What are carbon footprints and how you can reduce it? That’s what today’s piece is all about. It may sound like an E.V.S class but trust me it’s totally related to technology, politics, health and basically everything else.
Would you believe me if I said you’re killing the planet? Not just you, it’s me, our devices, cars and everything we do!
It’s not even our fault entirely. The lives we’ve made for ourselves is such that we won’t survive without killing the planet, no matter how little.
But hey, the least we can do is try to minimize our contribution, can’t we?
I get it, you’re confused. Allow me to explain?
What are carbon footprints?
Almost everything you do releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat in our atmosphere, which causes the planet to heat up, which is bad.
In simpler words, carbon footprints are basically your contribution to climate change.
The primary sources of Carbon footprints include:
- Vehicles: Obviously, anything that emits carbon gases is a culprit. Vehicles come to mind, don’t they? Planes, cars, even bikes are included in the list.
- Deforestation: The one friend we have on the planet against CO2 is trees. When you cut trees down, you’re taking away these friends which would otherwise absorb CO2 for us.
- Industries: Industries use machinery worth millions. Most of these release gases and/or harmful chemicals into the environment.
- Energy consumption in houses: Most of us have air conditioners and/or heaters, followed by different lights, fans, water systems etc. All of these contribute to carbon footprints either directly or indirectly.
If you think about it, every single thing, including your clothes, food, house contributes towards greenhouse gases.
How greenhouse gases impact the environment (and your life)
A question some of you may ask at this point is- “why should we care”? Or, hasn’t Earth always been like this? Well, not exactly. Here’s how greenhouse gases have been killing the planet slowly but certainly:
- Ice caps melt: Ice doesn’t like heat. When our planet heats up, ice caps melt. This leads to a rise in the sea levels and obviously there’s flooding.
- Flooding leads to crops being destroyed, which leads to famine. It also damages the quality of water which may lead to a scarcity of water in certain regions.
- Prices go up: Flood, famine, water scarcity and everything else leads to prices going up. It’s simple, there will be a lack of supply of food and otheritems which means the supplier can charge more. At times, it may even simply be a logistics problem which may drive the price up.
- Biodiversity changes: The planet heats up which means animals now face a new kind of weather, environment they aren’t used to. Some species are able to change themselves, others go extinct. Both these events change the biodiversity which may impact the food chain and ultimately, us.
Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg (which is now melting, pun intended). There’s a lot more that’s impacted due to these greenhouses gases.
Fortunately, it’s not extremely hard for us to control our carbon footprints. In fact, every single individual can start right away, right now, without any tools or investments.
The best part? It’ll actually save you money!
How to reduce your carbon footprint?
Here’s how you can reduce your carbon footprint.
- Calculate your carbon footprint You can only reduce or control what you monitor and know the value of, isn’t that right? Fortunately, you can do this online, in seconds, completely free. Here are the 5 best Carbon Footprint calculators you can use.
- Use more public transports or a bicycle. Fuel-based bikes/cars or other modes of transports contribute significantly towards your carbon footprint.
- Switch to energy-efficient lighting solutions. While the initial cost of energy-efficient appliances may be (very slightly) higher, it helps you save the planet (and money) in the long run.
- Switch to green power if possible. I wouldn’t ask you to start using Solar panels right away. This certainly is a more complicated, time & money-consuming switch. However, it has massive benefits in the long run.
- The 3R: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! This applies to every single thing that you use in your everyday life. Use less of everything, reuse what can be reused and obviously, recycle what can’t be!
- Switch to plant-based diets instead of meat: Hey, don’t come at me. I eat meat too and I do love it. However, meat leads to deforestation, fertilizer & pesticide use, Methane emission, and there’s obviously mass transportation.
- Educate others: A single person’s change in behavior may not be enough, however, the impact grows exponentially when it’s multiplied. You may try to convince your immediate friends and family to some of these changes as well.
Point is, you do not need to adhere to all of these. If you could embed just a few of these into your life that’s a big win for mother Earth.
Conclusion- What are carbon footprints and how you can reduce it?
I’m certain by this point you’ve neat idea of what carbon footprints are and your contributions towards it.
Hopefully, you’ve also got some idea about how to reduce and minimize your share in it, haven’t you?
Let’s be honest. Your individual change wouldn’t really amount to much. But, if every individual starts thinking like that, we’re doomed.
And hey, reducing your footprint doesn’t cost you money, does it? In fact, it’ll probably make you healthier and definitely save you money.
So, the least you can do is, make as many of these pro-Earth changes as you can. Despite what you do or don’t change, do share this piece with a friend? Maybe your friends are more flexible and they change more of their life? It all matters.
