Well it’s not exactly a sleep number, a carbon footprint is a representation of the effect that you have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases you produce. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide. By finding out what your personal impact is at www.carbonfootprint.com , you can get a better idea of how to shrink your contribution to global warming. This website measures your home energy and transportation use, and in order to account for your total footprint you would need to include the energy used to produce all the products and services you consume. The US accounts for more than 20% of the worlds total greenhouse gas emissions. Did you know that the average American is responsible for 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year!? When was the last time you weighed fumes?
A broader concept would be your ecological footprint, an estimate of how much land and water is needed to produce all the resources an individual consumes and disposes of, and all of the waste and pollution they generate. To find out your ecological footprint go to www.ecofoot.org . Did you know the average American needs 25 acres to support their lifestyle, 5 times more than is sustainable. Hopefully you’re better than average, if everyone in the world lived like that it would take 5.3 planets to sustain us. When you find out your number, don’t freak out, focus on what you can change about your lifestyle, these are some things you can do:
- Change your bulbs, I have said it before and I’ll say it again, get compact fluorescents! If you replace just four bulbs you will prevent the emission of 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the life of the bulbs and $100 on your electric bill over the same time period. It is just www.goodcommonsense.net !
- Cut down on car trips. The average American drives 203 miles a week! Cutting down on needless car trips will shrink your carbon footprint, if each person could eliminate just 20 miles of extra driving a week they would save nearly 1,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year!
- Join Freecycle, a wonderful way to recycle in your community and get rid of what you don’t want or find what you need without sending things to the dump. There is one in Wimberley with over 650 members, www.freecycle.org.
- Recycle your cell phone. Did you know that the EPA estimates that 700 million cell phones containing 250,000 tons of toxic waste already have been discarded in American landfills. Donate a working phone a woman’s shelter or go to www.eco-cell.org to learn more. Also Ace Hardware recycles regular batteries and so does the Green Guy in San Marcos.
- Choose Biodiesel, if you drive a diesel car or truck fill it with B100 or B99 and reduce you car emissions by 100%. It’s clean, renewable and domestic!
Although everyday is really earth day, for this Earth Day, the green guru hopes that everyone who reads this article will go to their computers and measure their feet.
Quote of the Month: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”- Native American Proverb