Your Carbon Footprint: What Is It & How Can You Reduce It?
These days when most people throughout the United States and beyond are deliberately attempting to become more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious in their daily lives, the phrase ‘reduce your carbon footprint’ is often heard but unfortunately not as regularly understood.
What Does ‘Your Carbon Footprint’ Actually Mean?
Your carbon footprint is, essentially, the amount of greenhouse gases produced which directly result from an individual’s day-to-day activities. Your carbon footprint will usually be measured in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide and as a responsible member of the human race it is your moral and ethical duty to reduce your personal carbon footprint as far as possible.
Why Is A Carbon Footprint A Bad Thing?
Make no mistake. Carbon emissions are extremely damaging to the earth’s atmosphere and if the human race continue to disregard these warnings, earth may well not be a habitable place for your grandchildren and beyond.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and therefore absorbs radiation and inhibits heat from escaping from the earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide essentially builds up in the atmosphere overtime and the sheer volume affects climate change and other natural cycles; global warming is a direct result of this build-up of carbon dioxide.
In The Home
The most effective and surprisingly affordable method of drastically reducing your daily carbon footprint is to install solar panels onto the roof of your home. Having decided to invest in solar panels, it is strongly advisable to consult with a professional, established, experienced and environmentally conscious company such as SAVKAT Inc.
Other ways to reduce your carbon footprint within your home include ensuring all light switches and plug sockets are turned off after use, ensuring proper insulation throughout your home and reducing the amount of plastic packaging you use.
Travelling
Fundamentally one of the worst contributor to excess levels of carbon dioxide, as well as other greenhouse gases, to the earth’s atmosphere are airplanes and the less people who regularly travel using this method, the better for the environment and the planet as a whole.
Public transport is considerably more environmentally friendly and, wherever possible, walking to work or to social occasions will go some way towards decreasing your carbon footprint. When searching for accommodation when travelling, strive to choose a hotel who is actively promoting and clearly committed to a more responsible form of travel and any accommodation that prove they adhere to sustainability initiatives are always preferable over those who do not.
Change Your Shopping Habits
Unlike manufactured and processed foods, the more fruit and vegetables you and other members of your household or workplace consume, the lower the carbon footprint will be as both foodstuffs have a lower carbon footprint.
Furthermore, making the change to organic products will further decrease your carbon footprint as organic farms are far more environmentally friendly as they tend to use a significantly lower quantity of pesticides and use a wide variety of plants which naturally enhances biodiversity.
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