Looking at my carbon footprint totals, I realized how much energy I have used at home.  My region should use 3,757 home energy, when mine had 12,108 of energy.  This has a huge impact on the environment because it puts a big toll on the electric bill for my family.  What I can do is not wasting so much electricity in my home when I do not need it.  These changes will benefit our community and homes everywhere.

There are many different ways to stop using as much energy as you are now. One of the most important things to do is look at the lights and how much you use them. You need to think if you need them and when you could turn them off. Another way is to look at everything you have plugged in constantly (a computer, television, and appliances) some of these things you do not use all the time and can be unplugged. Just some minor differences in the way you use electricity can majorly reduce your carbon footprint.

Agreed. A home life with less electronic use will dramatically decrease your carbon footprint more than you realize. I remember when my family looked at our energy bill from PG&E, which stated that our home energy usage far exceeded other families in our neighborhood. After this, each member of my family left reminders to turn off lights, unplug chargers, and overall live more "off the grid" when it was not necessary. I have learned that even small changes like earlier bed times reduce electronic usage in homes. It is not about single handedly saving the environment, it is more about doing all that you personally can to make sure your life is balanced and electronically sustainable.

There are many ways to conserve energy and reduce your carbon footprint. For example, you can use public transportation, bike, walk, or run, instead of driving a personal vehicle. In the EPA report, Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle, it states, “The average passenger vehicle emits about 411 grams of CO2 per mile (par.3)” “A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year (par.4).” These are high numbers of carbon dioxide being produced, and this is just one car. According to the Los Angeles Times article, 253 million cars and trucks on U.S. roads; average age is 11.4 years, as suggested in the title there are 253 million vehicles on the road in the US alone. Thus, the amount of CO2 produced is colossal. If you (and the rest of society) used their cars less often then these numbers can reduce. Another thing you could do is grow your own food. Food packaging, transportation, and distribution also use high amounts of carbon. By growing your own food, you are not only growing more plants to reduce carbon dioxide, you a lso would provide nutrients for the soil. A final suggestion is to spread the word. The more awareness on this topic the more likely we will be able to spread the word.

There are many different ways to assist your environment. I think that some things that could benefit the environment more would be to conserve water, conserve gas (walking/riding a bike to places), take public transportation. I think that a lot of the CO2 that is being released into the air would come from vehicles that use gas. Taking public transportation is a great way to assist the environment because it is a way to limit the amount of gases released into the air. Almost everyone on the bus would have a car, which will make a huge difference when taking public transportation!

I agree with you jordan, my carbon footprint was higher than my region's average. I now realize some things I can do to prevent this, so I'm going to start and assist my enviroment

I agree with most of the suggestions made in this post. I feel the first thing to do is to reduce wastage. We as Americans waste an excessive amount of commodities and resources that all require energy in one form or another for their production. According to www.motherjones.com, “Americans, who have the largest material requirements in the world, each directly or indirectly use an average of 125 pounds of material every day, or about 23 tons per year” (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/199 … urce-waste). In addition, the use of fuels in the form of gas, coal, oil, and other forms of energy like electricity and machinery can be overused. Our world would be much cleaner and healthier if we spare it by not dumping millions of tons of garbage. Appropriate technology can reduce the duplication of the western world industrialization and manufacturing by third world countries and their development.

Something to address is that your region SHOULD not use 3,575 (KGS) of energy. This number is actually an average to help you put into perspective your c02 emissions compared to your location. To reduce this number you should start with your own statistics before moving onto what you can't necessarily control. One suggestion I have is to go through each of the 50 questions you answered and think about how you could improve each behavior seperately. This way your could get a sense for which area you need the most improvement in and just what those improvements should be.

The best to do would most likely be to to try to turn off any devices that you are not using them. Even if a device is not plugged into the the charger, the charger is still taking in energy so the best is to unplug everything while you are not using them, including the charger. If possible, carpool with others to get places or, even better, walk or ride your bike. That should reduce your carbon significantly if everyone in your family does it too.

