Hello everyone.
My name is Petra, I'm 17 years old and I come from a small town in Croatia, named Požega. My total carbon footprint is 3593 kgs of CO2 per year. But to be honest, it should be more, since I didn't know every answer I chose to participate in this because I think we should learn about what only one person does to this planet per year and what all of us can do to help our world and nature heal and get better.
I am a person who loves being out and I prefer walking to forcing my parents to drive me somewhere. Also, my family and I always recycle paper, glass, plastic etc.
I'm trying to persuade my parents to start eating more organic food and cut back meat.
I wouldn't mind if someone replied and suggested how I could reduce my carbon footprint more

hey I'm from miami USA, does your city use solar panels ? thats one way instead of using electricity, also hybrid cars. The cutting down of meat is a good idea, meat is a BIG issue for a lot of reasons even CO2.

Hey well our city does not use solar panels which I think is sad. Thats way better than using electricity, I agree. I also agree with cutting down on meat, but you know how it goes Thank you for leaving a reply to my post and thank you for the suggestions

Perhaps you can suggest to your parents one day per week to cut down on meat.  Many families in the US are trying "meatless mondays", which is often a good day to do this, since there are farmer's markets in many towns on the weekends with the freshest available local produce.  You can then plan your monday meal from those ingredients.  It's fun!

I've heard about "meatless mondays" but never really thought about persuading it. Thank you very much for your suggestion. I will definitely recommend this to my family

Hi Petra! my name is Brandy I am from the U.S. and after taking this test I have found out that my familys carbon usage is way higher than the average usage should be, I know ti is mostly because we do a lot of air travel but I would definitely like to reduce this number. I was vegiatrian for a few weeks and it was very hard for me because so many people in my family eat meat every day so I decided to try it when I am providing for myself. I am glad you ahve found motivation from this calculator as I have too! Thank you for being interested in the well being of out world.

Hey Brandi it is easier for me to walk more because I live in a small town, so my travelling is mostly walking I think it is definitely hard to become a vegeterian when your whole family eats meat. I could suggest you starting small by not eating meat once or twice a week, it would certainly be helpful when becoming a vegeterian. Yes, I am motivated a lot by this project and I think it is a BIG thing cutting down our carbon footprint. I hope we will be able to initiate other people and show them how important it is to care about our planet. Thank you a lot for your reply

Hi Petra! My name is Sierra and I live in the US in a state called Oregon. I found that my footprint is a little higher than the average for my area. I think this is because I have to drive myself to school and sports practice and it is too far to walk! However, my family is big on recycling and trying not to waster energy at home. I loved reading your story about your carbon footprint!

Hey Sierra! Yes, that's a big problem in big cities but if that's the sollution, what can you do. It's a good thing to recycle, My family and I have been recyling for years now. For example, we collect bottles we use and then my dad and I give them for recycling at our supermarket. Feels good when you know you're helping. Thank you for your reply and hopefully we will succeed to cut down our carbon footprint.

Hello Petra! I am from the US in the same state as Brandy and Sierra. Although my family travels a lot and usually uses a lot of electricity, we do compost and recycle. Even with recycling, composting, and cutting down on our electricity use, our carbon footprint is still extremely large because of other factors such as transportation and the food we eat. I liked your response about "meatless mondays" and I would consider it if it would lower my carbon footprint! Any other suggestions on food consumption, electricity, or transportation that could help? I would love to hear from you and your opinions on CO2 emissions!
Thank you!

I think that walking, recycling and buying organic foods would be a great option for reducing your carbon footprint! Have you tried growing your own food in a backyard garden? I think that your carbon footprint is still very low compared to mine! Do you spend a lot of money per month on goods (groceries, clothing, etc)?

Hey everyone! I think my carbon footprint was much higher than I expected because I really didn't realize how much energy all the devices in my house take up! Even though I do use public transportation and try to consume (food, fashion etc) ethically and efficiently, I need to find more ways to reduce my footprint at my home (i.e unplugging and turning things completely off). After this survey I will definitely be taking shorter showers!

Hello Petra! I also live in the US in a state named Oregon. Like many people, most of my carbon footprint comes from transportation. I ride the bus to school but I drive everywhere else. My family is big on recycling but otherwise we don't do anything major in order to reduce our carbon footprint. I would love to find new ways to help reduce that though!

