In
this day and age, the various modes of public
transportation are staggering. It was only decades ago that having one
car per household seemed like a luxury and air travel was restricted to
those who could easily afford to fly. Nowadays, with so many budget
airlines offering mega deals and super saving packages, it's no wonder
the number of people going abroad is on the increase and the volume of
domestic flights keeps on rising.
This piece of information may seem unimportant and trivial at best.
After all, what's the point in knowing that more people went on holiday
by plane this year than last year? It all boils down to two words:
carbon footprint.
SafeClimate defines the term 'carbon footprint' as " a representation
of the effect you, or your organization, have on the climate in terms
of the total amount of greenhouse gases you produce (measured in units
of carbon dioxide)." Essentially, a carbon footprint is made up of two
parts: the direct/primary footprint and the indirect/secondary
footprint. The first, or primary footprint is a measure of our direct
emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, including domestic
energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane), whereas the
secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the
whole lifecycle of products we use - from the products' manufacture
through to its usage and eventual breakdown.
However, it's possible to reduce your carbon footprint in several ways.
One method is to alter the way you would normally travel when going on
a holiday or business trip. If the flight was domestic, could another
mode of transportation be used? Transport by car, ferry or train is
often cheaper and won't take that much longer. If you're going on a
business trip, does the meeting really require to be conducted in
person? Or can a video conference call be just as sufficient?
When travelling by road, various factors can be used to justify the
use: distance driven, fuel (whether you use petrol or diesel), fuel
efficiency and number of passengers per vehicle. If you're travelling
solo, why not consider carpooling with friends or colleagues?
Alternatively, ditch the car altogether and opt for coach travel. With
several companies offering a multitude of routes between towns and
cities, coach
travel can prove to be more economical and efficient, as well
as stress-free as you won't be needed to do the driving! But, if
eliminating the car isn't an option, then why not create or sign up to
a car scheme in your area?
Or, if you're in the possession of a bicycle, why not use that more
often instead? Cycling to work or to any other location not only lowers
your carbon footprint, it also counts as an active form of exercise. So
not only will you improving your own well-being, you'll also be
contributing to the well-being of the planet.
About
the Author: Andrew Regan
writes for a digital marketing agency.
Our carbon footprint is the direct effect our actions
and lifestyle have on the environment in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions. CO2 increases greenhouse gases that contribute to global
warming. We all contribute to global warming every day.
Carbon Footprints are made up of two parts, the direct
or primary footprint and the indirect or secondary footprint. The
primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the
burning of fossil fuels. These are probably the biggest contributors to
your Carbon
Footprint; they include electricity
consumption and transportation. The secondary footprint is a measure of
indirect CO2 emissions from the entire lifecycle of products we use -
from their manufacture to their eventual breakdown in the ecosystem.
The greenhouse effect is the increase in Earth’s
temperature caused by the growing amount of certain gasses in the
atmosphere – nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide. These
“Greenhouse gases” have the same effect on Earth as a greenhouse;
letting sunlight in and keeping heat from escaping. The greenhouse
effect is important to human life; otherwise, it would be too cold to
live on the Earth.
By burning fossil fuels, we have tremendously
increased the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Earth is now
heating up excessively, a process called “global warming.”
You can reduce your carbon footprint by changing
things that you do in your daily life. These are a few things you can
do to reduce your personal carbon footprint:
· Walk to your destination if possible instead of
driving.
· Recycle glass, metals, plastics and paper.
· Select the most energy-efficient models when you
replace your old appliances. Look for products that have earned the
ENERGY STAR® label.
· Turn off and unplug stereos, radios, TVs, and DVDs
when you leave home for a few days. These appliances have a stand-by
function that uses energy even when they are turned off.
· Only run your dishwasher when full, and let dishes
air dry.
There are many things you can do to offset your Carbon Footprint
as well; one good choice is to plant a tree! An average tree absorbs
more than 650 pounds of CO2 over its lifespan. Trees act as natural
filters of our air; through the process of photosynthesis they absorb
CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their trunk, branches, leaves,
and roots while releasing oxygen back out.
About the Author:
If you are interested in learning more about
offsetting your Carbon
Footprint, check out http://www.begreennow.com.
