because of the use of pesticides, food coloring, and hormones. Carpooling is a great idea if you don't live close to a city. This is another way to conserve energy.

I agree, creating a garden at your own home can help so much. I also think that making everything close together can help lower peoples carbon levels. Another reason why I think a home garden could work is usually when you grow a garden the food being grown is healthy. Some good ideas I think that could reduce our carbon footprints is making an environmentally friendly airplane.

Even though these small actions seem small, if everyone turned off their lights, planted a vegetable garden, etc., it can have massive effects! According to theecoguide.com having a 10x10ft tomato garden can help to keep 27 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere. There are 413,775 people living in my city, Oakland, right now. If everyone had a tomato garden, we could save approximately 11,171,925lbs of CO2 per year!

http://theecoguide.org/whats-environmen … r-own-food

I think that Vaxjo has a very good idea of getting rid of fossil-fuel. If other cities followed in their footsteps, the world's carbon use would drop significantly.

I agree with you, we should find more efficient ways of living rather than hurting our environment. Other examples could be just walking rather than driving or carpooling with friends and family rather than taking separate cars. If we reduce the amount of driving it can make such a big impact. Carpooling is still driving but if you have to get somewhere that other people are going where you are, you should just carpool with them. Because you carpool, you are not polluting the environment as much. Little things like this can make a big impact.

After I calculated my carbon footprint I realized that one of my biggest problems was transportation. I am driven to school and half the way back everyday. There are about 8 months in a year so in all that is a lot of fossil fuels burned. And that is just me. There are many of other kids doing the same things as me and that is just students alone not including adults. Many cars emit massive amounts of pollution depending on what the car is powered on and the model and brand. Cars that run on electricity typically or are hybrids typically cost more which means less people can buy them. Therefore a plan could be for someone to develop a more affordable electric car so we can help fight global warming.

I agree. Larger families that take in more foods on a regular basis should limit the amount of store bought items and grow their own fresh garden foods. This could help reduce the carbon footprint.

I think that globally, if commuters were to use public transportation, bikes, electric, and to walk more often, pollution could decrease greatly. Cars emit harmful gasses and carbon, and if we were to decrease our use and necessity for them the world would be a lot healthier. Human health would increase, because more people would be walking and biking, and there would be far less car accidents. Also, the air would be healthier and the other plants and animals in different areas would have better environments.

I agree. Transportation is a huge part of our carbon footprint and finding any ways to reduce it would help. Carpooling and walking rather than driving are great ways to do this. I also think growing food at home would not only reduce the carbon footprint, but also help add more plants to the environment that have taken away by big cities. Growing food at home would lower transportation, by the person themselves and the people who transport food to the store if home gardens occurred on a massive scale. Also, home grown food would be very fresh.

I agree - so Anna: how do you think we can encourage more people to walk and bike?

how about if every new apartment building or condominium in our cities had to set aside space for vegetable gardens?

Jackson, what other ideas do you have?  How about a more efficient carpooling system?  or perhaps bike rides in which a bunch of students from the same neighborhood bike together to school and watch out for one another?

these are all great ideas!  what do you think cities can do to encourage more of these green ideas from taking root in our communities?

I agree with using reusable ways to reduce our carbon footprints. Most people don't realize that simply thinking before wasting can save so much for the environment Also using reusable energy like solar and wind are expensive but will save them more in the long run. Recently a lot of people are catching on to that also. As according to The Cost of Solar, 68% of Solar PV was installed in the last 2 1/2 years.

We need to take a stand and try to make amends to our planet.

I believe I can reduce my community's carbon footprint by changing the ways of transportation to get to school. Instead of using their own cars, people should carpool with others, bike/walk to school, or even use electric cars to get to school. Instead of buying foods from across the country, we could buy food grown near where we live to reduce the amount of gas used to transport food across the country. We should also save electricity by turning appliances and our water supply off when we are not using it

Factories have an extremely large carbon footprint on this earth. Many people who live by factories are prone to getting asthma. These factories release large amounts of greenhouse gases which pollute our atmosphere. I know that the EPA creates many regulations to prevent factories in the US from polluting our atmosphere too much, but that isn't enough. We need to make world-wide environmental regulations. Just the US can't make a difference; we all do.

I believe we should take some of the trash and waste in the ocean and make it into a useful space device. then we should send it into space as like a satellite or something.

This is a great idea and I agree whole heartedly.

We could use the other trash for different things that could help us now. It could be used to actually create objects that could lower CO2 emissions.

I also agree with these ways to reduce carbon footprints. Another way to reduce carbon footprints is to eat less meat in your meals. Animals like cows are the leading cause of gases like methane, a greenhouse gas that is roughly 30 times the severity of Carbon Dioxide. If we eat and request less meat, carbon footprints and methane levels should reduce dramatically, reducing the amount of global warming around the world. I am not suggesting hat we completely cut off meat in our diets, I am suggesting that you reduce your amounts each week. Even if 100 families take this action, it would definitely help our environmental crisis with rising sea levels, diminishing habitats for animals, rising heat levels, and the purity of the air we breathe. This is just one suggestion about how to reduce your carbon footprint.

I think that people have to recycle more in there house and  use more bicycles or walk more instead of using there cars.

I agree with your statement completly, and maybe people should sort their waste everywhere. Not just at home

Think Big-
      One big idea is reducing the amount people drive there could be a worldwide no car day where you can run, walk, bike,  and jog to any place you need to be without using a car so you don't leave a carbon footprint.

are u mark or paul?

How we can reduce carbon footprints:
Recycle as much as possible
Reduce the time spent taking showers
Walk or bike as much as possible
Invent the solar powered phone!
Compost your food to make good soil instead of throwing it away to go in the landfill
Buy things from thrift stores such as Goodwill
Buy locally grown food

Think Big   
One thing we can to help the environment is we don't have to use any harmful things and that will mess up the environment. We could use solar panels and be eco friendly. What really messed me up was my transportation. My family and I drive lots of miles per year and fly,a lot! I think as a family, we need to reduce the amount of miles and hours we drive a day. My family and I also need to reduce the amount of heater usage per month. Lots of other people do things like this to but don’t do anything to stop it.

Think Big   
One thing we can to help the environment is we don't have to use any harmful things and that will mess up the environment. We could use solar panels and be eco friendly. What really messed me up was my transportation. My family and I drive lots of miles per year and fly,a lot! I think as a family, we need to reduce the amount of miles and hours we drive a day. My family and I also need to reduce the amount of heater usage per month. Lots of other people do things like this to but don’t do anything to stop it.

You know you should become a scientist so that you could make it so we don't use any harmful things in are environment anymore. It would help a lot of people make the environment better.

I think that the world should start using solar and wind power more. This should reduce the number of greenhouse gases that are emitted by factories. I also think that we should use more reusable or biodegradable packaging. To make large companies want to package their food in these packages, we should make them less expensive by using common and abundant materials in the packaging.

