Make your family a little greener with ten simple, approachable ideas to reduce your family’s carbon footprint. Going green or being eco-friendly can seem intimidating, but reducing your carbon footprint…
Make your family a little greener with ten simple, approachable ideas to reduce your family’s carbon footprint.
Going green or being eco-friendly can seem intimidating, but reducing your carbon footprint doesn’t need to involve a radical lifestyle overhaul! There are many simple and affordable ways almost anyone can contribute to helping the environment.
In this guide, we’ll go over the basics of carbon footprints and show you easy ways your household can get green. From reducing waste to being a savvy consumer, see what your family can do to improve.
Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and ozone contribute to pollution, ozone depletion and global warming. Our carbon footprint refers to the net amount of greenhouse gases generated by us or things we consume, with fossil fuels being a major source.
Activities like driving a car, heating and cooling, and using electrical power from gas or coal all emit CO2. Products we buy also contribute to our carbon footprint, as most require fossil fuels for production, packaging and transportation.
According to TimeForChange.org, the average person in an industrialized country has a carbon footprint of 11 tons of CO2 per year. However, the estimated target for long-term sustainability is only 2 tons of CO2 per year!
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosts a helpful online household carbon footprint calculator that can help you figure out your family’s footprint. It looks at emissions from transportation, household energy, and waste, and also shows you how making changes will impact your overall profile.
According to the EPA, the average 4-person household produces 83,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year (20,750 pounds per person). Factors like how much you drive, your car’s mileage-per-gallon, your home’s average temperature, energy sources, and waste can all reduce or increase your footprint.
When you think about all the things that contribute to the average family’s carbon footprint, it can seem overwhelming – and also puts in perspective the impact that could come from each person just making small changes to their daily routine.
A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide that one person or one activity creates. It is suggested as a measure of how much damage on the environment that something has. The carbon footprint for a bottle of water would add up the negative environmental impact of manufacturing plastic bottles and truck emissions for delivering the water. Your house would have a carbon footprint. Some activities have an indirect carbon footprint by removing “carbon sinks”, i.e. removing things that would remove carbon dioxide. The most obvious ones are the massive deforestation going on in many tropical areas through slash-and-burn agriculture, mining, etc.
Reducing carbon footprints: You could lower the carbon footprint of your house by doing things like using CFL lighting and energy efficient appliances, and adding insulation. There are websites that help you determine carbon footprints. It is also possible to reduce net carbon footprint by adding plants which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen to the atmosphere.
10 Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprint & Make Your Family Greener
First, let’s clear the air: you don’t need to install mega solar panels and live exclusively off bean sprouts to reduce your family’s carbon footprint, so don’t be intimidated!
While clean energy and organic farming certainly help the planet, there are many other ways to reduce carbon footprints without drastically changing your lifestyle. Bonus: many of these eco-friendly solutions can make great family projects!
Landfills are an incredible source of greenhouse gases and pollution. Recycling the basics can cut the amount of garbage you send to landfills by up to 50% or more.
Several waste management services now have low-cost recycling programs, and if your’s doesn’t, look for a local recycling facility that picks up or accepts drop-offs. Many are free, and some items like cans could even net a small amount of money.
Green Ideas:
Question:
Which process does not cause a carbon footprint to grow larger?
All living organisms contain elements of carbon. A carbon footprint refers to the number of gases produced to facilitate human activities. The footprint is expressed in terms of carbon dioxide. This question is about examples of carbon footpriont.,
FAQ
Which option describes a carbon footprint?
What causes a carbon footprint?
Which is part of a person carbon footprint?