There are simple tips to begin decreasing the energy you use each day,
and offset the rest of your carbon-emitting energy use with their
easy-to-use carbon calculator and BeGreensm carbon offset
products. Be part of the solution to save the world from ourselves; we
are all part of the problem.
What is your carbon footprint?
In basic terms it is a measure of all the greenhouse gases we produce
as individuals, businesses and societies.
What are greenhouse gases?
Greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere and help to retain the
earth’s heat. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most well known and
significant greenhouse gas. Others include methane, nitrous oxide,
HFCs, PFCs. Some are naturally occuring, while others are man made.
What is the significance?
Without greenhouse gases the heat from the sun would be re-radiated
back into space and the earth would be too cold to live on. However,
too high a concentration of greenhouse gas results in a trapping of the
heat and an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature. This increase
in turn creates climate change – sea level increases, rain patterns and
increased storm severity, etc.
What is required is a stabilisation in the level of greenhouse gases so
that energy re-radiated back into space equals the energy coming from
the sun, at present rates greenhouse gases output are increasing at
alarming rates.
What can we do about this?
We as individuals, businesses, regions and countries can all take
action to manage and reduce our carbon footprint. In order to do this
it is important to understand how to measure this output. There are
some useful resources for calculating your carbon footprint available
on the internet.
However these calculators are by nature simplistic and cannot respond
to individual nuances or circumstances. What this calculator (and
others) does not reflect is the emissions as a result of our choices as
consumers – the ‘hidden’ consumption element. What is our energy
producer doing to reduce their emissions? How environmentally
responsible are the companies you buy products from? How many food
miles are required to supply your meals on a weekly basis? Are the
products we purchase contained in unnecessary moulded plastic
packaging?
I aim to address some of these issues in further articles.
There are countless websites online to help you
calculate your carbon footprint, to give you an idea of how your
lifestyle impacts the environment and affects greenhouse gas emissions.
The carbon footprint
Finding out your footprint can be the first step to
reducing it, thereby helping to halt climate change. The name “carbon
footprint” was coined because the calculators mainly focus on the
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (or CO2) which is produced when we burn
fossil fuels such as oil.
What’s involved?
All carbon footprint calculators work on the same
basic model, asking you a series of questions about your living and
travel arrangements to work out roughly how many tonnes of CO2 your
lifestyle produces. You can calculate your footprint for your family or
for yourself as an individual, and the more specific the information
you can give, the more accurate your carbon reading will be.
Most calculators will ask you about the following
areas, and some will include questions about other areas such as food.
Household
The number of people living in your house
The number of rooms
Details of insulation such as cavity wall and loft
insulation, double glazing
How much you spend per year on your heating and
electricity – most calculators can give an estimate without this info,
but they will be more accurate if it is included
Appliances
What electrical appliances you own
Their age and energy ratings
Whether you turn them off or leave them on standby
Travel
Number of short-haul and international flights you
take per year
Public transport use
Details of your personal car or other vehicle
including model and annual mileage
Which calculator to choose?
There are lots out there – each with a slightly
different focus and level of detail. The following four are pretty
comprehensive and also make suggestions as to how you could reduce your
environmental impact.
1) Act On CO2
(actonco2.direct.gov.uk)
The UK government’s carbon campaign website and
calculator with lots of helpful advice and tips.
2) Google’s UK Carbon
Footprint project
Once your footprint is calculated, you can load it
into their carbon footprint map of the UK to see how you compare with
others and find out about local environmental resources such as
recycling centres and renewable power stations.
3) WWF and the Independent
Works out your footprint and tells you how many
planets would be needed to sustain humanity if everybody had the same
lifestyle as you.
4) The Energy Saving
Trust’s Carbon Cutter
After completing this thorough survey, you can compare
your carbon footprint with the national average.
Further Information
For further information, and for more great ways to
have fun with your family, log on to www.myfamilyuk.com.
With a huge collection of articles covering everything from child
safety to rainy day activities, you'll find all the help, guidance and
entertainment you need to be a great parent.
About the Author:
My
Family UK is a brand new website that is turning the online
focus back onto families. We're dedicated to supporting you and your
family live the life you choose to the full, with games, tips, offers
and articles on all aspects of parenting. If your family means the
world to you, check out www.myfamilyuk.com.