I believe what you are saying and I agree with you. However, I do believe that it will take some time to phase fossil fuels out in place of renewable resources. The reason I say this is that it will cost large amounts of money to build these new plants, and the plants which use fossil fuels will have to lay off workers as they would be decommissioned, along with people from factories which produce non-renewable resources. I do however hope to see a future of renewable resources and less air pollution.

While I agree that we should use more solar, I think it's important to recognize the negative impacts of this sources. Solar energy requires solar panels. These panels are not only expensive to make, which makes them hard to access for many people, but can harm the environment. They contain toxic materials and leaks of these substances can be dangerous. Additionally, clearing land for their construction can cause deforestation, or could take farmland. If we were to look at the benefits and the negative impacts, I feel that the benefits would outweigh all negativities. However, it is still important to acknowledge these issues so we can work towards solving them to make solar panels even more beneficial.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/?pa … nvironment

One major change that can be made to reduce all carbon footprints for every single person, is carpooling. Not all students live close to school and not all students have parents that can drive them to school. Carpooling is a great way for those that are far away or close to school to reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are increasing due to humans releasing too much carbon dioxide and it is having a direct impact on the Ozone layer. Slowly the Ozone layer in the atmosphere will deplete away to nothing if humans do not slow down the greenhouse gas emissions they are putting into the air. For those who live in a city, BART can be a cheaper and more effective way for students to go to school or for adults to go to work. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is a public transportation train system that is much cheaper than driving a car and spending gas money. It is a great way to avoid traffic and is a great way to make sure one always gets to work on time. Overtime, the money that is saved by carpooling and us ing BART is grand. Not only will money be saved, one can also be reducing the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and saving the Ozone layer.

A big way to reduce your carbon footprint would be to unplug. Everything. Keeping things like phone or laptop chargers plugged in all hours of the day cause what is called vampire energy. This is where your devices still use energy even though they are not currently being used. This wastes a lot of energy, as well as money. This waste is something that could be causing a carbon footprint to be much larger than it should be. To prevent this, companies that use outlets to power their products should make it known that their products are using up way more energy than they should be.

There are so many ways to reduce peoples carbon footprints all around the world.  One way is that people could not use as much energy as they are using by turning of the lights after they're done with a room.  Another way to reduce footprints is to try to walk to places more instead of driving everywhere.

Alexa S, 15, NC, US

How do you suggest we do that? There are so many possible ideas to better the Earth. After all, the earth can live on fine without humans, but humans cannot live on with the Earth.

Good point

I agree, we could use save electricity and not eat as much as we usually do to reduce our carbon foot print

I think that climate change is one of the greatest threat that our civilization (humanity in general) has ever had to deal with. In my opinion, I think it is utopic to think that in the short terms we will change our society so much to make it green and completely sustainable. It’s not just switching to electric cars and solar panels (of course this is a step that we have to overcome) but it’s a much bigger problem. First of all we have to change our economic system which is too much based on development and -most of all- on economic growth. Every year our governments try to push for more jobs, more production, more growth, more of everything. This happens because all the things we buy everyday are not made for lasting long and this is a gigantic waste of resources. Same for all the packaging. (We can all start by ourselves trying to buy more durable objects and try to use less plastic packages but I think that only governments can really solve the problem on a global scale)
This has to change and it’s going to take some time maybe 10 or 20 or even 50 years and politicia ns are going to have a really important role. We’re going to need strong politicians who will not sell our planet to some big corporation and every country in the world has to cooperate to achieve this task so important to everyone but at the same time governments cannot lower too much the standard of living because it will certainly lead to clashes or even revolutions. It’s a very complex problem and there are more solutions that need to be discussed at an international level.

I agree.  Personal actions are important both in the effect they have on emissions as well as raising consciousness in individuals and communities about the scale of the challenges we face.  Hopefully this change in consciousness will translate to national and international political action.  Because politicians are unlikely to take bold steps directed at long term solutions unless voters demand that they do so.

I agree too, the climate change is a "hot topic" at the moment: everyone talks about it, worrys about it and tries to understand how bad the situation is and how they can help. Like you said, personal actions are important, if we don't start to reduce our polluting emissions ourselves, surely we can not pretend others to do it, or even pretend the governments will do it for us. But since the population is already showing a real active interest towards this topic, I think that now it's the moment for influential politicians to  promptly intervent on the matter and make it more relevant.
I don't understand why the president of the United States, Donald Trump, one of the most influential politician in the world, "takes it so easy" on the climate change topic! When he's joaking on twitter about the global warming, I know he's not saying that it doesn't exist, but anyway he's damaging the seriousness of the issue, making it almost a joke. A lot of his followers are probably not leading a sustainable lifestyle, and by reading that their president doesn't really worry about the  problem of global warming, why should they? I mean, everone has their own head, but important politicians have a big influence on the way we see some aspects.
Concluding, yes, we totally need a new generation of politicians that worry about climate change and sustainable lifestyles, because at the moment, only a few are really engaged in the fight against global warming.

You need to think big because if you don't you will never get to the place you want to be in. If you think small you have narrow-mindless attitude and then it is hard to have better carbon footprint. So you just need to think big to make space for improving yourself.

We need to change airplanes so that they waste less fuel

i agree but i dont know how we could use less fuel for this

start using natural energy like solar, wind, and hydro. Burning coal and using fossil fuels isnt doing the earth any good.

The next step up from a sustainable family is a sustainable city. In my future sustainable city, I would have free electric trains to transport people around the city. Instead of grocery stores, there would be community gardens and city farms to produce enough food for the city. This would eliminate a surplus of wasted food. To water the gardens and flush the toilets the city would use grey water. This would reduce the amount of water that needs to be purified. There are definitely more ways to make a city sustainable but small steps.

I like the way you think and I saw some interesting designs about sustainable citys by Arabian goverment which want to use public trains beneath the surface of the city wich runs on electricity. They wanted to create a big machines which would purify the water from the and they would use it to water the green surface in the city. Because the city would be in the desert where the temperature are high they wanted to build special arhitectural building which would provide some shadow on the street. Food supplies would be created by the people in the city and they wouldnt use money. The only reason why it is not so good is that it would be only for the rich sheiks that run the country

I love the ideas you had about using the resources we have like gray water instead of having to purify water just to make it dirty with our waste. Free city trains is a good idea because customers will not have to pay money just to get across town, however how would companies that run the trains make money? If there is no source of income wouldn't the train companies go bankrupt? The community gardens are a great idea because they not only limit the amount of food that is wasted, they also can lead to consumers appreciating the work that goes into make fresh fruits and vegetables because they will be picking the food themselves.

Your ideas for a sustainable city sound amazing. Another thing I could think of to make your city even better would be to make everything within walking distance to each other. If this were to occur, there would be less carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

I really like your idea of a sustainable city. This idea really allows people to drastically change their carbon footprint based on their daily activities. For example with the train system in this  idea it will save people so much gas and energy.

I like your idea of a sustainable city, but how are the free electric trains going to work? How are you gonna make it free? How will these trains operate and get fixed if there is no source of income for it's repairment?

