by Michael Edwards

In our last "How To Go Green" article, we tried to define what to "go green" meant. This time we will look at the term "carbon footprint" and what it means to you. The simple equation is: the lifestyle we choose contributes to the production of greenhouse gases, directly or indirectly. Once we can measure it, we can work to reduce it. Do we have any concrete evidence that global warming has occurred in the last century? Does this evidence cover millions of years? Are we in a repeating cycle? I found many articles that cite articles that cite other articles ad nauseam. Most eventually would point to a few studies by oceanographers and some would point to the major study done on the ice pack. Good information indeed, but something kept nagging at me. So I looked up the age of the earth. The best guess is around 4.54 billion years. If I take this figure and divide it into the ice pack age, 680K, we get about .015 percent. This .015 percent is the sample we are using as evidence the earth is getting warmer based on the amounts of C02 found in the ice pack. The recorded temperature data is even smaller at .00004 percent. This is a very small sample to judge temperature trends on, but mind you, we use even smaller samples in biology and astronomy every day. So the size of the data is not so important. But is this data a blip that will naturally return to normal some years down the line? Moreover, even if it does, what have I lost by the responsible use of the resources I have been given to use? What we do need to be careful of is how we use this information. I will never buy in to the doom and gloom attitude. Nor will I go with the "so what" group. I choose the group that acknowledges that there is a cause and effect in our every action. That when I go out shopping I take one trip, not ten; and when I pass a light that is unnecessarily lit, I choose to turn it off. One of the areas where I see the most progress is in technology. In the last 20 years I have seen my use of electricity drop considerably. According to my electric bill, I have reduced demand by over 35% in those years. How? I have dumped video tubes, incandescent light bulbs, and appliances for newer technologies. Integrated circuits are reduced to sizes unimaginable just a few years ago. Televisions, computer displays, and a host of other display devices have reduced our demand for energy to levels unheard of 20 years ago. When we know what our personal carbon footprint is, we have information — information to change and provide for future generations. What is your personal carbon footprint? Check out the Carbon Footprint Calculator or CFC resource in the link section of my author resource box and start reducing your carbon footprint today.

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