On this weeks blog I am going to talk about how you can reduce your carbon footprint! When I first learned about carbon emissions, I only thought of cars or planes, but in reality carbon powers most of our energy usage. From our lighting, transportation, electronics, appliances, and more. In order to reduce our carbon emissions and our impact on the environment, we need to make a few changes!
- Transportation (walk or bike) – As college students, most of us do not need to travel to far to get where we are going, so walking and biking are great options to reduce carbon usage. Even carpooling, or public transit help in reducing the number of personal vehicles on the roads.
- Eat local and organic – Eating local and organic are good ways to help your community, and cut down on emissions, because the food will not have to travel from all over to get to you. On average, food travels over 1,000 miles to get to a store, so buying locally helps more than you would think!
- Lighting – Another simple thing you can do is change your light bulbs from the average incandescents bulb to compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFL’s. The CFL bulb will save anywhere from 20%-80% more energy than the traditional bulbs and can last up to 15 times longer. Using more efficient bulbs will save energy and save you money!
Changing these things in your daily life can make a significant impact on the environment for the better! If you want to go even further you can offset your emissions by planting trees, or investing into renewable energy. Another thing I recommend doing is taking a carbon footprint test to see how much carbon you are emitting, and researching other ways to reduce your footprint. By using these tips and others that you find, you can live a more sustainable lifestyle!