My mom works for a lighting company, there they have one project called "smart city" where lighting in the whole city would be automated, an mostly use LED lights. it would lower the total carbon pollution a lot.

Where I live, and I'm sure in other places, the government has decided to reduce the amount of lanes on the road to make more bike pathways. I both agree and disagree with this idea. Making bike lanes to encourage drivers/more people to bike instead of driving is a creative and somewhat logical idea. However, what about during the winter? Not many people enjoy biking in the rain and cold. And especially during the winter more and more heaters are being used because of the lower temperatures. By reducing the amount of lanes for vehicles on the road to make more bike lanes, during the winter there's a possibility of traffic, which leads to idling, which leads to more and more fossil fuels being released into the atmosphere which does not benefit the environment but might actually make it worse. Aside all the negatives, if biking isn't the best way to get around, public transportation and carpooling could be another possibility. Carpooling could help by reducing the amount of cars on the road  releasing carbon and public transportation like buses also helps.

The use of to much transportation is a big problem in our society. This is because, every car, train, bus that is moving is polluting into the atmosphere. I mean we have carpool lanes for a reason! If we can decrease the amount of vehicles on the road as possible, by carpooling, taking the city bus etc the less pollution we would be releasing. And less traffic on the road.  There are also other ways to get places. Like riding a bike, walking things like that.

I take a car everyday to and from school, I use that bus sometimes but not very often, I also use that us a car for to and from sports, i us that car a lot and I need to, I wish I could us it less but at this point in my life I have to use it this much.

I think they need the road space but also we need bike lanes so how about we just keep the roads and add bike lanes

the problem is, there isn't always enough space for both of them, that is why they have been converting them

I think we all need to start recycling way more and watch how much energy we are using in our homes. Cars and transportation is a big issue in Carbon footprints so I also think it wouldn't hurt us to start walking or riding a bike to work/school etc.

i agree because it is going to be better after all and plus it doesn't use so much.

i also agree, but i think we should start to compost as much as possible as well as recycle, because recycling isn't going to solve our only problem, if we can also compost it can also bring down the amount of energy used by garbage companies

I agree, it's important to recycle and compost - it makes a big difference when a lot of people do it.

Recycling and composting is important. It's also important to use up the food you buy because people waste way too much.

I %100 agree, its super important to recycle and compost. We can also reuse recycled things. Its important to make sure to grab what you eat and eat everything on your plate because not everyone internationally can afford food. So appreciate what you have.

I agree. These small things really add up and help a lot. If we all try to do what we can then we can make an impact.

We do have many ways to save energy, but the reason that we have not converted to these efficient processes is mainly because of the price.  Solar panels are a great way to conserve energy, however, they are very expensive and cannot be used all of the time.  As technology advances, we should put a lot of focus on making solar panels with cheaper materials so they can be less pricey.

I agree that one of the main reasons that we have not converted to more efficient energy processes is because they cost more than some of the energy resources that we currently use the most. Both solar panels other inexhaustible energy sources such as wind turbines are good ways to conserve energy, but they cost too much to be built. If we could find good ways to make solar panels and wind turbines for less money, then we could conserve more energy.

I agree that the reason people choose to not conserve energy due to price, but with people who can't afford the solar panels, how can we make up for that increase of energy being created? How can people who don't have enough money for solar panels still continue to save energy? I think that what we can do is do research on solar panels and find a way to use less pricey materials. Also I think people can be mindful of the amount of energy being used, from lightbulbs and gas heater, and I think just spreading the word can probably lessen the amount of energy more.

I agree that price is a major factor when deciding to get solar panels. Unfortunately, according to "TIME" tariffs have been imposed on 30%  on all solar equipment abroad. This means that solar equipment will be much harder to acquire in low-income areas, which usually don't produce as much Carbon Dioxide as big cities. The areas we need to focus on are heavily populated cities. In order for solar panels to be installed in structures, there could be a law stating that 20% of the cost to make the commercial building should go into making the building energy efficient, whether that be through solar panels or LED lights. This would cut down on Carbon Dioxide omissions and benefit our environment.

In fact in some states renewable energy sources are actually cheaper than coal, fossil fuels or gas

The switch to renewable energy sources is very important so it should be more affordable. Fossil fuels can't be used forever and will continue polluting the environment until we switch or it runs out.

I agree that one of the main reasons that we have not converted to more efficient energy processes is because they cost more than some of the energy resources that we currently use the most. Both solar panels other inexhaustible energy sources such as wind turbines are good ways to conserve energy, but they cost too much to be built. If we could find good ways to make solar panels and wind turbines for less money, then we could conserve more energy.

If we can make solar panels cheaper it gives everyone a chance to be more energy efficient and a better world to live in.

There are so many ways we can help decrease our carbon footprint and the amount of CO2 we release into the air. We are able to do this by not leaving on lights or carpooling with other people. Both of these options will help decrease the amount of CO2 in the air limiting our carbon footprint.

Sydney, I agree with you. People use electricity too much and they don't think how harmful overuse of electricity actually is. Overuse of electricity harms our planet. We should save electricity as much as possible and use it when we really need it. Also, public transport is one of the most effective causes why our carbon footprint is high. Cars, buses, airplanes, trains produce carbon dioxide which causes greenhouse effect in Earth's atmosphere. Cycling or taking a walk is more acceptable type of transportation and it is also healthier. People must change their everyday routine and lifestyle if we want to avoid ecological disasters and climate change.

I agree with you at some point, but I do not think this would be enough to stop global warming so there should be more. But that's a good start.

I agree with you! Public transportation is a key to keep big cities green and sustainable. In most big cities there are lots of public transportation like in San Fransico we have Bart and bus along with New York there is the subway and bus'.  Do you think taxies would be sustainable for big cities or would uber/lyft be better?

I agree with the ways to reduce the carbon footprint. Carpooling with other people is an easy way to reduce the footprint a lot.

I think that we should bike or take a bus in the city instead of driving. It would reduce traffic and CO2 pollution

What if we could find a way to get energy from cars driving over the road and transfer that energy into energy cars can use

ya, but the roads will make the cars have a harder time moving over them creating more carbon.

I think society needs to really start shopping more locally as according to a study by the EU (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/e … 4/IPOL_STU(2015)569964_EN.pdf ), shipping could account for an astounding 17% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050! This would be huge, and a serious problem, which is easily fixed if we just bought more locally.

I agree with you because shipping our food is so expensive and it puts poorer countries in charge of our food and it can be less healthy because large companies can put chemicals in our food that we don"t know about. If a local farmer sells you food you can get the healthiest because when he sells to you need to be happy with the food for him to have more customers.

I agree because it can also support smaller businesses and can help the local economy.

global warming causes the ice caps to melt and when they melt water levels rise and could cause us to continuously flood

An idea that I have thought much about to help reduce everyone's carbon footprint is enforce much more strongly to not waste certain things like water and gas. People constantly are wasting water by leaving it running or owning a leaking faucet, by really focusing on fixing the little things it will improve the much bigger picture.

