Carbon Dioxide Footprint?

For my fuel class, we had to find out how many tons of carbon we put in the air and put all the info in a plan. We found this out by using a carbon dioxide footprint calculator, after that we had to then find out what actions we could take and how many tons of carbon they offset. The purpose of this was to see how much carbon dioxide we put in the air annually and to see how different actions could help. The challenge was finding out how many metrics tons it would be, compared to how many tons. One fun thing was to actually see how many tons of carbon dioxide I put in the atmosphere.

 

 

                                                  NVA "CO2 Solutions." 2-19-14. Chicago: GCE

 

Pollution is chemicals or toxins that are released into the air that can cause many different outputs to the environment. These toxins can be released into the air in many different ways, from breathing to burning fossil fuels, and from volcanoes erupting to livestock giving off methane gas.. These ways are mainly due to man, and the only way to lower these outcomes is to change the way we live today.

One of the biggest pollutants is carbon dioxide, which can be transferred to the atmosphere through any of the ways I listed above. People release many tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually. I release about 33.3 tons or 30.2 metric tons of carbon each year;11% from goods, 33% from services, 21% from food, 25% from shelter, and 10% from mobility. It would take 6.1 Planets Earths exactly to provide enough resources, if everyone produced that much carbon dioxide. To offset these carbon emissions, I would have to plant 775 trees to sequester the carbon dioxide I produce. This information is called a “carbon footprint”. It is how much carbon we create and put in the atmosphere.

Annually, my lifestyle produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as 6.3 passenger vehicles, while my carbon dioxide emissions are equivalent to 3,387 gallons of gasoline consumed. This is a lot for just one person, especially because I don’t drive myself.

There are three actions I could take that would help reduce my carbon footprint and could be helpful for others to do. Below are the actions and how they can help reduce carbon emissions:

Reduce the amount of animal products you currently eat by half:

- I eat mainly beef and chicken, and both are big animals that release methane into the air. By taking this action, and eating half of what I eat now, I can go from 6.1 Planets Earths to 6 planets taking away 0.1 planets. Following this action, will reduce my carbon dioxide emissions from 33.3 to 32.6 tons, 0.7 tons less than before.

Use solar panels to provide most of the electricity in your house:

-If I took this action, it would help the offset the carbon dioxide emissions, because it would reduce the amount of coal or natural gases that get into the air when burned to create the electricity. The number of Planets Earths required to support lifestyle would be reduced by 0.9, which is 6.1 to 5.2. From this action, my carbon dioxide emissions would be reduce by 6.8 tons, the difference between 33.3 and 26.5 tons of carbon dioxide.

Make all your appliances more energy efficient:

-My household appliances are energy efficient, but by making them more efficient it would help reduce the amount of energy needed to make the appliance work. The number of planets would be reduced by 0.3 planets, which would be 6.1 to 5.9. By switching to energy efficient appliances, I will reduce my carbon dioxide emissions by 2 tons, the difference between  33.3 and 31.3 tons of carbon dioxide.

These actions would help get rid of some of my carbon dioxide emissions, but they won’t get rid of all it. More people should invest money/time for an emissions reduction project, because these projects can help keep the greenhouse gases contained and remove them from them the atmosphere. One way that people could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is by planting trees. As I said before, I would need to plant 775 trees to sequester my emissions.  Scientists have found that 1 urban tree will sequester (or remove) 0.039 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. I can use the formula 1 tree/0.039 metric tons. The formula means that with every 1 tree planted, 0.039 metric tons of carbon are removed from the air due to photosynthesis. 30.2 metric tons (1 tree/0.039 metric tons) = 30.2/0.039 = 774.35, which would round up to 775 trees.

 

Even without investing, I could just follow the actions. All of these actions put together would reduce the number of planets needed by 1.1, which is 6.1 to 5 planets. This would reduce my carbon dioxide emissions from 33.3 to 25.7 tons or 30.2 to 23.3 metric tons. In other words, I would have reduced my carbon output by 7.6 tons. Then, to offset these emissions, I would only have to plant 598 trees, which is 177 LESS TREES needed to take care of the carbon I’m giving off. We need to be at 350 ppm of carbon in the air, and because we put so much carbon in the air we are at 400 ppm and rising. We need to start taking actions now and get that number down!

REFERENCES:

"Clean Energy: Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

"Footprint Calculator." Global Footprint Network. Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

"How Emissions Reduction Projects Work." TerraPass. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

"Carbon Dioxide." World of Earth Science. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. Web 21 Feb. 2014    

"What is a Carbon Footprint." Time For Change. Web 21 Feb. 2014