Carbon Footprint
Oct 17th, 2010 by Kimberley Chung
I was scanning through some classmates’ blogs and stumbled upon a friends’ post about his Carbon Footprint. Here’s the link to his page: https://blogs.ubc.ca/edhsu516/. Check out his Carbon Footprint of 3.678. I was talking to him about it and he said his carbon footprint should be higher now because he drives to school every day.
I’ve always been quite curious about my carbon footprint so I decided to take an online test to measure mine!
I was quite puzzled when I first looked at my results because I didn’t really know what 4.711 meant. I scrolled down and read a bit about the explanations for my actions. Here is the breakdown:
daily commute (14%)
Land transportation makes up the largest portion of British Columbians’ carbon footprint, yet it is one of the areas that has the most low-carbon options available to us! I am already taking some great steps in reducing my carbon impact, but they want to challenge me to the PersonalGreenPlan_2010.pdf and see what else I can do. In taking on changes such as riding my bike, walking, carpooling or taking transit, consider the other positive affects this will have on my life – from a more active lifestyle, to more personal reading time, less road rage, more time to hang out with friends or an opportunity to meet new people!
long distance travel (19%)
I do travel with my family quite often. To places such as Mexico. While long distance travel can be tough to avoid — stepping on a plane for family or work purposes, consider taking a couple extra days to enjoy a scenic train ride, or using the bus over shorter distances. Videoconferencing or local vacations in Beautiful British Columbia are among many options available to you when considering long-distance travel.
food (46.6%)
I’ve done a good job at keeping a relatively low food-print so far – but I should think about what further changes I could make that would result in a more locally-produced, vegetable-based and a low carbon diet.
shelter (20.4%)
I just moved into a brand new house and so most of the appliances I have are very eco-friendly and efficient. There are dozens of small and medium changes people can make at home – check out the options in the Change Exchange and make sure everyone in your house is on the same page so your can share in your success!
Measure your Carbon Footprint and see how well you are doing! Small changes can make a big difference.