One of the main cause of the rise of greenhouse gases is those carbon released by the fossil fuel's factories. (Evidence from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/factories- … 78744.html)Those fossil fuel factories, like oil factories, coal factories, have contributed to the increase of carbon footprints. So if the state initials more restriction of the standard amount of pollution released by factories, the situation will be much better. They could convince the factories to work more on the renewable resources to produce the energy required and profits. So the rise of carbon footprints and global warming could be restrained more.

I agree with you on this. If there are more restrictions on fossil fuel then there will be less pollution harming our planet. We can use cleaner alternatives like wind or solar power to create our energy. This is a good step to take to reduce our carbon footprints.

Food waste have many economic and environmental effects. For economic, it's a water of money and increase consumers' expense. Additionally, food loss and waster inflict a host of environmental effects. It released  unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and it's a type of inefficiently used water and land. We can try to eat as more food as more for reduce the food water, water sorting also can be very good way for the reduce waste and the bad influence of the environment.

For many students lived not that close to school, carpool and bart can be a good way for reduce carbon dioxide  concentrations. Bart is always cheaper and more effective, it can perfectly avoid traffic and always be on time. Carpool or public transportation can help people headed in the same direction can travel together and save money by splitting the cost of gas, tolls and parking.

According to the Federal Transit Association "transportation accounts for 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States"-https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations … ansit-role. With public transportation, we're able to move more people while using fewer carbon emissions. What could be a better alternative than using public transportation to reduce Carbon emissions? Next time you need to go somewhere think about whether its necessary to use uber or have someone drive you.

I agree with your post. Public transportation is good to use because we can fit a lot more people into one form of transportation rather than many cars. Many people tend to go for the quicker options such as uber, lift and their own cars which is understandable but is not helping our atmosphere. The fewer cars on the road the better. A few alternative ways to help the atmosphere could be taking uber pools which allow multiple people to carpool in one uber to either the same location or locations in the same area (https://www.uber.com/blog/5-benefits-of … -uberpool/) or riding bikes and walking to closer locations. If we use these alternatives we could reduce our carbon footprint, stay active and interact with more people.

Great idea. The use of public transport can definitely help the environment. The more people that use public transport are helping cut down their CO2 footprint. Another way people can help the environment through transportation is bike riding. The more people who ride their bikes to work or to school can help reduce the amount of CO2 in the world.

I agree with your post because people can get an uber or lyft to destinations which save lots of carbon emissions. People can also use transportation like taxi and bus to get to your destination with little carbon emissions. People can also bike or walk to work if they are close to there job which can save time by not waiting at lights also no carbon emissions used. This is a great idea.

How can a high school student make an influence? We believe change only happens if it is spread across the world. Yet, what we have to realize is what we do no matter how little or monumental, makes a difference. I don't want to sound too cliché, but it is amazing how so many mini actions can grow into a mountain of change. In the 8th grade, I was the ecology commissioner at my school. (However, I originally wanted to be president.) Life doesn't give hand you opportunities, you take them. As ecology commissioner, I aimed to promote and use this position to teach the younger kids how to take care of earth. I widen their view of not just recycling, but also environmental landmarks and animals as well. I knew since my audience was younger kids they wouldn't remember everything. Yet, I knew that the lower-classman would have a better understanding of the world around them. That experience also made me a better steward of the earth. To conclude, you don't have to be a top-notch environmental scientist or biologist who just figure out how to eliminate fuels for cars. (But you  can if you want) You can be a conscious protector of the earth who will educate and do their best in saving the earth. The earth is our home, and we all have the ability to help our beautiful land live on for generations.

The world has a limited supply of non renewable resources (for example oil), we cannot create it, and we cannot replace it. So once its used up, we're going have to move onto a new resource to power energy to earth, which make this unsustainable. But, if we use the sun's energy or wind energy, we can infer these cycles will continue, the sun will continue to shine and the wind will always be there etc. These are sustainable resources, so if we develop technologies that can use these forms of energy, eg. a solar powered car, then we are practicing a sustainable future.

I think that you have summed it up perfectly. Transportation is a leading contributor to the totals of many countries with the highest overall carbon footprints in the world. Our current forms of transportation use large amounts of energy to get us from place to place, especially over long distances. I always thought that if you could attach a small wind turbine to a moving car, you would be able to “recycle” the byproduct of some of that energy use. I know that others have suggested roads made of a durable material functioning like a solar panel in order to take advantage of all the space our society devotes to driving. I think that innovation in this aspect of our carbon footprint is essential in reducing our carbon emissions, but that safety concerns and government regulations often make this difficult or impossible. For example, an ultralight vehicle designed for efficiency may not be allowed on the roads - golf carts are not where I live. I believe that in the interest of the planet, some of this red tape could stand to be cut.

Renewable resources are connected with sustainable development because without renewable resources that we can always depend on we are not sustainable. At this point and time the world right now is not sustainable because we depend on fossil fuels to fuel our cars, electricity, buildings, and etc. What we can do to change that and make our world better is use renewable resources such as wind power, hydro power, solar power, and geothermal power. Morgan I agree with what you were saying about the world having to incorporate renewable resources into our everyday technology instead of using non renewable resources for our technology. If we do not start incorporating renewable resources into our technology soon our world will be in big trouble and may cease to exist and we need to preserve our earth not only for us, the animals, and plants, but our posterity, the animals posterity, and the plants posterity because they need a world to live in too.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/?pa … wable_home

Public transportation already helps reduce CO2 emissions but why not take it to the next level. Gas emits lots of CO2 but electricity, on the other hand, doesn't.  If we were to create electric AC transit busses then our CO2 footprint would decrease even more. There are of course downsides to this, like the cost and how long the bus would be able to last before it needs to be recharged. But with the ever-changing technology, I think we can find a way to make this happen.

I agree, public transportation most definitely helps reduce CO2 emissions but we could make our planet even cleaner by switching to electric transportation

I know that if everybody does their part that we can not have a large bad impact on our environment, but how much of that will likely happen? Lots of people don't accept the science or are unwilling to do much.

Right now, I think it would be plausible to be aware of how much carbon we produce/use and attempt to reduce it. For instance, we could use bikes or public transportation, conserve electricity, etc. (This is just a personal way to do it, though.)

The thing is even if we do stop producing carbon completely we still are left with all this carbon in the atmosphere which is still impacting our environment.

coconuts are a need because it can produce lots of milk to keep you healthy

Yes Jack!!

propane

propane is a type of fule that we use to power up the lights

I think that engineers should develop electric cars that not only can be powered through electricity, but can also be powered by the sun. These cars would definitely reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the air. My family used to have an electric car, but although it was environmentally friendly, we could not drive very far in it because it could only hold so much electricity. This disadvantage often leads people to owning and driving regular gas fueled cars. Solar powered cars would be able to travel as far as they could. During the day time, the car would run off of the sun in the sky. At night, the car could use saved up energy from the day to drive. These cars could help resolve the problem of CO2 car emissions.

