• What exactly is a carbon footprint?

Step-by-step, each day, we perpetuate our carbon footprint. The ripple effect of the daily choices we make follows us like carbon breadcrumbs. But what can we do to sweep up our paths and avoid arriving at the gingerbread house of gluttonous consumption? As it turns out, a lot of things. A whole new lifestyle and mindset awaits us.

Our ‘primary carbon footprint’ is determined by the sum of all greenhouse gas emissions, the result of burning fossil fuels, which supply our consumption and transportation demands. Or, in layman’s terms, the effects of what we do.

Our lesser-known ‘secondary carbon footprint’ consists of the sum of all indirect emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the lifecycle of a product.

For example, products like the plastic water bottle. A common perpetrator perhaps focused on by the media and advertisements because it is a small, yet significant, obstacle on the road to sustainability. Wasteful consumption practices like these can be reduced on a personal level in favor of the collective whole – environment absolutely included.

• My carbon footprint.

We are all a piece of the whole, together greater than the sum of our parts; a drop of rain in the face of the storm, a single leaf dangling on the proverbial tree of life, one ant in the hill or bee in the hive. While we may believe our effects to be minimal, the significance of one person in a household, country, or continent becomes immediately considerable when linked to the bigger picture. In short: what we do matters!

Each day we consume: paper, plastic, food, water, heating and cooling, illumination, transportation, and the occupation of homes and commercial buildings – all consuming infinite amounts of energy and electricity. The first step towards changing the way we lead our lives and lower our carbon footprints requires a bit of introspection.

First, determine your carbon footprint and consider the effects of what you do each day. Then, mull over the fact that millions of people all over the world are consuming natural resources just as you are. Conversely, a significant amount of the global population has no access to these same resources (another blog for another day?).

• How to reduce our carbon footprints…baby steps come first.

Turns out Mom had it right all along. Big changes start with baby steps. The following recommended changes come from experts all over the world to ease our transition into completely sustainable living:

o Recycle! Find out what recyclables are allowed at your local dump and make a point of collecting and then…recycling them!
o Go paperless, everyone’s doing it! Unsubscribe from all junk mail, subscribe to online newspapers and magazines, and reduce the amount of paper waste in your home or office.
o An avid reader? Look for used bookstores in your area or support your local library to satiate the need. Gift yourself an e-reader!
o Carry reusable shopping bags. Store them in the trunk of your car until its second nature for you to take them with you to the store, any store!
o Don’t burn fuel on your way to work, burn calories via your mode of transportation. Or begin carpooling…engage your coworkers.
o Monitor your electricity use and replace all existing light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs.
o Become a locavore. Support your local grocer and encourage sustainable farming practices or shop for organic produce and meats.
o Plant some trees! At your home or on a volunteer-basis, they help to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide.

What more incentive do you need?

• Giant green steps into the future.

Modern inventions have helped to make our carbon footprints, as well as those of businesses and organizations, determinable, measureable, and amendable. This is of the utmost importance as the tides change in favor of a smarter, greener tomorrow.

Our interest in this question, and dedication to effecting a change on an individual and personal level, are the first steps towards correcting a global problem. This is not the sort of issue which can be healed with a plastic band-aid or minor amendments; it demands a complete lifestyle alteration and revolutionary outlook.

Businesses have been utilizing and repurposing ‘going green’ as a selling point – embrace it! Information for your new sustainable life is a mere click away.

Learn and take an active interest because what you do, and don’t do, makes a difference.

Do you know your carbon footprint?