With
all the talk today about global warming, pollution and going green,
most people are becoming overwhelmed with the vast amount of
information out there about how to reduce what is known as your "carbon
footprint." Well, it's not as complicated as one might think. First,
let's start by defining just exactly what a carbon footprint is.
A carbon footprint is a calculated figure that is determined by various
factors in which one might be impacting the environment. Factors
include how often you drive an automobile, what you do for a living and
how your home is heated. When individuals take proactive steps to
reduce their carbon footprints, the effects are collectively felt. Here
are some simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint!
First, look around you, right now. Are there appliances on that you
aren't specifically using, for example, the television buzzing in the
background? Turn these appliances off. You won't miss anything, and
you'll even save a few cents here and there on your electric bill.
No matter where you are in the world, there's a good chance you have
either your heat or central air running. If it's the air conditioning,
turn up the temperature a degree or two. If it's the heat, turn it down
a few degrees. If your systems have timers, use them because unless
you're at home, it's not necessary to heat or cool your home as much.
Water, water everywhere... so the old verse goes. Unless we conserve
water, however, we're going to feel just as helpless as that author
caught at sea with no water to drink. So wait until your washer and
dryer are full to run them, and only fill water glasses with as much as
you are going to drink. Turn the water off when you're brushing your
teeth. Take shorter showers, and stop flushing tissues; use the
wastebasket instead of the water it takes to flush the toilet for no
reason.
We all know that smog is unsightly and unhealthy, but smog is just a
visible representation of the much deeper damage caused by CO2
emissions. So try to do a weekly trip to the grocery store instead of
many short trips. If you're in the market for a new car, consider a
hybrid model. Take public transportation when you can, or try to cycle
and walk if you're going a short distance. The benefits of this will
help you as well as the environment.
Another way is to register a website with a .eco extension when it
comes available. The concept behind the establishment of this new dot
eco top level domain is that Dot Eco LLC will donate over 50% of domain
registration proceeds back to fund scientific initiatives and research
in climate change, ocean analysis, economic policy, and other
environmentally-related areas. Also, remember to host your website with
a green hosting company.
These are all small steps you can take immediately to reduce your
carbon footprint. Make these small changes in your daily lives and you
too will officially be green.
About
the Author:
Dot Eco
LLC is dedicated to securing and utilizing the .eco top level domain to
increase environmental awareness and to effect positive environmental
change. Follow Dot
Eco on Facebook to learn more.
The Alliance for Climate Protection is a non-profit
organization dedicated to educating the public about the climate
crisis. The Alliance for Climate Protection's goal is two-fold. First,
they wish to build non-partisan alliances with varied constituencies
and individuals to form a coalition to combat the environmental crises.
Additionally, they are working to persuade individuals and society to
take measures based on scientific facts from research.
Former Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore, who has been
famously outspoken about the dangers of climate change, is the chairman
of the board and brings over thirty years of experience to the table.
The Alliance for Climate Protection works within three arenas to focus
and disseminate their message. They work with government offices,
business communities, and society at large. The Alliance for Climate
Protection is dedicated to non-partisan coverage of the issues in order
to push through unnecessary political roadblocks and background noise,
and instead focuses all of their attention on working together to make
the world a better place.
The Alliance for Climate Protection spells out its main goals as
follows:
1. Working toward bi-partisan political efforts to create new
climate-friendly proposals to reduce CO2 and methane emissions and
other greenhouse pollutants. This task is addressed within the Alliance
through persuasive education techniques. The Alliance for Climate
Protection works to generate wide-ranging support for
climate-protection efforts in order that political entities will work
sincerely to generate viable solutions. 2. Pushing for United States
participation in the creation of a global treaty to reduce greenhouse
emissions and pollution. 3. Persuading individuals at all levels to
reduce their own carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions.
It is clear that The Alliance for Climate Protection's main weapon in
the fight against climate crisis is collaboration. A grassroots dynamic
is cultivated within the organization through their collaborative
education and coalition-building efforts. The Alliance believes that
working with a diversity of groups across political and social lines is
the most effective means to meet shared environmental protection
objectives.