I believe that your idea is something that can lead to a drop in the amount of CO2. Electric cars are great and my family happens to have two of them. I believe that electric cars are the best way to go as of right now because they do not release the CO2 that we are trying so hard to lower. The idea of having solar-powered electric cars could work because in the day they could run off of the sun and during the night they would be able to run off electricity. I feel that this idea of yours could be a great success one day to lower CO2. A regular car that runs on gasoline releases 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. If people would begin using electric cars it would be a huge change.

While electric cars are a good solution to _cars_ producing CO2, they still produce CO2 indirectly. This is because (unless your house is off the grid and completely energy self-sufficient) the energy to charge your electric car still needs to come from a power plant, which if that power plant is burning coal, could be worse for the environment. Additionally, the manufacturing processes to make the massive batteries required for electric cars to go long distances are very toxic (1). Ultimately though, electric cars are better for the environment (2), in part because some power used to charge an electric cars comes from wind turbines or solar farms or nuclear power plants, all of which produce far less CO2 than burning gasoline does.

Links

1: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable … -batteries

2: https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/fi … df#page=13

I just did the math for how much CO2 an electric car (in this case a Nissan leaf) produces in a year in California (based on how much CO2 the California grid produces based on KWh), and it is around 1827 pounds of CO2 in a year, or just under one ton. I first found that California produces 525 pounds of CO2 per MWh (1), divided by 1000 to get .525 pounds of CO2 per KWh. I then found that the average car drives 12,000 miles in a year (2), and that a Nissan leaf uses 29 KWh per 100 miles (3), or .29 KWh per mile, multiplied the number of miles a car drives in a year by how much power each mile costs to get 3480 KWh of power for a Nissan leaf to drive in a year, then multiplied the amount of CO2 produced by the grid per KWh by the amount of  KWh a Leaf uses in one year to get the result of just under one ton of CO2 in a year.
So, in conclusion, electric cars are more than four times better for the environment than gasoline cars (at least based on Nissan Leafs in California in 2016 not taking into account manufacturing costs).

Links

1: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state /california/

2: https://www.immihelp.com/newcomer/used- … -tips.html

3: https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/th … c-car.html

One often overlooked idea for a renewable energy source is fusion. Fusion could, in theory, provide almost unlimited energy without carbon emissions and, unlike fission reactors, little radioactive waste. Over the past decade fusion has advanced by leaps and bounds, and two up-coming projects are ITER, or the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, and the Wendelstein 7-X are the paragons of those advancements. ITER, under construction in Cadarache, France, is the result of a collaboration of 35 nations (2) and plans to first fuse its deuterium and tritium fuel mix around 2025 (2). Commercial fusion is still many decades away, as all currently operating reactors consume more energy than they release, and all are prohibitively expensive (3). The ITER however, would be an ideal research platform to study more efficient fusion processes and nuclear reactions. The Wendelstein 7-X, or W7X, is a reactor that finished construction in 2014 and is the largest stellarator in the world (4). Stellarators are one of the most promising ideas in the field of nuclear fusion, a s they can sustain fusion for a projected time of 30 minutes (5). For comparison, the longest plasma fusion record was 6 minutes and 30 seconds (4). This means that stellarators could have huge potential as commercial power sources. But fusion has its downsides. Tritium, a primary fuel of current fusion reactors, is in short supply. ITER will ultimately need one kilogram of tritium annually, and the total amount of tritium in the world right now is... 25 kilograms (3). This is obviously not sustainable. You might be thinking, 'well, why not just use a 100% deuterium fuel, deuterium occurs natural in most water sources and is relatively easy to extract' and the reason this is rarely used is that the fusion of deuterium produces 1/100 of the amount of energy tritium does (3). This is not necessarily a roadblock though, as one of the goals of ITER is to create tritium inside of the tokamak by the bombardment of deuterium (2). Another problem for the ITER and W7X is that they were incredibly expensive to create, so there won't be any large-scale adoption of their designs any time soon. Other companies however, are setting their sights on smaller fusion reactors, such as Lockheed Martin's Compact Fusion Reactor project (1). This, in my mind, is a great example of where fusion is going as a sustainable energy source: it is an idea with solid research and funding behind it, so companies and labs and countries will push, sometimes slowly, to advance the field until it becomes a viable energy source.
So what do you all think? Do you think that it is too expensive, too far of a leap to take, and too much time that could be spent doing other things or do you think that it is a good idea that we should put money and time into?

Links
1: http://www.world-nuclear.org/informatio … power.aspx

2: https://www.iter.org/proj/inafewlines

3: https://thebulletin.org/iter-showcase-d … nergy11512

4: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/germ … or-2015-10

5: https://www.euro-fusion.org/news/detail … ge-again/?

Thinking about it transportation is something that can be altered a lot, especially due to it being one of the leading causes of carbon dioxide emissions. I've read carbon dioxide emissions typically come from the burning of fossil fuels during the use of cars, planes, trains etc. Just by driving with friends you can cut down on a lot of this, also by riding a bike or skateboard to close range areas.

We can reduce carbon footprints by using renewable energy. It even starts with the smallest things. We do not have to convert our whole home into solar energy in on night but start small every day. For My Algebra class. My TI-83 calculator is solar powered instead of using a battery. Another energy we can use is wind energy. energy.gov says It's a clean fuel source. Wind energy doesn't pollute the air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels which is a pro. But right now it is very expensive because the amount of wind power is limited. If one person a day can start using wind power, it will become cheaper because it will be produced more.  We can all start by doing something small right now. There are 7.4 billion people in the world. Only one person is needed to start change.

I think a small way to reduce global carbon footprints which can become into a greater way can first start in your local community. Residents who have solar panels and keep their energy down can get discounts for their panels/energy bill. This way people can observe the amounts of energy their using and be observant of conserving energy. More people could also consider getting solar panels, which are better for the environment, because their bills will be lower .

I definitely agree with what your saying. Because, solar panels are a renewable resource, it is a perfect candidate for reducing the energy amounts in our community. You perfectly addressed the issue of the cost of solar panels. However, how will you solve the problem of the sun not shining enough rays on cloudy days?

Most of our clothing is manufactured in international countries. Hardly any of our clothes are from the USA. To transport clothing from a foreign country to the USA emits a lot of carbon dioxide. Most people don't know that you can get clothes locally. People can go to farms to get wool or cotton and get it within a few hours away.

I agree with this. Shipping from different countries takes a lot of energy. Making clothes locally would take less energy and emit less carbon dioxide. Some organizations, such as Fibershed, create clothing that is eco-friendly and local. You don't need to buy clothes internationally to get clothing.

I agree with you, the transportation of the clothes far away created many problems. For an example, clothes from China are brought over most likely on a big cargo ship. That cargo ship releases tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. You are also looking at most clothes from foreign countries are made in factories and those factories create tons of CO2 in the atmosphere. Buying clothes locally will most likely be made with care and not in factories.

I agree with all of you. Also, in addition to these factories overseas being bad for the environment, many of them take part in unethical practices. For example, many manufacturing companies in other countries employ children and pay their workers very low salaries.

