Students from around the world calculated their class mean and standard deviations for their footprints and posted them on our world map.
Do you see differences across the globe? If so, why do you think those differences exist?
Did you use the calculator to try to reduce your footprint down to the average from a citizen of another country? What changes would you have to make to lower your footprint in this way? Are you going to try and take some of these actions in your daily life?
Student Footprints >
My Carbon Footprint
The other day in class we calculated our carbon footprints and the resulting amounts of carbon that each of us released was incredibly diverse. I found it very interesting and it made me realize how quickly one’s carbon footprint can grow.
Carbon footprint is a term that people use to describe how much carbon a person releases into the atmosphere, essentially how much carbon they leave behind wherever they go. Things that can contribute to a carbon footprint can be really small, day to day things that can end up adding up quickly. For example, eating meat and products made by animals who release methane (a greenhouse gas) adds to one's carbon footprint. Similarly with transportation, when one drives a car, the car emits carbon dioxide which adds to one’s atmosphere. For example, a gas car can drive one mile and emit more than 350 grams of CO₂,hybrid cars produce around 260 grams of CO₂ per mile and electric cars produce CO₂ per mile. These kinds of things can be classified as direct emissions of carbon, since the action itself is immediately releasing carbon. The other kind of emissions are indirect emissions, for example buying a product and having it shipped to you. These kinds of purchase emissions are what kept my personal carbon footprint below the average for my region, because I don't often buy new clothes or new electronics. Usually I get old phones and headphones from my parents and I can usually wear my clothes for a while before they get too small.
On another note my food carbon footprint releases about 850 grams more CO₂ than the average person for my area. I think the major reason for this is the amount of milk that I consume, and I will admit, I consume a lot of milk. Now the reason that milk is such a big contributor to my carbon footprint is because of cows. Cows produce around 250-500 liters of CO₂ a day, which is around 535.3 grams. That combined with all of the meat and other animal products that I consume weekly, it's no surprise how my food carbon footprint got to its number (3090 kgs). This shows what I need to work on to keep my carbon footprint low.
Overall, one’s carbon footprint can build up over time, because of little actions that can release a lot more CO₂ than we realize.
Links:
- https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/are-ele … 00%20grams.