Hello fellow ISCFC participants! I have just finished calculating my carbon footprint and it was 10373 kg CO2 (!). My prediction of being more green than the average swedish citizen was obliterated... It is way too much for myself in my opinion, and it is not a sustainable way of living at all. The problem isn't what happens in the household itself, it's what my family does on vacation. Me and my family travel way too much, just this summer we were on 4 different flights! We also go pretty far by car every year because some of my relatives live approximately 3 hours away, and we also go skiing once a year, and then its atleast 7 hours each way. As much as i hate to admit it, this can't go on. My family and I need to start going by train more and maybe stay at home more aswell. So there are lots of improvements that could be done here.

It seems that the fact that you travel a lot is the main factor for all the carbon. Since you have travel a lot of hours and by plane greatly adds onto the amount of carbon. If you reduce the amount of travel then your footprint will obviously go down by a great amount!

Your footprint is definitely way lower than mine (15,154 kg)!  Mine isn't because of travel though; my family has too many incandescent lightbulbs in our house, and leaving those on too much is a waste of energy.  You had a good idea to go by train more, because using public transportation limits how much carbon is emitted overall.  Besides transportation, it sounds like your carbon footprint is really good!  Great job!

Hello Sven! My carbon footprint was also a lot higher than I want it to be and it was also because of transportation. I can relate to you when it comes to family living far away. We drive about 11 hours to see family about twice a year so the miles really add up. There are always ways to improve and some might be even simpler than you think!

Hi Sven! Your carbon footprint majority is from traveling too much, when mine is probably one of the least amounts on mine! I travel too much by car, and that's where my majority is. It seems like your carbon footprint would decrease significantly if you stopped traveling so much!

Transportation is hard for me too. Try to lower on the amount of trips you take. Also, try walking or biking more places if possible to conserve energy.

Your carbon footprint was way lower than my and I also agree about traveling to much

You footprint was way higher than mine, mine was about 15,000.  You also travel way mire than I do.

I also travel a lot.This caused me to have a majority of my carbon footprint based on my transportation

My transportation was also higher than I would have liked it to be, but I was thinking of making my improvements by walking while I was at home. I also believe that if I find a more eco friendly way to travel that would help a lot. Maybe you should try this.

Hi Sven and all – great conversation!

I am on a long distance train right now from Seattle to Minnesota: 36 hours total! This takes a lot of time that many people don't have. But if you can afford the time, train travel is quite pleasant, is usually cheaper than flying, and of course is much more energy efficient.

If you need to fly, here are things that you can do to minimize your flying footprint:

1) Try to purchase non-stop flights (or minimize your number of stops). Sometimes it is cheaper or only a little more expensive to fly non-stop, and a large portion of carbon emissions from flying occur during takeoffs & landings, and making stops usually means flying many km's out of the most direct path. So, fewer stops = significantly lower emissions.

2) See if you can fly non-stop to a major city nearby your destination and take a train from there. So for example, you could fly direct from London to Stockholm, and then take the train from there to Gothenburg.

My carbon footprint was lower compared to average some maybe I can give you some tips on reducing your carbon footprint. First, I think it would be best if your family could not travel as much if thats possible at all. Also maybe you can try to save energy around your home by turning off lights when you leave a room, unplug things when they aren't being used. These are just a few examples of the many things you can do!

Your total footprint was lower than just my transportation totals alone! I traveled from North Carolina to the Philippines round trip, and then From North Carolina to California and back.

Maybe you and your family should travel to places closer to you

You should try going to local areas,and reduce the amount of electricity used daily to get a lower carbon footprint

I think that you do travel to much I agree with you. Most of your carbon footprint is taken up by your transportation. You can go visit closer places around you or maybe space your trips out more and do bigger things while you are there.

I think your methods to reducing your carbon footprint are great! The vacation is definitely what is taking over the footprint. If you put your methods to use it will help a lot!

You should either visit places closer to you or try staying at home and finding a hobby to commit to!

I think you should cut down on your travelling or at least get a more eco friendly car.

I have the same situation as you! My family also like to travel and last year I was on about 6 flights or more. The transportation part took up almost half of the place or even more in my footprint. I think your solutions for this is good too. Maybe I should start travel to more places within my country by train.

As others have said, visiting places closer to you would help a lot with your transportation emissions. This way, you could still go on vacation a decent amount, but heartily decrease your impact.

Sven, I have the same problem. Aircraft emit a huge amount of CO2 so flying less is a good way to reduce our carbon footprint. Unfortunately, completely eliminating aircraft transportation isn't always an option.  In that case we need to offset those emissions as much as possible. (http://science.howstuffworks.com/enviro … offset.htm)

I am surprised that it would not be higher with all the traveling. You could possibly think about investing in more eco-friendly vehicles for your travels and maybe take less vacations, even though that takes away all the fun.

Maybe cutting down on your transportation or try to travel closer to your area. Maybe even get a more energy efficient car.