Transportation of any sorts pollutes CO2 into the air and causes the greenhouse effect. On such a large industry where over 97% of clothes are made and transported over seems it is killing the environment. There are thousands of boats and plains flying every year to transport clothes for people in America and it is adding more and more CO2 into the air exponentially.

At first nobody would give up their beloved Doritos or instant noodles, but maybe after people saw the real effects of what actually goes into that small plastic noodle cup, they'd cut it out of their diet completely. It was seem crazy but if Vancouver started to cut out products that have palm oil in them, that could save the Amazon. Eventually other provinces and other counties would follow.

I agree, I find it crazy that people are just cutting down those trees just for the fruit up top. I think that  the companies that run the palm oil project could just pick the fruits from the top of the tree instead of cutting the whole entire tree down. I know that they're trying to conserve money but these companies should be rich because of how many other companies in the food industry use their product. So it shouldn't be a big problem to hire more workers and tools to just chop the palm fruits off. Also I feel like the demand for chips and food products that use palm oil is only growing. Maybe the world could slow down their want and eat things that are greener for everyone.

I love this idea! Do you have an ideas for alternative materials for the companies and organizations that use these the harmful materials?

According to https://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/03/04/ … t-a-habit/ 45 million people ride their bikezs everyday. Why not use bikes to create electricity? Bikes do not harm the air in any way and if people continue to ride their bikes everyday while conducting electricity, it could be a great source for people. According to https://billionsinchange.com/solutions/ … tric-past/ one hour of bike riding could conduct electricity enough to lastone day in a household.

Plastic drink straws may not seem like a big deal, but in reality they are one of the main variables in destroying our oceans. In the US, 500 million plastic straws are used every day, not even counting the rest of the globe. If we keep up plastic straw consumption at this rate, by the year 2050 there will be more straws in the ocean than fish. Many people think that these straws can be recycled, that it's not an issue. But in fact, most plastic straws are too lightweight to make it through the sorters. They end up falling through the machines and get disposed as garbage. Something as small as a plastic drinking straw may not seem like an idea that is "Thinking Big", but it can make all the difference in saving our oceans.

I agree that we should stop of limit the use of plastic straws. You make some good points on how much plastic straws affect our environment. As I was reading an article from National Geographic, I was more aware of how bad plastic straws are for the ocean. Most of the time plastic straws do not make it into the recycling bin. Photos provided in the article show straws and other plastic material on the beach. Their small size makes it easy for animals to mistake them for food. Ingesting plastic is quite hazardous for marine life and can result in death. There are other alternatives to using plastic straws. Bamboo and paper straws are biodegradable.  Another solution is to stop using plastic straws all together. Although this is quite a radical idea, it can really benefit sea life.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/201 … vironment/

maybe if there is a media campaign that makes it cool to use bamboo straws, people will do it.  perhaps with a celebrity proposing that?

I agree that this is a very worldwide problem because even though plastic straws seem like a small problem, they are very dangerous to sea life and our environment. Straws are an example of single use plastic. This plastic has a short lifespan, usually used once and then discarded to landfill. Like most plastics, they never biodegrade and take hundreds of years to break down. As time goes by plastic will separate into smaller and smaller pieces, but will never fully breakdown. In the U.S alone, 500 million plastic straws are used everyday. We use straws for about 20 minutes, until we throw them away, which proves how little importance they are to us, but how harmful they are to the environment. This lifespan is fairly short for an item that will be on the planet forever. Marine life is very negatively effected with plastic straws and the only solution to this problem is to simply stop using them. There are other solutions such as paper straws or even bamboo straws  and in the big scheme of things, does a straw really matter? Therefore, let's work to stop using plastic straws because they are hurting our environment and are very harmful to sea life.

https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/s … usly-suck/

I agree with all of these ideas that straws and other single-use plastics need to be avoided. Several cities around the US and the world have made laws to prevent the use of non-biodegradable plastics. Recently, the UK proposed a plan to ban the use of straws, cotton swabs, and other single-use plastics. Likewise, Scotland plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019 while Taiwan is making efforts to end the use of single-use plastics by 2030. I stopped using straws a few years ago because I came across a video that showed the harmful effect that a single straw could have on marine life when a sea turtle had a straw stuck up its nose. Therefore, whenever, I go out and have a drink, I'm sure to skip the plastic lid and the straw whenever it's offered. All it takes is one straw at a time to limit if not end the use of plastic straws and save our one and only Earth along with all of the life on it.
(The first link is one to the sea turtle video. WARNING: video may be di sturbing to viewers.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MPHbpmP6_I
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/clim … -bans.html

I agree with you that plastic drinking straws are a problem in today's society. People don't understand the harm these little pieces of plastic can do to our oceans. Since they are so small, they can quickly get into sewage pipes and pipes that lead to the sea. As these juice boxes get produced more straws are produced. If we keep creating plastic straws, the rate will be higher than the amount of fish in the ocean. Making these straws thicker and bigger can prevent the rate they are just left behind. When we make these straws bigger and thicker, we will rapidly see changes in the waste rate our ocean currently has. Slight changes like drinking more water and using reusable containers will help the earth reduce its total waste rate.

I think the future of renewable energy lies in windmills. While they can be unreliable sometimes, the only real downsides are space and visual/noise pollution, both of which can be solved by [ocean wind turbines](https://insideclimatenews.org/news/1112 … l-caldeira). Winds are much stronger near the ocean, making the normally inefficient windmills much more productive. This also keeps them away from residential areas to avoid visual and noise pollution.

I agree with you Ryan on the fact that the world needs a new renewable resource but I think that windmills would not be the best thing to use. I say this for a few reasons, one would be that windmills are very expensive for the average family, it costs 48,000 thousand to 65,000 thousand dollars just to install the windmills. Next, the windmills take up a lot of space and the average family could not have the windmill close enough to be efficient. In closing, the world needs a new source of energy but I do not agree that windmills are the way to go.

One of the biggest factors contributing to pollution and CO2 emissions is cars. Battery electric cars generate half the emissions of the average gasoline car. This includes pollution from battery manufacturing. The cons to these cars, however, are they're expensive to produce and, therefore, buy, and there are few charging stations throughout the country. If these cars were to become more normalized in the future, though, it could lead to a dramatic decrease in climate change.

hello my name is ragnar and am form iceland and a whant to take is time and tell you the things a thing that are wrong whit my country. first is the turrist they are coming in the millions and don't respect the nature to its fullest they are disturying it pic by pic walking on ground  that no one is allowt to walk on and that is not good for our comity. think you for your time and by save it the world that whe live inn.

Hi Ragnar, yes that is a problem.  A lot of places (presumably including Iceland) need tourists to support the economy, but the tourists can have a very large impact!  What do you think could be done to educate tourists not to destroy the place they are coming to visit?

