What is it? What are some of the changes we can make to reduce our carbon footprint?

What is a carbon footprint?

Our carbon footprint is the greenhouses that we humans create on a daily basis, such as carbon dioxide and methane.

About carbon footprint:

In the USA the standard amount of carbon footprint from an individual is 16 tons. The United States holds the title for being one of the countries with the highest carbon footprint in the world .The standard carbon footprint worldwide is near 4 tons. Furthermore, since 1961 the carbon footprint has gone up 11-folds and currently the carbon footprint is 60% of mankind’s general Ecological Footprint and its fast expanding component.

How can people improve their carbon footprint?

Food:

• Always purchase what you need to avoid wasting any food.
• Eat local and eat products that are in season.
• When shopping for groceries bring along reusable shopping bags.
• Eating less meat. Meat on its own has a huge carbon footprint due to the demanding nature of farming methods, a large number of animals have to be fed every year, all the resources used to feed them has to planted, harvested and transported.

Clothing:

• Consider thrifting, renting or try swapping your clothes.
• Take good care of the clothing you buy.

How to dress sustainably:

• Shop vintage
• Ask yourself the question of how many times you can see yourself wearing the item.
• Donate old clothes.

 Waste less:

• Be creative. If you have any leftovers in the fridge reuse them for a new meal instead of throwing them away.
• Plan. When cooking always cook the right amount of food that can be eaten that day or night.

In your Home:

• Switch off all lights and appliances that are not being used and it’s also best to switch off appliances at the electric outlet in order to save more power.
• Purchasing a laptop instead of a desktop saves way more energy, because laptops use less power.
• Recycle paper, steel and tin cans.

Article was written by: Reneilwe Monametsi