Setting a Baseline

Seeing as we are trying to reduce our carbon foot print over time, we first need to set a baseline. Using a website called carbonfootprint.com I calculated a rough approximation of my carbon footprint for the year of 2009. By taking into account several aspects of my daily life: miles driven, meat consumption, airline flights taken, etc. my number came out to be roughly 10 tons of carbon.

TEN TONS OF CARBON!!!

And I'm only 16 years old. The average carbon footprint for an American is over 20 tons, while the average worldwide footprint is only 4 tons. That's 1/4 of what I put out into the environment right now. According to the site, the worldwide goal should be about 2 tons of carbon emitted per person - and just think amount how many people that is. That still puts the yearly global carbon emission at roughly 13.3 billion tons of carbon! No wonder the environment is in such a critical state.

When I set out to calculate my carbon footprint I had no idea the number would be so high. That just goes to show how uneducated the world is on this problem. If everyone knew what a huge impact they had on the environment, you have to hope that they would start to take more of an action. From here on out, it is Morgan and my goal to cut our carbon emissions in half- and once we reach that goal, we will continue to reduce (reuse and recycle).

Thats all for now, I just hope that for today I can leave you with a little more perspective on how much of an impact every person can make. Saying that one person can't make a difference is simply naive. Even the reduction of one ton makes a difference. If every person in the United States would cut down on extraneous flights, or trade in for a more fuel efficient car, carbon emissions would drop significantly. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

- Amber