Environment:Science & Policy

My carbon footprint is 50 tons. I do not eat red meat which does decrease the amount of carbon footprint. One thing that I know I can do to reduce my carbon footprint is to not drive unnecessarily to places that I can walk. For example, when going to soccer practice or somewhere on campus I do not need to drive. Also, when traveling back to home, I can carpool with people instead of driving on my own. In addition, I can take quicker showers, make sure I always turn the lights out because I am forgetful. Instead of turning up the heat or air conditioner, I can adjust what I wear to be more comfortable. I can also eat foods that are more locally sources in order to reduce my carbon footprint.

My carbon footprint was much higher than I would like it to be. Our family uses cars frequently and traveling is a big part of many of the members of family's lives. We put up a ton of miles each year in our cars. I live in an area where trucks are necessary, so naturally, we do not have the best gas mileage on our vehicles. I think one major way my family could decrease its carbon footprint is buy purchasing vehicles with better gas mileage or by purchasing hybrid/electric cars. My family also uses a lot of outdoor machinery such as small tractors, chainsaws, etc., and I am sure that these do not help our carbon footprint either. If my family were to be more careful about our engine uses, I think that our carbon footprint would decreases a fair amount. Also, if my family were to travel less, I think that it would contribute greatly to the amount of carbon we emit as a group.

After entering information into the calculator on the nature.org website, I learned that my household's carbon footprint is 34 tons of CO2 a year. Based on the statistics of similar families, which produce around 73 tons, my footprint is 53% better than average. I believe the majority of my carbon emissions are from traveling by car. Because my home area is somewhat rural, local travel often requires a car. Even though we do not have much choice but to drive around town for chores and other tasks, our yearly miles driven are not as high as most families. At the same time, frequent long distance trips to weekend sporting events are also common in my family.  These factors lead to our greatest footprint being from automobiles. To minimize our emissions as much as possible, my parents and I do take certain steps to lessen the CO2 output. Since their jobs are located nearby one another, my parents normally carpool to work in one vehicle. Even so, a 20-30 minute commute certainly uses a...

Happy early Thanksgiving folks! For this final blog, we would like you to reflect on your habits. This will require you to calculate your carbon footprint and to give yourself recommendations on how to decrease it. Please be honest when answering the questions.  https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/consider-your-impact/carbon-calculator/ Use this website.

A cap and trade system is a more efficient and effective way to reduce carbon emissions in terms of policymaking. With a cap and trade system, the government is able to set a limit on how much carbon is emitted into the air and continue to lower the cap of carbon emissions. After the designated cap is distributed, each company had the ability to buy more cap space and sell cap space, not in use. (Environmental Defense Fund) This allows companies to adapt to this lowering cap and give them time to find alternative energy sources. The other option, a carbon tax which is a tax placed on each ton of greenhouse gases they emit which allows no time for adaption. (C2ES) Many individuals say that a carbon tax is more beneficial because it produces revenue, but the cap and trade system has the same capability. A government can auction allowances to different companies that produce revenue for governmental problems such as infrastructure or further research into solutions for carbon emissions. ...

Given the pros and cons for cap and trade and carbon tax, which one is better? Are there alternative solutions that could work better? Should there be a combination of both? Please cite your sources!!!

What are the pros and cons of the carbon tax, cap and trade?