Carbon Footprint - what is a carbon footprint?

I’m sure most people have heard the phrase ‘carbon footprint’ before. It’s a buzz phrase that the media and governments of the world love to quote, and a lot is said about reducing our carbon footprint and how to do it. But before we come to ways of doing that, what is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint in the measure of greenhouse gases produced by us as humans as a result of the things we do in our day to day lives. Our carbon footprint, among other factors, can increase through the burning of fossil fuels when we travel, heat our homes and use electricity. Knowing our carbon footprint allows us to understand the impacts that our day to day activities have on the environment and on climate change, and can help us understand how our actions affect the onset of  Global Warming.

Our carbon footprint can be broken down into two parts, primary and secondary carbon footprints which together make up our complete carbon footprint.

The primary part concerns direct carbon emissions given off from the direct burning of fossil fuels, so things like car travel, air travel and domestic consumption for things like central heating.

Our secondary carbon footprint relates to carbon emissions that are produced indirectly as a result of our purchases and consumption of goods. So things like food that has travelled long distances, and clothing which has been made in factory’s using machinery powered by electricity all add to this part of someones carbon footprint and their total carbon footprint.

Below is a breakdown of the major contributers to an average persons carbon footprint.

Image taken from: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

Soon we will talk about the major ways of reducing your carbon footprint and also how it can be offset using carbon offsetting techniques.

Tags: carbon footprint, carbon offsetting, Energy Saving, global warming, reduce carbon emissions, what is carbon footprint