While I hoped that my Carbon Footprint was at least average in my area (Bay Area), the calculator told me otherwise, and I figured that before hand because of the amount of traveling that I do. The two main contributors would be driving on a daily basis, and flying, which I don't do extremely often, but the negative affects of air travel still add up. It's quite difficult to reduce my transportation footprint mostly due to daily activities and school, as well as my passion for traveling. More specifically, I have to travel by car basically everyday of the week, back and forth, and I do not live that close to my school (20+ miles). Until I am done with high school, it is practically impossible to lessen the amount of driving and the effects of that. (A plus side is that my little brother and I carpool to school though!) Traveling by airplane and going to places that are significant distances away from me is definitely difficult to sacrifice as well. My passion for culture and learning new things in new places makes it super difficult to give up. I have been on three signi ficant trips within the last year, flying from the Bay Area to Montana, the Bay Area to the East Coast, and Bay Area to Nicaragua, which truly add up and make my Carbon Footprint super hefty. As much as I know it is important to lower this in anyway I can, traveling is super important to who I am and who I want to be. How do I lower my Carbon Footprint, but still explore the other places around the world?