The simplest things that you can do is just shut off the water when your are brushing your teeth, shut off the water when you are washing your hair or body in the shower, shutting off lights when you leave a room or if you don't really need it, and you could try and either wash cloths/ dishes by hand or fill your dish washer/ washing machine completely.

My carbon footprint took a grand total of 5,879 kg of CO2 that I released into the atmosphere. Although, at home I used 3,319 kg, which is right below the average in my region. Although my carbon footprint is much smaller than yours, we both are negatively impacting our environment. I agree that as a community we need to diminish our use of energy as much as possible. There are countless ways we can decrease our use of energy.
As well as the humongous electric bill we are handing to our family, we are damaging our beautiful world. While I was watching a video, I learned several heart breaking facts. On, "Climate 101," Bill Nye explains that humans produce around 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. Although, 55% gets absorbed by the ocean, land, and vegetation, the rest remains in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is hastily ruining our planet and the topic is being swept under the rug and is not being handled correctly.
Schools need to begin talking about this issue. Many people are unaware of the harm they’re causing our planet. As a minor, I may not have cont rol on a lot of portions of how my household is run, but, I can spread awareness of our carbon footprints, and so can you. One major impact on my carbon footprint was that my home runs primarily on incandescent light bulbs. My family and I need to begin considering swapping out incandescent light bulbs to more energy efficient light bulbs, such as LED bulbs. Perhaps other families may be open to that change as well. Reducing your carbon footprints can be as simple as turning lights off after leaving a room or unplugging things from outlets when they’re not in use. Without a second thought, every night I hop into the shower, which is really harming our environment. I need to try my best to conserve as much water as possible and to be less wasteful. Before I turn on the shower, maybe I’ll consider some dry shampoo instead. My family and I will have to work on decreasing the amount of trash bags we use per week and maybe begin composting and recycle as much as possible. Recycling is an extremely effective way to reduce greenhouse gases, which will benefit our world. Therefore, all in all, as a society we need to start to be less careless and ungrateful and begin to recognize the weight behind our decisions.

My carbon footprint took a grand total of 5,879 kg of CO2 that I released into the atmosphere. Although, at home I used 3,319 kg, which is right below the average in my region. Although my carbon footprint is much smaller than yours, we both are negatively impacting our environment. I agree that as a community we need to diminish our use of energy as much as possible. There are countless ways we can decrease our use of energy.
As well as the humongous electric bill we are handing to our family, we are damaging our beautiful world. While I was watching a video, I learned several heart breaking facts. On, [Climate 101,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v-w8Cyfoq8) Bill Nye explains that humans produce around 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. Although, 55% gets absorbed by the ocean, land, and vegetation, the rest remains in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is hastily ruining our planet and the topic is being swept under the rug and is not being handled correctly.
Schools need to begin talking about this issue. Many people are unaware of the harm they’re causin g our planet. As a minor, I may not have control of a lot of portions of how my household is run, but, I can spread awareness of our carbon footprints, and so can you. One major impact on my carbon footprint was that my home runs primarily on incandescent light bulbs. My family and I need to begin considering swapping out incandescent light bulbs to more energy efficient light bulbs, such as LED bulbs. Perhaps other families may be open to that change as well. Reducing your carbon footprints can be as simple as turning lights off after leaving a room or unplugging things from outlets when they’re not in use. Without a second thought, every night I hop into the shower, which is really harming our environment. I need to try my best to conserve as much water as possible and to be less wasteful. Before I turn on the shower, maybe I’ll consider some dry shampoo instead. My family and I will have to work on decreasing the amount of trash bags we use per week and maybe begin composting and recycle as much as possible. Recycling is an extremely effective way to reduce greenhouse gases, which will benefit our world. Therefore, all in all, as a society we need to start to be less careless and ungrateful and begin to recognize the weight behind our decisions.