Harriet Dyer - Every Day Is Earth Day

What is a carbon footprint?

We know that the main factor causing climate change today is the release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO ), into the atmosphere by human beings. But what is a carbon footprint? The term has gained a lot of traction over the past few years as an analogy when measuring the amount of greenhouse gases that people emit through various activities. Some activities have a carbon footprint that is created by one person, but others have a footprint that includes a complex chain of individuals and organizations.

Take, for example, a basic cotton T-shirt that was manufactured in another country. If you purchase it, at first glance the only emissions you might think you are accountable for are from traveling to and from the store (if you ride in a vehicle that emits CO ). But the indirect carbon emissions (i.e., the ones that dont originate directly from you) that are linked to the T-shirt make your overall footprint a lot bigger. From the energy and water used to grow the raw material and manufacture the garment, to shipping the item and storing it in a warehouse or store, your indirect carbon footprint is the equivalent of approximately twenty pounds (or nearly ten kilograms)think five two-liter bottles of sodaof CO being released into the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where its impossible not to leave a carbon footprinteven drinking water leaves a trace! However, understanding more about your direct and indirect carbon emissions will help you to make more informed decisions on how you can live a greener life.

What can I do?

With a problem thats so huge, its easy to feel powerless and disheartened. But the truth is that small changes and actions can have big effects, because they all add up.

From finding out more about the crisis we are facing to learning ways in which you can make simple changes to your daily routine thatll make a big environmental difference, these pages will be your guide to a more eco-friendly life. Surprise your colleagues and acquaintances with carbon footprint facts, share the book with friends and family, and do everything in your power to get the message across that we must act now if we are going to help save future generations from climate catastrophe. There is still hopeso lets not give up the battle until we see some positive results... and then lets keep going.

Weighing it up

This book is quite data-heavy, but data can lose its impact if we dont have a way of picturing it. So, before we delve into the following chapters, here are some ways to visualize the big numbers youll come across.

1 lb (.45 kg) = approx. two cups (roughly half a liter) of water

100 lb (45 kg) = approx. an adult chimpanzee

1 tnor 2,000 lb (907 kg) = approx. one small car

150 tn (136,078 kg) = approx. a blue whale

1 acre (.41 hectares) = approx. of an American football field

1 gigatonor 1,000,000,000 tn (two trillion pounds) = approx. six million blue whales

We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.

Jay Inslee

In this chapter you can find out about the effects that our collective carbon footprint is having on the planet, from unusual climate and weather patterns, as well as changes to the atmosphere, to the rise of sea levels and forest depletion. Its your one-stop shop to discovering more about climate change.

Our air and atmosphere

We know its there, but because it cant be seen with the naked eye, we often forget all about our atmosphere and the air that surrounds us and keeps us alive. Unfortunately, in this case, whats out of sight is out of mind. Its time to make the invisible visible as we look at some of the key facts and stats on how our massively oversized carbon footprint is changing the planets climate, weather, and atmosphere.

A global snapshot of the weather and climate

2019 was the second hottest year on record.

Hottest years on record (in order): 2016, 2019, 2015, 2017, 2018.

Since 1981, the global annual temperature has increased by 0.32F (0.18C) year.

At the time of writing, it is forecast to increase another two degrees within the next twenty to thirty years and over four degrees by 2100, on average.

Global precipitation has increased at an average rate of nearly an inch (2 cm) per decade since 1901.

The number of floods and periods of heavy rain has quadrupled since 1980 and doubled since 2004.

In North America, the length of time when snow covers the ground has become shorter by nearly two weeks since 1972. In the Northern Hemisphere, snow cover has decreased by 5 percent annually, from 1966 to 2005.

USA

In 2019, there were over 120,000 extreme weather records, including snow in Hawaii and heatwaves in Alaska.

The country had rainfall 4.7 in (12 cm) above average in 2019.