A plant-based diet not only emits less CO2 but also uses less water, among many other environmental and health benefits.  According to a 2014 study in the UK, a vegan diet had less than half the emissions of a diet where people consumed more than 100 grams of meat a day. While this sounds like a lot of meat, the average American eats almost 250 grams of meat a day, according to a 2015 study. The EU consumes over 175 grams per person, and almost all of the world, with the exception of Africa and southwest Asia, almost every nation exceeds 100 grams of meat consumption, per day per person. Thus, for many people, a vegan diet likely reduces CO2 emissions more than the study concluded. Additionally, a vegan diet requires far less water. A pound of beef takes over 180 times the water of a pound of wheat. Also, to produce a liter of milk, 1000 liters of water are expended. With 70% of the global water supply used in food production, and droughts expected to be more common with global warming, veganism is a great choice to help prevent global warming and adapt to the problems i t will cause.

Sources:
1. https://www.vox.com/2014/7/2/5865109/st … nt-in-half
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 … 169-1#Sec8
3. https://www.theguardian.com/news/databl … bal-trends
4. http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-car … print-diet
5. http://www.businessinsider.com/where-do … eat-2015-9
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccar … 7f86da4f95
7. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl … nvironment

Yes, becoming a vegan may help the environment, it is also important to note that being a vegan can also have its negative effects. For example, many vegans, or people in general, eat imported fruits such as mangos from India or avocados from Mexico. These imported foods have a larger negative impact on the environment than beef from a local farm or eggs from a neighbors backyard. Instead of becoming a vegan, I would tell somebody to change their diet by eating locally grown foods. This cuts out the energy needed to move food from place to place and ensures that you are getting fresh, healthy food. One other disadvantage of the vegan diet is the lack of protein in food. To supplement this, many people eat or drink soy products such as tofu or soy milk. The production of soy, is in short, killing our rainforests. Soybean plantations are taking over rainforests, adding even more to the problem of deforestation. These large farms are also pushing out smaller communities and farmers. Again, I am not saying that being a vegan is worse or as bad as eating meat, I just want to  show that veganism is not as perfect as many people see it as.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-styl … 77541.html
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footpri … y/impacts/

Caitlin- you make a lot of good points.  And I agree with you that like everyone, vegans need to consider where their food comes from too. 

But since you mentioned soy and deforestation did you know that, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, "70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish"?

https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/s … t14lBiZPeQ

Veganism, as you say, is not perfect by itself.  But I think there is little doubt that, on average, a vegan diet has less of an impact than an average meat-eating diet.

My concern is that someone reading your comment might think: "ok well both eating meat and being vegan are bad - I guess I will just keep eating the same amount of meat then"

Max, Caitlin, and Jason, you all make very good, well-informed points about being a vegan, versus being a carnivore. Personally, I am an omnivore, and I think that doing so has the right effect on my body. However, Caitlin, what would you say about people who cannot get locally sourced vegetables or even meat. As surprising as it may sound Texas is ranked 52 after Puerto Rico and D.C. as the worst state for locally sourced food and vegetables, according to strolling of the heifers (https://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/locavore/). I agree with Jason and ask when you say that people "will continue to eat the same amount of meat" what do you mean by that. As well, what is the solution?  For Max, why does a vegan diet mean less CO2 emissions? You cannot simply claim that it does so, without an explanation. As well, think of all the people and old, diesel-powered equipment used to harvest these vegetables. As well, if you are killing and producing your own meat, it wo uld be much more efficient than going to a farmers market, spending money, and driving all the way home. In short, I think that eating a mixed diet, maybe weighing on meat, is more productive.

For one, it's not just vegans who eat imported fruits and vegetables. Most people do. It is not specific to vegans. However, buying local and organic food is another step, on top of veganism, that people can do to help the environment.

The Independent article cited by Caitlin says, "eating lamb chops that come from a farm a few miles down the road is much better for the environment than eating an avocado that has traveled from the other side of the world" (5).
As previously stated, vegans are not the only people who eat imported food. There is nothing to suggest that vegans eat more imported food, so many meat eaters might eat the lamb chop (local or not) and that avocado from the "other side of the world." 

According to the World Shipping Council, the CO2 emissions for shipping a metric ton of goods a kilometer is 10 grams, while the Emergency Community of Airport Entrepreneurs Hamburg says it takes between 10-40 grams of CO2. According to sea-distances.org, it is about 21,000km from a port in Kenya to San Francisco. Thus, even if we use 40 grams per ton per kilome ter, it is (km*grams of CO2 per metric ton) or (21000*40) = 840000 grams of CO2 to ship a metric ton of goods from Kenya to San Francisco. 840000 grams is 840 kilograms of CO2 to ship one ton. Because there are 1000 kilograms in a metric ton, the CO2 footprint to ship goods from Kenya to San Francisco is 0.84 kg of CO2/ kilogram of goods. The following emissions from various foods are based on data from Business Insider. While a kilogram of rice, lentils, and nuts (protein equivalents to meat) emit under 3kg of CO2, a kilogram of lamb produces 39.2 kilograms of CO2. Even leaner meats like chicken and canned tuna emit 6.9 and 6.1 kilograms of CO2, per kilogram, respectively. Thus, 0.84 kilograms of CO2 expended to ship plant-based foods across the world is incomparable to the additional CO2 expended to produce meat. Assuming plant-based protein emissions at 3 kilos per kg (high), and lamb emissions at 35 kilos per kg (eliminating all post-production and transportation emissions to generously account for the stated "few miles down the road"), emissions for transport would need to be about 1520g for a metric ton of goods to be transported a kilogram. This is about three times higher than airfare emissions estimated from my sources for naval emissions. Thus, it is incomparable to suggest that local lamb is less bad for the environment than imported plant-based food. Overall, my point is that vegans are not the only ones who consume imported goods (fruits and vegetables aren't even the only food items imported), and that, based on my data, comparing the emissions from shipping to producing meat is not valid. However, it is still significant and everyone should try to eat local when possible.

Grayson asked why meat produces more CO2.  Meat contributes more CO2 to the atmosphere because animals eat many plants and drink lots of water to grow. Also, some animals, like cows, also emit methane through flatulence, and all animals exhale CO2. Animal products suffer from similar inefficiencies.

I appreciate the discussion. Also, if someone finds contrary evidence for emissions, I would love to hear it!

Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top- … int-2015-9
http://www.worldshipping.org/industry-i … -emissions
https://www.fluglaerm.de/hamburg/klima.htm

Also, the Independent article Caitlin used also stated that increased demand for avocados and quinoa because of the rise of veganism has caused supply shortages which make those products out of reach for locals who often consume that food. While this is unfortunate, this is related to the principles of capitalism, not veganism, and should likely be temporary, because now that there is a larger market more supply should be created around the world.

Although I am not a vegan, I still want to agree with your opinion. I want to point out that the meat only supplies a tiny bit of energy but requires a huge amount of energy to get a little piece of meat. For example, getting a pound of meat on the pig might need 10 pounds of food to feed it. A lot of energy is wasted through the process. Besides, handling the meat and saving it in the refrigerator would spend much electricity.

