All of you have calculated your emissions and you have surely discovered the unexpectedly high impact of some of your behaviors (eating meat, flying to a sunny destination, etc.) on your total footprints.
Are there any behaviors that you are really willing to change or to improve for the sake of the environment? What challenges do you encounter or think you will encounter while trying to change these things? What help, support, and insights from others would make your life easier with these new behaviors?
Let's discuss these issues and make our pledges here!
Now It's Time for Action >
Getting more people involved
This experience with the carbon footprint has taught me many things about myself. I have learned what I could do to improve my footprint in the world. I feel that if more people knew about their carbon footprint, then there would be more people trying to make a difference about it. I know that with my experience, I'm already trying to better myself by watching how much energy i use and by how i get to places.
One way we could aware people about their carbon footprint is through social media. The kids that have learned about it/ already done the experiment in school (like me) could spread the word about it and make it more known. By doing this, more people will see the harm that they are causing to the atmosphere and hopefully decrease their footprint. Not everyone will be affected by it but a majority of people will.
I agree that we should attempt to bring to people's attention to the consequences their actions have on the rest of the world, pollution wise, but I do not believe it will make much of a difference. There is already ample evidence supporting that humans are directly influencing climate change, but many people have refused to believe it. The IPCC, the leading organization on climate science, has produced five assessments over the past thirty years, the last being over three thousand pages long, linking human activity with climate change. With all the evidence out there people are still reluctant to act, even if it means that they would be were helping the planet. The problem is that change is hard, and people have become so used their way of life with all these technological advances making their lives easier, many of which aren't very environmentally friendly, that they don't want to change.
Let's say that you did bring to peoples attention the seriousness of climate change, getting a bunch of people to recycle or compost their left overs isn't enough any more. We have been so stuck in our ways for so long that it will take drastic changes on the industrial level to actually make a significant difference and help us get out of the corner we are backing ourselves into.