What is a carbon footprint


“A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a person, organization or state in a given time”

A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.

The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tones (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent.
A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts, the primary footprint (shown by the green slices of the pie chart) and the secondary footprint (shown as the yellow slices).

1. The 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). We have direct control of these

2. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use - those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it very simply – the more we buy the more emissions will be caused on our behalf.
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbonfootprint.html

On the whole I think it is obvious that change is required. We must change the way we live as a whole. In the last centaury products have been designed with sustainability at the end of the qew in relation to other design factors such as aesthetics, cost etc. this needs to change…the population of the earth is growing rapidly and unless we attempt to reduce or carbon emissions the earth will simply not survive. For to long people have been naive to the harm that bad design decisions can have and it is time to grab the bull by the horns and take a stand. This could consist of swapping our high powered fuel guzzling BMW to a lower powered model, hybrid vehicle or even converting to public transport. Walking and using a bike is also a great alternative however the bike chosen must be taken into account…buyers must be away of the manufacturing process which have taken place in order to sell a bike for 50 pounds…


Check out your carbon footprint!

www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7JlaHeZnP0