Many people don't know the importance of sorting recycling, compost, and landfill. By recycling we are reusing the materials from previous products and creating something new out of it. By doing this we are reducing waste and making so that we don't need to mine as much for the material. Composting is very important because we reduce the amount of methane. In a landfill, as the trash is breaking down, it produces methane due to the lack of oxygen. Whereas in compost it produces mainly CO2, which is still a greenhouse gas but it much better than methane. Composting also makes  nutrient rich soil from the broken down plant matter, which helps crops grow. The trash in a landfill sits for sometimes hundreds of years producing lots of methane, a very harmful greenhouse gas. Lots of the stuff that ends up in the landfill could have composted or recycled and would have prevented the production of methane. There is such a big difference made between composting and recycling instead of it all going to the landfill. There are still schools and homes that only have one waste bin. I  think it should be taught in schools how to sort trash and they should have the 3 different bins all around campus. I hope we all keep in mind the affect of our actions when deciding where to throw away our trash.

Links to more info about composting and recycling:
https://www.pca.state.mn.us/waste/school-waste-study
https://recycle.com/organics-compost-vs-landfill/

In the United States, the first step we need to take to slow the process of climate change is to help people to recognize the issue. Our government and many others refuse to believe the evidence that has been provided by many scientists to back up climate change. According to The Atlantic, only 60% of Americans are "worried" about climate change. The easiest way to fix this is to continue to use our voices in the media to make others more aware.
The next step for us is to start using more renewable energy sources. While many of these are not perfect, whether they need more research or take space on land or in the ocean, they are all better for the environment in the long term. One example of this is wind power.It is not the most reliable, due to fluctuating wind patterns, however, it does not pollute the world like fossil fuels. Another issue is that the farms either take land or are put into the water, both of which have the ability to hurt ecosystems. However, when we weigh the negative impacts of wind farms and coal plants, it is clear that wind farms are a better op tion. According to energy.gov wind farms are cost-effective, create job opportunities, are a clan source, and are inexhaustible. Lastly, these farms help the industry of countries using them. This is because every company trying to produce turbines will compete for the best product at the best price, which will help innovation. This innovation will help countries to be advanced in reusable energy, which is the energy of the future. It is important to recognize the downsides of renewable energy because it gives us more opportunity to fix the problems.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arc … ut/523881/
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advant … ind-energy

I think that the world should begin using wind power as a main energy source. In Maryland, they are pursuing offshore wind energy. Not only does this reduce the state's carbon footprint, but it also boosts the economy by creating jobs. Instead of burning fossil fuels which emits lots of CO2 into the atmosphere, we should try to rely more on wind power. There are many advantages to wind power, the most pertinent one being that it drastically reduces our carbon footprints.

Using wind as our main energy source is a definitely a great option. There are some difficulties with this though. It is expensive, wind is inconsistent, and it does not produce as much energy as we want it to. Although it takes a lot of money and many installations of wind turbines, I think that if we commit to wind being the main energy source, it will greatly benefit us.

I agree with both of you. Wind power, although it is expensive, can still sometimes be unreliable. However, like you said, in places like Maryland where there are higher wind speeds, it is highly advantageous to use. The idea of creating windmills/turbines offshore sounds very promising to me as well, since there are usually even higher wind speeds on the ocean. Anyways though, with this resource of course being expensive and difficult to gain energy from, it could take a long time to power much of the modern world with it.

Yes I agree.  Wind power would definitely benefit the economy in the long term. Since things like gas are non-renewable resources and will eventually run out. Wind power could be an alternative if when/if that happens.

Wind would be a great alternate source of energy, though there are many disadvantages of having wind power as a main contributor of energy. Maybe if it was used as an alternate between solar and wind, where if the wind was stronger then your house or etc would switch to that or if it was a still, sunny day than your house or etc would switch to solar power for the day.

What if instead of burning fossil fuels that emits carbon dioxide to create energy cars and other machines take in carbon dioxide and converts it to oxygen? This would greatly help the atmosphere by taking in carbon dioxide instead of putting it into the atmosphere. It might be hard to create it now but with the continuous advancement of technology this could be a way to temporarily slow down the rate carbon dioxide is put into the air until a new source of energy is found. This technology could help decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere faster than it currently is. This technology should not replace plants or help cause deforestation faster because other animals need those to live, but instead should help speed up the process of converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. This may not solve global warming but creating this technology will help in the future as part of the solution to global warming.

If we could do that, that would be cool, but you're talking about technology that doesn't even exist yet. A more viable option would be trying to carpool more or use public transportation in order to reduce emissions from cars, and also we could try planting more trees.

The government has money. I'm positive we all know the government has money. They spend it on things they feel it should be spent on (even if that means going into deep debt), and we pay taxes to help them do those things. However, I don't think they've done too much to contribute to global warming. It is a big issue, and we as a society haven't been doing anything to solve it or make it better. I believe we should all drive hybrid. When we constantly burn gas, all we are doing is putting more carbon dioxide into our environments. If we all drive hybrid, there will be no more waiting in line to pay insane amounts of money for gas, and maybe the cost will go down because of the value! Also, not everyone in the same household has to have their own car. What ever happened to walking short distances and receiving rides from a friend or even your big sister? If we all did this, our environment would be much more sustainable!

In order to both satisfy human needs and keep our Earth healthy we need to make something efficient. I have an idea to make a "green" home. When I was reading other peoples responses I saw one that talked about power tiles. I thought this was very interesting and would be really great to include in the "green" home. Basically a power tile is activated when weight is applied to it. This then sends an electric current to a generator which powers the rest of the house. Having power tiles in high use rooms would make a pretty efficient way to produce energy. Having maybe your kitchen or even your driveway, where you park your car, tiled with powered tiles would make it really easy and environmentally friendly to make make energy. I would also include OLED screens on all TVs and all lights having LED bulbs. I would want the house to be modern but now wasteful.

lighter green homes :0

Now what exactly do we mean by think big. What I think it means is to make a drastic difference globally that will help the world itself. In reality there's always going to be someone or something that's not going to be helping the world. The biggest thing that might change the world by even a slight percentage is no more consumption of fossil fuels, meaning that there would be no more plane rides, no more driving cars with gas or anything else. That is probably not going to happen unless we find out a way to use nuclear energy. Now everyone is thinking we could probably just use electric cars, but even with that it will still be polluting, just not as much. While I was going through the think big section I saw a title saying that gyms should help power light bulbs and other stuff. There is always at least someone at the gym, and we could use cycling to give a little bit of power, anything could help. Another thing we can do is aware the government and tell them what's going on with the PPM over passing 400.

Woah! That idea about gyms using bikes would be such a cool idea! I wonder if that would be enough to power the whole gym itself and how much energy would be needed to make a difference. Would definitely be a good idea for gyms to look into

The gyms thing is a really great idea! I'm not sure making the government aware will do much though. They have bigger things on their plates. I think we would need a more influential way of advertising environmental issues.

i think we need to have a law where people who own solar panels will get tax breaks

I agree completely. I think that tax breaks would be a great idea. I think that it because it would help reinforce clean energy. It would do this by giving people a reason to stop emitting co2; tax breaks, therefore this would decrease co2 emissions.