Climate Change: A Guide To Lowering Your Carbon Footprint By: Kristen Bradish

The more stuff you own and the more you travel, the bigger your carbon footprint becomes. For those of you who don't know, a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual using fossil fuels. The more fossil fuels you use, the larger your carbon footprint becomes. It is estimated that "the average carbon footprint of someone in the world's richest 1% could be 175 times that of someone in the poorest 10%" (Bailey 1). So clearly, most of our greenhouse emissions are coming from wealthy billionaires who spend their time jetting to their private islands and collecting Ferraris. But there are still things that we can all cut back on to help climate change. Stephanie Bailey took a deeper look into the lives of rich people and came up with these smart ways to save fossil fuels that we can all try to live by as well:

1. Spend Wisely: The average American indeed buys a lot of stuff that they don't really need. For me, I'll see that something is on sale and buy it, simply because it's 25% off. Did I need it? Probably not. So while I did save 25%, I spent 75% more on something I will likely lose or forget within the next month. Changing our buying habits and lifestyles can greatly impact the environment. Instead of buying useless trinkets, we could invest in things that will help our world. We could offset our emissions from heating our homes by installing solar panels. We could also buy from companies that work to reduce their carbon emissions. As consumers, we have a lot of power in deciding how we affect the planet. 

2. Travel: If it's possible, try walking or biking instead of taking a car. Each year, gas emissions from transportation account for about 28.% of total U.S. gas emissions, making it the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That includes flying. Taking one summer vacation every year is one thing, but flying every other month is rather excessive and can have a huge impact on the environment. When it's possible, try taking the train or other forms of public transit. We're all going off to college soon. For the holidays, instead of having our parents drive five hours to get us and then five hours back home, maybe we can all take the train to help both our parents and the environment. Whatever little adjustments we can make will go a long to reducing our carbon footprints.

3. Food: It may be too much to ask some people to stop eating meat, but there are plenty of other ways to also change your diet that will help lower greenhouse gas emissions. The best way to do this would be to buy local foods that are in season. Ever wonder where your strawberries come from when there's a foot of snow outside? Most northern states have to import their fruits from warmer regions like Florida, California, and even Mexico. Transporting food from far away uses fossil fuels for gas and for cooling to keep foods in transit from spoiling. When it's possible, go to a local farmers market to get your fruits and vegetables. Not only does this help support your local economy, but it's also much cleaner for the environment. 

In addition to everything the average person can do, there are a lot of affluent people out there that can fund climate research, divest from fossil fuel companies, as well as have political influence by funding politicians who will work to save the environment. Many rich people are also celebrities who have an entire fanbase of people who look up to them. If these rich people could also serve as role models for living more sustainable lives, people who look up to them would quickly find ways to also live more sustainably. People can change their habits to help save the world. 

 

Work Cited:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/health/rich-people-climate-change-intl/index.html 

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle#:~:text=typical%20passenger%20vehicle%3F-,A%20typical%20passenger%20vehicle%20emits%20about%204.6%20metric%20tons%20of,8%2C887%20grams%20of%20CO2