Hello! I am from the United States and my carbon footprint is less than the average person, but I am almost double average in transportation. This is because my family travels a lot. I am far below average in food because I am vegetarian so I eat food lower in carbon emissions. I would love to hear suggestions of other ways to cut down on my carbon footprint! Thank you

Hi Paige! My parents always tell my brother, sister and me to turn off the lights and computers when not in use. It kinda became a habit so that's probably one of the reasons why my carbon footprint is lower. Also, i don't travel that much by car, due to living in a small town. I do spend quite on clothing, I have to admit that.
I could suggest you walking or riding a bicycle more, eating organic food like you said and turning off electricity when you don't need it. We have a small orchard in our backyard and I could suggest you doing the same.

Hey yes, electronic devices take up a LOT of energy so we should turn them off completely when we are not using them. Also, I know how good it feels to take long showers, but we must think about the planet.

Hello! I think this project made us all think about our carbon footprint and what we can do in order to cut it down. I could suggest what I suggested to Paige, eating organic food, turning off electricity and you could cut down on meat. I don't mean you have to become a vegetarian, but at least suggest to your family to  have one meatless day, it would certainly help

Hey! Like I said, it is easier for me to walk more, I live in a small city in the centre so everything is close to me and I have no reason to make my parents drive me all the time if not necessary. It's a good thing being a vegetarian, I would love to try it myself, but I'm not that determined. I really don't know what to suggest more, but what I think is important, you should talk to your friends and suggest them to cut their carbon footprint also.

Hi I am Colin and like Kaia I also live in Oregon. Even though our state is fairly green, I have an average carbon footprint of 25 tons per year but this is most likely not accurate because I had to guess on a lot of the questions due to not knowing the information. I am trying to eat less red meats and eating more organic foods whether they are GMOs or naturally found. I have told my parents that we should start composting and recycling more. Also, I also turn off electronics when I am not using them like lights, tvs, and computers.

Hi Petra! Like many of the students here, I also live in Oregon. My carbon foot print was more than twice of yours! I know that there are a lot of things I can do to lower it. The most important one would be to stop driving everywhere. Since I live so far away from everything, my parents always have to drive me. I think I'll start doing what you do and walk more. My family recycles everything too, but I feel like it isn't enough sometimes. I might try to convince my parents to start composting! I don't think we eat that many organic foods, so I will also try to convince my parents to start doing that.

Hi Colin I think your carbon footprint is higher due to transportation. Yes, I have a lower footprint because I didn't know every answer, so I just left it empty or put in a random number. It's a good thing we all care about cutting down our carbon footprint and we should share it with our friends and family to really help the Earth

Hey Helen! There are a lot of things we can do to lower our carbon footprint. Yes, transportation is a big problem, like you said, you should walk more and also try to ride a bicycle more since the weather is (I think) getting warmer Definitely talk to your parents to start composting and stop eating meat so much. Like I already said, you don't have to become a vegetarian, we could all start by not eating meat once or twice a week, that's a big start. Also eat more food that you or your parents cook at home and stop eating junk food.

Hey Petra! I am from Oregon and my carbon footprint was five times more than yours. These were most likely affected by transportation concerns. I usually drive places rather than walk, so that may have drastically affected my carbon footprint. Also, I have taken many flights in the past year for vacations, so could that have affected my carbon footprint as well? I tend to recycle a lot too. What suggestions do you have to lower my carbon footprint?

Petra! I'm so glad to see this! You're doing so well!!!!

Hi Petra! My name is Analisa and like the majority of the people in this conversation, I too, live in Oregon. My carbon footprint was well over double the average for my state! The primary reason for this is because of transportation and household maintenance and expenses. I also wasn't sure about how to answer some of the questions, but for the most part, I feel my carbon footprint result was calculated accurately. What my family is doing right now for our footprint is consuming organic foods grown locally, shopping with reusable shopping bags, turn off electronics when nobody is using them. While I don't think much can be done to improve it as far as transportation goes due to distance and time constraints, however, I definitely think my family and I could be more wary of electricity, heating and A/C usage, cutting down on our plastic usage and reducing our garbage output. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve my footprint?