A carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of an organization and an individual.
Most of the carbon footprint comes from fossil fuel burning. When we burn fossil fuel it produces greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and other gases. There are many other greenhouse gases but to keep it simple and easy to compare, we count them as CO2 equivalent. We can also calculate the carbon footprint of the world, a country, an individual, a business, a product, etc. For example, when we travel with a vehicle that burns fossil fuels, it clearly produces carbon into the atmosphere. If I use an electric vehicle for traveling, then the question is: how is the electricity produced? In the China and United States, for instance, the two countries with the largest carbon footprint, about 60% of the electricity is produced from fossil fuels so there is a good chance that an electric car produces a lot of carbon footprint. That's right, most sector of our modern life relies on energy. The generation of most of that energy releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. From all of the greenhouse gases, CO2 is an important type of greenhouse gas. It is a naturally occurring molecule that is necessary for maintaining our planet's temperature and for good growing conditions. However, since the Industrial Revolution, the burning of fossil fuels - such as coal and petroleum - has produced excessive amounts of CO2 which is harmful to our planet.
How we can calculate the carbon footprint? calculating your carbon footprint is like many others, there is a website for it https://www.carbonfootprint.com › calculator. If you enter how much energy it takes to heat your home, how much traveling you do, how much electricity you use, how much money you spend on food, clothes, accessories, technology, etc. and the search engine behind it translates everything into how many tons of CO2 equivalent that is. Adding it all up at the end, you get your carbon footprint. Mine is 1.63. It is significantly lower than the average. We use fossil fuel in a different form, it releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which makes temperature rise and the earth get warmer day by day. We have emitted much of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the past century that the earth is getting warmer than it has been over the past 400,000 years. So, we need to reduce our gas emissions which means we need to reduce our carbon footprint either by planting trees, building a wind farm and a solar power plant. The best way to reduce my carbon footprint is to address its root causes and take immediate actions. So, we can live in a smaller home, improve the insulation of our house, use less electricity, have more your electricity produced from renewable energy resource, fly less, walk and bike to travel less by car, when you do travel, use a very efficient vehicle, maybe an electric vehicle, eat less meat, especially beef which generates a lot of carbon emissions.
Our current atmospheric CO2 level is four hundred ppm, a level that last occurred about 20 million years ago. This is the highest level ever seen during human existence. All excessive CO2 traps an awful amount of heat and will eventually turn our planet into a very hot mess. To keep the Earth system in balance, we need to reduce our emissions, but it's impossible to imagine a life without fossil fuel because it has been the main energy source for our modern lifestyle for a long time. We use fossil fuel not only to produce energy but also use it to make many other things. New technologies - such as solar, wind, and geothermal - could free us from our fossil fuel dependence, but it will take a great deal of effort to build a clean and green alternative energy system that is strong enough to meet all of our energy demands. The energy transition will be a step-by-step process, but let's not wait until then to reduce our gas emissions. So, for the betterment of our atmosphere, we need to start today, consuming less of everything, from meat and water to all those unnecessary things that we throw away so easily. Even simple things like not wasting food and avoiding extra packaging can help to go lower gas emissions. Changes will happen from today so do your best. However, even if we stop all over CO2 emissions, we won't stop the climate from warming. All the CO2 we've produced so far is like a thick blanket insulating the Earth and it will take time to dissipate. The sooner we stop burning fossil fuels, the sooner our Earth can begin to deal with all of this extra CO2. We all have to take part in reducing CO2 emissions to lessen its impact on the environment.
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