Introduction I have already endeavored to live a lifestyle to help the environment by recycling, driving a more fuel-efficient vehicle, and using more energy efficient technology. That being said, as an individual in the global world, I have much to change in order to reverse the effects of climate change.
What aspect of your lifestyle contributed the most to your carbon footprint?
In one year’s time (9/2/14-9/2/15) my carbon footprint has totaled 14.90 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which comes in slightly below the nation’s average (Carbon Footprint Calculator, 2015). The most surprising source of carbon emissions in my day-to-day life were my secondary emissions, specifically my habits regarding food choice, recycling, and typical purchases. After conducting some research, this massive amount of additional carbon emission (7.65 metrics tons, which is more than half of all of my emissions) is most likely due to the shipping requirements of the products I purchase. I buy little to no organic, or locally grown produce, and rather purchase packaged products, which have been shipped trans-nationally over several thousand miles. The immense energy requirements for transportation of food and material goods in the U.S contributes to carbon emissions on a massive scale, for which I am partially to blame.
What aspect of your lifestyle contributed the least to your carbon footprint?
Overall, the use of my fuel-efficient Honda Civic contributed the least to my carbon
Global warming has become an undisputed fact about our current livelihoods; our planet is warming up and we are definitely part of the problem. However, this isn’t the only environmental problem that we should be concerned about. All across the world,
In her article she writes about how the earth is being affected by all the pollutions and greenhouse gases that are being emitted. She explains about how the food industry contributes by “Most produce is shipped many miles before it is sold to consumers, and shipping our food for long distances is costly in both the amount of fossil fuel it uses and the greenhouse gases it produces” (93). This adds to her argument that buying local will help reduce the amount of air pollution from transporting food. In an article by Environmental Board the authors claim “If you buy locally, you protect and make the environment more sustainable because you don’t have to truck the food thousands of miles across the country or import it from other countries which takes a lot of energy. It is a lot better for the climate and region” (1). This information provides evidence to support her theory in which buying local can help reduce harmful
The article “Why Bother” written by Michael Pollan explains how bad climate change has become; he uses cheap energy and specialization to slow the phenomenon. He proclaims that people are all waiting around on each other to make the first move but no one is moving. He understands how critical the world has become and suggests people now have to start going green. He says that to modify the way climate change has taken charge, the best ways to slow it down is laws and a massive amount of money. Pollan suggests having a personal garden or even a community garden will help reduce the carbon footprint.
Firstly because I want to continue to grow up in a healthy environment. My motivations are seeing all the places in the world that are being destroyed due to climate change. Places like the Great Barrier Reef used to be inhabited by sea creatures and fish but now due to waste and raising sea level temperatures it will be gone in two decades.( Site)
Another problem is transportation; cars, planes, trucks, and other vehicles emit various greenhouse gases when in use, or when idling. I would create more solar-powered cars, and if possible, wind-cars, or other cars that run using renewable sources. I would also increase the prices of gas, to discourage people from buying it. However, this would be very, very expensive, and the fuel companies would not agree with the
Michael Pollan describes the effects of climate change and the different things that people can do to help correct this problem in his essay entitled "Why Bother?" He believes that even the simplest changes can create a huge difference. One of the things the he says will help is taking one day out of the week to use as little technology as possible. Things to not use include cars/motor vehicles, cellphones, electricity, and more. Just taking one day away from these things will help reduce pollution. Another thing he says would help a lot is planting a garden. Planting a garden will provide people with their own home grown food which reduces the need for food shipments and commercial growing. This reduced the pollution caused by the vehicle
By eating more foods from community based farms, will reduce pollution and improve the air quality (A) resulting from semi-trucks delivering fewer shipments. Having less polluted air will tremendously improve the environment by reducing the greenhouse gases that are emitted. Although those who oppose this change, claim that consuming home-grown products still can utilize the same amount of fuel (C). For example, a local farmer who sells fifty apples at a stall fifty miles from his farm uses the same “amount of fuel per apple” as a foreign company shipping two-thousand apples over two-thousand miles to a store (C). While this debate is compelling, in the long run, purchasing and consuming regionally-produced foods will have a greater impact in reducing pollution rather than solely buying imported foods. This is because companies will not have to import the same amount of food as often, if everyone joins the campaign by eating locally. Therefore, by switching to this lifestyle, the environment will notably
If it is possible to recover our environment we might be able to by toning down the cost of everything we use from transportation to energy manufacturing. I have spent the
The average American has a carbon footprint of about 19.8 tons (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). That is equivalent to 40,000 pounds. Chances are, that without even knowing it, you have reduced your carbon footprint. If you have used a recyclable plastic bag to carry your organically grown fruits and vegetables from the store or used “green” products to clean your kitchen and non-chemical pesticides to kill the bugs in your garden, then you have reduced your carbon footprint. You might knowingly do this because you care about the environment and the health of the planet and your family or maybe, in part, because it’s considered socially unacceptable not to care.
Climate change in America is getting worse everyday and can destroy many of living organisms including humans; therefore, humans need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions fast or, oceans will be dramatically changed, the ice will melt causing floods, and the changing in weather causing severe damage. These are major issues that need to be resolved if we are planning on making a bright future on earth.
Because carbon footprints are such hot topics in the news these days, it's an ideal topic for this particular paper. As concerns about global warming and potential climate change have continued to evolve the term "carbon footprint" has become ingrained in many people's consciousness. Though the large Fortune 500 companies focus on reduction of their own carbon footprints, individuals can help in their own small way as well.
As a kid I never really comprehended how vital it was to take care of this planet. As I went through many life changes I became aware of this necessity, I am currently an intern for Greenpeace and I get to passionately do something to help ensure that this planet, and the people who will come after us can thrive.
Transportation is the number one thing we consumers do that harms the environment. Transportation causes the highest amount of environmental damage overall - nearly half of the toxic air pollution and more than a quarter of the greenhouse gases traceable to household consumption. Over time, however, sales of trucks, vans and SUV's went from 16% market share to over 50%. One big auto manufacturer even shelved their work of the last three years, spent updating their most popular selling economy car, so they could spend the money getting SUVs to market faster.
What if humans could find a way to combat climate change? This is where climate engineering would come into play. Climate engineering, also known as weather modification or geoengineering, is “the intentional alteration of Earth’s climate aiming to counter climate change” (Wikipedia par. 1). Some of the proposals for climate engineering include shooting dust into the stratosphere, putting iron dust in the oceans, and even placing mirrors in space to reflect sunlight. One example of weather modification was implemented during the Second World War, where airports in the United Kingdom would use flamethrowers installed on runways to get rid of acid fog. This solution was successful, however each airport used approximately 0.5 million liters of fuel per hour. In the end, the disadvantages of climate engineering outweigh the benefits by not solving all of the Earth’s climate problems, cooling only certain areas of the planet, and drastically changing the weather patterns on Earth.
Air pollution in the form of carbon dioxide also increases the earth’s temperature; climate changes expand the production of air pollutants. People are trying to put things in order so there is less air pollution and it will not have a big impact on climate change. Airborne pollutants are contributing to global climate change; air pollution can create a disastrous outcome for the nation. Cutting carbon pollution right now so the next generation will not inherit the climate changes would be a good start. President Obama created a plan to address this problem. Thinking Obama's Clean Power Plan would make the issue better it made the issue a bigger dispute between companies because it would be expensive (Adams