I came accross this article about carbon footprint in Haring Ibon, issue 32 by Dominic Gonzales of Manila Waldorf School. I have been seeing about this over the web but never really understand it, let's educate ourselves...
A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc. The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tonnes (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent.
A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts, the primary footprint and the secondary footprint.
Primary Footprint
The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation. We have direct control of these.
Breakdown (46%):
1. Home: a. Gas, oil and coal (15%), b. Electricity (12%)
2. Transport: a. Private (10%), b. Public (3%), c. Holiday flights (6%)
Secondary Footprint
The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use - those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it very simply – the more we buy the more emissions will be caused on our behalf.
Breakdown (54%):
1. Food and drinks (5%)
2. Clothes and personal effects (4%)
3. Car manufacture and delivery (7%)
4. House - buildings and furnishings (9%)
5. Recreation and Liesure (14%)
6. Financial services (3%)
7. Share of public services (12%)
Well we do now clearly see how vastly we affect the climate change with our little doings. So reduce you carbon footprint and do your part!
Reduce it now! Click here: CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR
Source and further readings:
Photo attatchment courtesy of Wikipedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment