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

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