Many students using our footprint calculator said that they could not pledge to reduce their home footprints because they were not making the decisions for the household. Here is your chance to design your own sustainable virtual household!
If you had your own home, what would you do to make it more energy efficient? Where would you get your electricity from? Where would your house be? Would you live near to your school or work or local transit options? Where would you get your food from?
MY Family Footprint >
The 5 R's!
1. Reduce: stop purchasing so many products and when you do try buying used products or clothing. Be mindful of what you really need!
2. Refuse: Stop getting single-use plastic products like straws by just saying no. GET REUSABLES!!
3. Reuse: Try as hard as you can to keep things out of the landfill (buy things you can reuse). Try keeping things in good condition and fixing them instead of buying a new one.
4. Rot: Use a compost system! Find a food scrap drop off center like a farmers market.
5. Recycle: Properly recycle paper, glass, or metal. Research your state's recycling laws.
I think these rules are very important to remember. They help you control the amount of waste you produce. I think it is important to consider these rules when for all things we use/throw away.
I agree I think all of the 5 R's are really important and could really help reduce the number of carbon emissions released into the air. Helping to reduce the number of products you buy or think you need. I think the refuse one especially plastic straws and bags is really important to refuse because honestly do you really need straws? and bags you can always get reusables ones. I think reusing things is also really important because the more you reuse the less the thing is produced which means less carbon in the air. Rot: having a compost bin/ just composting, in general, helps a lot. Lastly, recycling is something that a lot of people don't do and just put recycled things into landfill which is worse for the environment, and by recycling you are helping also with the reusing step. In all, considering all 5 R's is really important and just by doing these things could easily help the amount of CO2.
This is a helpful acronym that allows people to remember the importance of reusing our resources to prevent pollution and to decrease the number of carbon sources that release carbon into the atmosphere. By using compostable items, you allow the soil to reabsorb the carbon that might have been in the product, which creates a sink. If everyone in the world stops using plastic that they can throw away after one use, then the sources of carbon would decrease dramatically. As the ways carbon can be released into the atmosphere decrease, then the carbon levels decrease.
I totally agree with this system. The 5 R's can definitely make a change in our lives and reduce the amount of carbon. For example, when using recyclable or compostable item, you allow the soil to absorb the carbon that was once in the item. If every person in the world was responsible enough to care about how plastic affects us, then carbon usage and emissions would go down. Correspondingly, when carbon outflows are decreased into the atmosphere, then carbon amounts overall, creating a healthier earth.