After completing my carbon footprint calculation, I realized the extent of my car use. Although I drive less than a lot of other people, it was was very interesting to see how much of a carbon footprint cars leave on the Earth. In comparison to most cars, my car has fairly good gas mileage, however it was definitely amazing to see the effect of just driving to school everyday has on the environment. As I compared my results to the "average" person's carbon footprint, my transportation alone contributed to the majority of my carbon footprint and went over the average for transportation.
     This past year I had traveled more than I usually do to various places within the US, either driving or flying, which I think had a significant impact on my results for the carbon footprint calculation. Just while watching the system calculate my carbon footprint, it was crazy to see how much flying impacted my transportation results. This helped me realize the impact of flying because I think that people often don't think about how much flying contributes to our carbon footprint and  it has allowed me to think about how much of an impact my travels this coming year will have on the environment. Like Jade, I want to learn more about aviation fuel and if there are other sources that we can use in order to fuel planes.
     After reading an article on the affect of aviation fuel on the environment, I found that not only are airplanes inefficient but they also release many pollutants. Aviation contributes to about 5% of global climate pollution, while that seems like a pretty small percentage, it is important to take into account the other issues of flying other than its carbon dioxide emissions. I think it is important to discuss these issues so that we can come up with better solutions to decrease our impact on the environment.

While I did not use any method of aerial transportation, I would also love to learn how aircraft impacts carbon footprint. Airplanes give off heat and many gases that directly lead to climate change. Airplanes emit gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, as well as both nitrogen and sulfur oxides. The large business of air transportation has left the air polluted and made individual carbon footprints soar. One flight can be equivalent to as much as a years worth of driving. In cases such as these, carbon dioxide can remain in the air for years and years resulting in climate warming. After looking at the student footprints from around the globe, I noticed students on the west coast of the United States
had transportation footprints less than many students on the east coast. This might be due to a larger economy and higher population. Higher population and larger economy can mean more traveling by methods other than walking. Traveling often emits gases which leads to rise in carbon footprint. However, Americans as a whole had a transportation carbon footprint much  larger than anyone else in the world. This could be due to higher population density of Americans. It is probably related to the fact that many nations do not have the same transportation opportunities as the United States. Aerial travel, vehicular travel, and public transportation (buses, etc.) might be less frequent in other countries leading to a smaller transportation carbon footprint.

Similar to your situation Bea, I found that I am driving in a car to almost all the places I go, which adds up to a large amount of usage. This could be a result of the area I live in and the activities I must attend. For example, I have soccer practice two days every week, which I drive to in a car. Considering the location I live in, one of my only options for transportation is a car. In order to lessen my carbon footprint, I carpool to school with three other people everyday. All of my families cars have good milage in order to limit the amount of gasoline consumption. My transportation made up a large amount of my carbon footprint, much more then the average person. In contrast, this past year I have taken only one flight, which helped to make my carbon footprint smaller. After entering in my data for flights, I was astonished by the huge increase of my footprint. I agree that I did not realize how much taking flights across the globe could effect my carbon footprint. If taking a flight is necessary, some ways to help reduce the carbon footprint is to pack lightly, t ake direct flights and fly in economy because the more people on a plane means that there are fewer emissions for each person.