“Let`s Reduce Your Carbon Footprint”

By: Kelsey Tuck

• CARBON:The actions of individuals, companies and nations as a whole are all generating carbon emissions, which are linked to the climate change crisis the planet is facing. The first step to taking effective action is to reduce your carbon footprint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJwt9nwCElA

Carbon Footprint Reduction@ home.

Within your home try to:• Reduce the use of electrical appliances• When replacing appliances, try to buy appliances which use less power and have a good energy rating• Turn things off when not in use• Replace standard light bulbs with their low energy equivalents

*Reduce heat loss:

-install loft insulation

-use cavity wall insulation

Fit carpet with underlay

Through windows - fit double glazing

Through gaps around doors - fit draft excluders

Electricity:• $300per

month• .62 metric

tons of carbon.

Natural Gas:• $300per

month• 1.15 metric

tons of carbon.

Heating Oil:• $300per

month• 3.43 metric

tons of carbon

PICTURE THIS:

A family of 7 in a household’s carbon footprint is ..

5.31 metric tons of CO2

what you can do to help:]• Turn down the central heating slightly. Just 1 degree

will help reduce your heating bill by about 8%.• Turn down the water heating setting (just 2 degrees

will make a significant saving) • Check the central heating timer setting - remember

there is no point heating the house after you have left for work

The 3 R’s:• Reduce-The production of the packaging uses additional

energy. -Did you know that the energy used to produce, deliver and

dispose of junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars?

• Re-use-Everyone should try and re-use products for as long as possible. It is amazing how often people buy certain products and use them only once or twice, even though they can be re-used many times.

• Recycle- Uses less energy and produces less pollution than making things from scratch. Making Aluminum cans from old ones uses one twelfth of the energy to make them from raw materials.

• The carbon Footprint is 54 percent of humanity’s overall Ecological Footprint and its most rapidly-growing component. Humanity’s carbon footprint has increased 11-fold since 1961. Reducing humanity’s carbon Footprint is the most essential step we can take to end overshoot and live within the means of our planet.

Works Cited:

1.http://www.carbonfootprint.com/athome.html2.http://www.carbonfund.org/site/pages/save_energy3.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06335/742624-294.stm

4.http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

5.http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/carbon_footprint/