The Alliance's "Repower America" campaign works to spread the word
regarding America's "dangerous reliance" on carbon-based fuels and sets
forth the challenge to end our "carbon addiction." Repower America
informs us that this reliance on carbon-based fuels puts America at
economic, environmental, and national security risk. They suggest that
investments in clean, renewable energy sources can inject new life into
the economy and produce savings for the average American, beyond simply
reducing pollution. More information can be found at
repoweramerica.org. The "We can solve it" campaign and the "This is
reality" campaign are two other projects meant to inform the public and
generate support for climate protection.
Al Gore and his philanthropy, the Alliance for Climate Protection has
entered into an integrated partnership with Dot Eco, to secure and
promote the .eco top level domain.
About the Author:
This new initiative backed by Dot Eco LLC,
will donate over 50% of the domain registration proceeds back to fund
scientific initiatives and research in climate change, ocean analysis,
economic policy, and other environmentally-related areas. Dot Eco
is a powerful and truly innovative initiative and with their support
can act as a strong force in the fight against global warming.
Carbon Neutrality and What it means for Your Business
There is a lot of talk about Carbon Footprint and
being Carbon Neutral, but do you actually know what it means, what
impact it has to your business and whether or not you should bother?
Every household and every business, in fact every
individual is causing Co2 emission, whether we like it or not and
whether we are aware of it or not. If you drive a car, heat a room or
consume anything that has been produced consuming energy, you are –
directly or indirectly - causing Co2 emission. The amount of Co2
emission you are causing is called your carbon footprint. It’s as
individual as a fingerprint (or footprint), as every person and every
organisation has different consumption patterns entailing different Co2
consumption, leading to different carbon footprints.
The fact that you are causing Co2 emission as such is
nothing you need to be ashamed of, it’s quite normal and as a matter of
fact it’s unavoidable. The problem is that there is too much
Co2 released into the atmosphere, causing the infamous greenhouse
effect and global warming.
So what’s wrong if the climate get warmer?
Too much Co2 damages the ozone layer that protects us
from ultraviolet radiation, which is causing skin cancer. If the
planet’s climate is getting warmer, the ice at the poles will be
melting, the sea levels will rise, devouring settlements near the
waterline. With other words: Your property by the sea-front will be
worth zilch, and if you plan to holiday on some Caribbean or
Mediterranean islands, do it quick as they are likely to disappear.
When would this happen?
It all depends on the speed by which we manage to
deteriorate our environment. Where I grew up as a child, we used to go
cross-country skiing; today palm trees grow on the main street. It’s a
threat that is likely to affect you during your lifetime but definitely
the life of your children.
Ok, so what can I do?
When public enemy no. 1 “Co2” had been identified,
pundits started to search for solutions. Since there is no easy way to
actually reduce the emission of Co2 or to even stop it dead, it seemed
like a great idea to at least freeze Co2 emission levels and not to
allow them to increase.
This led to idea of promoting “carbon neutrality”. For
every amount of Co2 you are releasing –or causing to be released-
someone else has to reduce its emission by the same amount, so the
grand total remains the same.
How does it work?
Every company has been given the right to emission a
certain amount of Co2, according to its status quo at the time when the
concept was put into effect. Those rights are called “carbon credits”.
In order to incentivise companies to reduce their Co2
emissions, their where given the right to sell their credits. So if
they manage to reduce their Co2 emission, they can sell the right to
release the difference between their actual emission and the amount
they are allowed to release, to another company.
This is a congenial idea because at once companies
recognised the profit they can make by reducing their own Co2 emissions
and selling their rights on to less developed or less capable companies
that can’t reduce their Co2 emissions yet.
This maintains an even balance of Co2 emissions, which
is carbon neutrality on a global scale and
promotes the reduction of Co2.
But there are things we all can do on a micro scale to
be carbon neutral, by acting, consuming and working in a sensible way
that does not derange the Co2 balance.
Imagine instead of driving by car you could take the
bicycle. Consuming green energy only is another example, as is
achieving a very high degree of recycling.
