Your Carbon Footprint

Roscommon/Crawford Chapter

Twenty Things for Climate Change
(or How you can Reduce Your Carbon Footprint)

It is easy to blame our government for not acting as it should to fix climate change. Most of us average Joe’s and Josephine’s can't demand energy companies stop drilling oil and polluting our air, but there are things each of us can do to reduce the carbon pollution that we generate in our daily life. Before beginning, it is helpful to know your carbon footprint; the average amount of carbon that your household emits on a yearly basis by the decisions YOU make about your lifestyle and energy consumption. Here is a web page that can help you calculate your carbon footprint:
           https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

Your goal should be getting to 1.8 tons of carbon emissions per year before 2050, the number that everyone in the world must reach to meet world standards agreed upon in 2015. You should also know that the average American household emits 18.7 tons per year whereas the average Chinese household emits just 8.2 tons. I calculated my footprint and I was surprised to learn that mine is in the 20'S, well above the American average -- I need to make more changes than the average bear.

                       Twenty Easy Things You Can Do to Help Fight Climate Change

1- 5 Food: Eat low on the food chain by focusing on vegetables, grains, fruits, and legumes like beans and peas. Eating as many of us do today with a daily intake of meat and dairy accounts for 14.5% of our carbon emissions. A good start on this might be Meatless Mondays.
2. Choose local foods that are in season. Transporting food requires fossil fuels for delivery and cooling.
3. Buy food in bulk using your own container. Buying smaller, packaged containers of food commits a share of your money to making and transporting packaging materials that largely wastes energy.
4. Reduce food waste by planning meals ahead, freezing the excess and eating leftovers. Wasted food is wasted energy.
5. Compost your leftover, excess food so that your garbage company need not haul your wasted and land fill company need not deal with food that ferments and generates toxic fumes.
6 – 10 Clothing & Shopping: Only buy quality clothing that will last. Americans often purchase trendy clothes that are discarded quickly; about 80 pounds of clothing is discarded each year per household, 85 percent of which ends up in landfills that creates methane that pollutes the atmosphere.
7. Buy vintage or recycled clothing at consignment shops. The apparel manufacturers consume huge amounts of energy in making clothing.
8. Bring your own reusable bag when you shop to avoid wasting resources on throw-away bags.
9. Avoid buying items with excess packaging. Recycle everything to minimize waste.
10. If shopping for appliances, lighting, office equipment or electronics, look for Energy Star products, which are certified to be more energy efficient
11-17 Home & Garden: Do an energy audit of your home to look for wasted energy.
12. Replace incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs with light emitting diodes (LEDs). Though LEDs cost more, they use less energy since incandescent and fluorescent lights waste energy as heat. LED lights use 90% less energy than a typical incandescent bulb, which will greatly decrease your primary carbon footprint. LED bulbs also have a life-expectancy that’s 20 times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb, meaning you’ll only have to replace them every 17 years. Unlike traditionally used bulbs, LEDs are manufactured using 100% recyclable materials, which means they shouldn’t end up in landfill sites either.
13. Switch lights off when you leave the room and unplug your electronic devices when they are not in use. Many of our electronic devises are energy thieves – using electrical power even though the device is ostensibly turned off. Energy consumed by devices in standby mode accounts for 5-10% of residential energy use, adding up to $100 per year for the average American household
14. Turn down the thermostat in winter and up in summer to reduce your energy bill for heat and cooling.
15. Plant a tree and reduce the amount of grass that you need to mow. Trees are our largest natural consumers of carbon as they use carbon dioxide taken from the air for photosynthesis.
16. Turn your water heater down to reduce your energy use directly.
17. Install low flow shower heads to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat water.
18-19 Transportation: Drive less. When you must drive, concentrate on saving fuel by driving carefully, avoiding sudden stops, and coasting when you approach a stop or turn. Save gas also by avoiding rapid acceleration and by performing maintenance like keeping your tires at recommended tire pressure. Instead of driving, ride a bike, take public transportation, carpool, or walk. As our French bicycling tour guide told our tour group: “burn fat not oil.”
19. Don't fly. Every other mode of travel saves fuel by comparison
20. And last, be sure to vote and throw out the bums who aren’t responsive to your demands.