How to Go Green - The Carbon Footprint
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In my last article on "How to Go Green" we talked about what the definition of green was; Light, Dark or Bright Green. So let's look at the next leg in going green: What is a carbon footprint? A carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gases produced directly or indirectly by individuals, organizations, events or products. Once you know the size of your personal carbon footprint, you can go to work at reducing it.
Do we have any concrete evidence that global warming has occurred in the last century? Does this evidence cover millions of years? Are we in a repeating cycle? I found many articles that cite articles that cite other articles ad nauseam. Most eventually would point to a few studies by oceanographers and some would point to the major study done on the ice pack.
Good information indeed, but something kept nagging at me. So I looked up the age of the earth. The best guess is around 4.54 billion years. If I take this figure and divide it into the ice pack age, 680K, we get about .015 percent. This .015 percent is the sample we are using as evidence the earth is getting warmer based on the amounts of C02 found in the ice pack. The recorded temperature data is even smaller at .00004 percent.
Not very compelling, but mind you, we use smaller samples to tell us the amount of poison in a contaminated area, or the percentage of gas in the earth's atmosphere. So there is no reason to ignore the evidence based on its sample size.
What we do need to be careful of is how we use this information. I will never buy in to the doom and gloom attitude. Nor will I go with the "so what" group. I choose the group that acknowledges that there is a cause and effect in our every action. That when I go out shopping I take one trip, not ten; and when I pass a light that is unnecessarily lit, I choose to turn it off.
For one, with technology, we have greatly reduced our demand for electricity. Computers, CAD software, and new packaging methods have helped us reduce the size and the electrical demand of appliances.
Integrated circuits are reduced to sizes unimaginable just a few years ago. Televisions, computer displays, and a host of other display devices have reduced our demand for energy to levels unheard of 20 years ago.
When we know what our personal carbon footprint is, we have information -- information to change and provide for future generations. What is your personal carbon footprint? Check out the Carbon Footprint Calculator or CFC resource in the link section of my author resource box and start reducing your carbon footprint today.
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