Although it might sound like mission impossible, it is
actually achievable to be 100% carbon neutral. If you buy products or
services where parts of the profits are going to projects that help to
reduce Co2 emissions or to plant trees, you are collecting brownie
points for your carbon neutrality.
Such products can be found on the web, but to choose a
green utility provider is already an
option available to everyone.
For those you missed the biology lesson at school:
Trees convert Co2 into oxygen and hence are great Co2 killers.
So when you contribute to planting trees or to
sustainable forestry management, you are doing something to achieve
carbon neutrality.
So by a combination of buying carbon credits and
reducing the amount of new Co2 released into the atmosphere by sensible
consumption and operational behaviour, one can indeed achieve carbon
neutrality. This means in fact that the amount of unavoidable Co2
caused by your existence as a person or a business is offset by your
carbon reducing activities.
Why bother?
There is no law telling you to be carbon neutral and
there is no punishment if you are not. It’s still hardly controllable
and your clients and customers will probably never notice if you aren’t.
But even if you don’t care about skin cancer, don’t
live near the water and don’t holiday on an island, there are good
reasons why bother. As with so many things, it’s a matter of
conscience, and more and more people appreciate suppliers who are
carbon neutral, because it makes them feel good buying green products
or services, is the right thing to do and keeps the idea and the
momentum of environmental responsibility going.
So just as ISO certification, adhering to good
business practice and being ethical, being carbon neutral will not buy
you new business, but it will become a badge of distinction helping you
to brand your business as responsible, ethical and a good partner to do
business with. If a supplier has the choice between two otherwise
identical suppliers, it’ll be more than likely that those being carbon
neutral will win the tender because of the extra feel-good factor they
are offering to the client.
And if you are real great, you might want to do just
that little bit extra and become actually carbon positive,
which simply means you are helping to reduce more
Co2 than you are actually causing yourself.
And this is where the ideas becomes real great and
starts making a difference, because from this point forward we will
reverse the process and make the planet a place better than it is now.
By the way, this article was brought to you by Rembor
& Partners strategic consultants, carbon positive since 2007.
Eugene Rembor, MBA studied in Mannheim / Germany,
Barcelona and Cambridge. An international career followed, holding
Managing Director and CEO positions within Top Fortune 500 and FTSE 100
corporations. Eugene worked and lived in 12 different countries and
speaks 6 languages. In 1999 he founded a interim management consultancy
in London and franchised his business globally.
Eugene is an intimate expert in US government business and
international organisations such as UN and NATO. He published two books
and writes business columns for various magazines and newspapers. He
regularly accepts international speaking engagements. Part of the UKTI
envoy, he spoke in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, at NEOCON in Chicago, Hong
Kong, Oslo and the United Nations New York. He is a mentor to London
Metropolitan Police Sergeants and lectures at various Chambers of
Commerce and Embassies on international business.
He won the Cultural and Commercial Business Award by the
American-German Chamber of Commerce, held a private lunch with Joseph
Cari, finance chairman for the US 2000 Gore-Lieberman presidential
campaign, dined with London’s mayor Lady Prendergast and was received
by the Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber.
Other engagements include NED positions at Frankfurt Airport and the
Chair of The Peer Centre, a charity for the education of
underprivileged young Londoners.
HOME
"Former actor Yann Arthus-Bertrand directed this visually astonishing
portrait of the Earth as seen from mesmerizing aerial views. Home
is not the first documentary to survey our planet from the air, but
Arthus-Bertrand brilliantly and dreamily captures the miraculous
linkage within delicate eco-systems. For viewers whose eyes glaze over
at descriptions of the way Earth recycles energy and matter, Home
underscores the beautiful and awesome reality of that complex process.
Narrated by actress Glenn Close (in this English-language version),
Home begins by exploring and clarifying the natural history
of water, sunlight, and the role simple life-forms such as algae played
(and still play) in making the planet hospitable to more evolved,
living things. As the film moves along, it also has a way of rebooting
one's lazy assumptions about familiar phenomena. The Grand Canyon, for
example, might be a fantastic sight to behold, but it's also a
collection of billions and billions of shells compressed under Earth's
oceans long ago. The carbon trapped in the Grand Canyon was drained
from the atmosphere, helping--once again--oxygen-dependent life to
develop.
Art
