Reduce your carbon footprint

09/25/08
Posted under Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming
By Anna Valmero
Inquirer.net
History saw the waning and waxing of the campaign for environmentalism. Today more than ever, green
consciousness has grabbed the attention of different industries worldwide.
Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” is one of the agents that called the attention of every citizen
about the human impact on the environment. The film presented the doom that might happen to the Earth and
those that live in it if global warming continues at an unabated rate.
According to the film’s website, at least 279 species of plants and animals are already affected by global
warming that has started moving closer to the poles. Moreover, the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has
more than doubled over the past decade. Both scenarios can impact the environment in terms of displacing
other populations of plants and animals in their natural home or habitats, which might cause extinction and
break nature’s balance. This can be related to the so-called butterfly effect: “A butterfly flapping its wings in
one place can, in principle, alter the subsequent weather pattern in a distant place.”
Today, big industry players in every industry wants to take part in the issue and announced plans to lower
carbon footprints and help curb the inconvenient effects of global warming. However, this fight to reduce
carbon dioxide is a fight everyone is part of. To begin, knowing the essential about the issue is key.
A feverish planet
Carbon footprint measures the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of
greenhouse gases produced, specifically the units of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is found in the air humans and other animals exhale, which is then used by plants in the
process of manufacturing food. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases in the air that traps helpful sun radiation to
help maintain the earth’s temperature and make it viable to life in the process called greenhouse effect.
At present, however, the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions exceed the normal rates,
according to the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thus, the earth now traps more heat
because the greenhouses become so thick that the sun’s radiation cannot escape the atmosphere.

According to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis:”
While many factors continue to influence climate, scientists have determined that human activities have
become a dominant force, and are responsible for most of the warming observed over the past 50 years.
Human-caused climate change has resulted primarily from changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, but also from changes in small particles (aerosols), as well as from changes in land use, for
example.
As climate changes, the probabilities of certain types of weather events are affected. For example, as Earth’s
average temperature has increased, some weather phenomena have become more frequent and intense (e.g.,
heat waves and heavy downpours), while others have become less frequent and intense (e.g., extreme cold
events).

Green war
Think about this. You can contribute to increasing the planet’s carbon footprint when you go to work and ride
your car, when you buy new clothes, or when you leave the TV on even if someone is not watching it.
Power consumption can directly affect global warming. Take the whole process involved to produce food —
from planting, harvesting, packaging and delivery, until the time you purchase it and throw the leftover. This
involves carbon. Each process uses power, which primarily is derived from coal that emits huge chunks of
greenhouse gases. As of now, there has been initiatives to use renewable energy sources (solar, wind,
hydroelectric and geothermal) to replace the use of fossil fuels. Industries form groups that will enable them to
help address
Today, the earth’s temperature is increasing beyond normal levels as shown by Figure 3 from IPCC’s report.
That shouldn’t make you wonder why we are having hotter temperatures and erratic weather, more so in the
metro, where heavy smog usually floats above the commercials buildings.
As an appointed steward of this planet, what can you do to help reduce your carbon footprint? Let’s voice our
thoughts for a greener Earth!
SOURCES:
An Inconvenient Truth Web site.
http://www.climatecrisis.net/thescience/
Le Treut, et al. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis”
Retrieved: September 25, 2008.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter1.pdf
Bindoff, Nathaniel, et al. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science
Basis” Retrieved: September 25, 2008.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter5.pdf