what is Carbon Footprinting?
Imagine walking through thick mud. Stop and look behind you.
What you see are your footprints. Now imagine that the mud is the
planet. What you are now looking at is your impact (footprint) on
the planet.
Carbon footprinting is a way of measuring the impact of human
activity on the environment. Carbon is in virtually everything,
from your own body to the new television player you buy for
Christmas. Your carbon footprint is the amount of carbon (usually
measured in terms of Carbon Dioxide - CO2) you emit in
your daily life through travel, heating, energy and waste.
Therefore, we all are responsible for increasing the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Some simple factors that affect
your carbon footprint:
- Car travel: Fuel efficiency, distance travelled, number of
passengers, driving style and level of traffic are some of the
factors that can affect the amount of carbon emissions you
produce through using a car.
- Air travel: Taking off and landing uses more fuel than just
flying, so two short flights can have higher emissions than one
longer one.
- Home heating: The carbon emissions from heating your home
depend on the fuel used, efficiency of the heating system,
level of insulation and the householders efficient use of
thermostatic controls.
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