How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint In 10 Simple Steps

In the face of escalating climate change, it’s crucial that we all take steps to reduce our carbon footprints. This guide will provide you with a variety of simple and effective strategies to help you learn how to reduce your carbon footprint and make a positive impact on our planet.

 

Understanding Your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases—including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases and others—that you produce as you live your life. The average U.S. per capita carbon footprint is 18.3 tons. To hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone on earth will need to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050.

 

How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

 

Food Choices

  1. Eat Low on the Food Chain: Consuming mostly fruits, veggies, grains, and beans can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. Livestock —meat and dairy—is responsible for 14.5 percent of manmade global greenhouse gas emissions. Every day that you forgo meat and dairy, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 8 pounds—that’s 2,920 pounds a year.

  2. Choose Organic and Local Foods: Opt for foods that are in season and locally sourced. Transporting food from far away uses fossil fuels for fuel and cooling to keep foods in transit from spoiling.

  3. Buy in Bulk: Whenever possible, buy foodstuffs in bulk using your own reusable container.

  4. Reduce Food Waste: Plan meals ahead of time, freeze excess food, and reuse leftovers to minimize waste.

  5. Compost: Composting your food waste can also help reduce your carbon footprint.

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"An energy audit of your home can show how you use or waste energy and help identify ways to be more energy efficient."

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Clothing Choices

  1. Avoid Fast Fashion: Trendy, cheap items that go out of style quickly often end up in landfills where they produce methane as they decompose. Most fast fashion comes from China and Bangladesh, so shipping it to the U.S. requires the use of fossil fuels.

Energy Usage at Home

  1. Conduct an Energy Audit: An energy audit of your home can show how you use or waste energy and help identify ways to be more energy efficient.

  2. Switch to Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs: Change incandescent light bulbs (which waste 90 percent of their energy as heat) to light emitting diodes (LEDs).

  3. Turn Off Appliances When Not in Use: Switching off appliances when not in use can help reduce your emissions at home.

  4. Use Less Energy: Much of our electricity and heat are powered by coal, oil and gas. Use less energy by reducing your heating and cooling use, switching to LED light bulbs and energy-efficient electric appliances, washing your laundry with cold water, or hanging things to dry instead of using a dryer.

So now you’ve learned a few simple steps on how to reduce your carbon footprint. By implementing these strategies into your daily life, you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a healthier planet.

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