Reducing Our Carbon Footprints

A carbon footprint is the measure of the total amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of things we do in our everyday lives such as travel, shopping, washing, even watching television. The primary footprint measures our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, e.g. car and plane journeys. The secondary footprint measures indirect CO2 emissions from the whole life cycle of products we use.

There are a number of websites that can help us calculate our carbon footprints. I was very pleased to discover that my footprint is 9.96 tonnes per year, considerably lower than the Canadian average of 20 tonnes. The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes; the worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 tonnes.

We can reduce the size of our carbon footprints and save money by considering the following suggestions:

• Leave the car at home and either walk, cycle, or use public transit.
• Carpool.
  
• Avoid using air conditioning if possible, as this uses more fuel.
• Cut back on air travel.
  
• Reduce the use of electrical appliances.
• Use proper insulation and double glazed windows.
• Do not buy bottled water, especially from abroad.
• Cut back on purchases of red meat and highly packaged items.
• Cut back on imported clothes and food.