If you were to close your garage door and start you car’s engine while sitting in the driver’s seat, it would only be a short time before you’d be overcome by carbon monoxide fumes. That’s because you can’t build up a cloud of toxic gas in a small area without its having an immediate and dramatic (or in this case, fatal) impact. But, because the Earth and its atmosphere seem so vast, it is possible for us to go on pumping untold amounts of another combustion product, carbon dioxide, or CO2, into the air and think it’s having no real effect, when, in fact, it’s actually trapping heat at an ever greater rate and thus altering the climate in ways that are now becoming quite apparent.
So here’s another way to think about it : Every time you do something that requires energy or the burning of fossil fuel, whether it’s turning on a light switch or driving to the corner store, you’re adding to the amount of CO2 – the gas chiefly responsible for global warming – in the atmosphere.
If you can visualize the CO2 you use in terms of a personal carbon cloud, the size of yours depends on how much you’re personally responsible for generating. That means if you commute 50 miles to work every day and your neighbor, who owns an identical model car, only drives 10, the part of your carbon cloud created by commuting will be five times bigger than his.
Combustion, whether it involves burning gasoline to power a car or the burning of coal to generate electricity, releases carbon dioxide and contributes to the overall carbon cloud caused by human activity. One gallon of gasoline weighs slightly more than seven pounds, but releases 19 pounds of carbon dioxide when burned.
By thinking of the amount of combustion you produce in terms of how much you’re contributing to a growing carbon cloud, you can better understand how diverse activities contribute to global climate change, which, by raising temperatures worldwide, is already melting glaciers and polar ice and threatening to submerge coastal areas. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts like a blanket around the globe by holding in the heat given off by the sun. The physical barrier it creates slows the rapid loss of heat from the earth, causing temperatures to rise. That’s why carbon dioxide and a few other gases released into the atmosphere are referred to as “greenhouse gases”.
As incredible as it seems, the average American, according to United Nations statistics, is responsible for approximately emitting 22 tons of carbon into the environment annually, compared to six tons per person on a worldwide basis.
But can you reduce the size of your carbon cloud without diminishing the quality of your lifestyle in the process?
Not only can you, but by doing so, you might actually see tangible improvements in both your physical and fiscal health.
Take driving, for instance. For most people, the tendency is to get behind the wheel when they have to run the tiniest errand. But is that car trip really necessary? Is the convenience store where you buy your paper perhaps within walking distance, giving you a good excuse to get some much-needed exercise and fill your lungs with fresh air in the morning? Or could a lot of the stops you make around town be accomplished via bicycle, allowing you to engage in yet another form of healthy exercise?
Then, there are things you could really do without, if you think about it – like lawn and gardening devices, for instance. Instead of a power mower, why not revert to the kind you push under your own steam (yes, there are modern versions of those available), enabling you to cut down on pollution, save fuel costs, and get even more exercise in the process. Then there are those noisy, malodorous devices known as leaf-blowers. Whether you use one yourself or have a landscaping service do it for you, the pollution and excessive noise it creates are bound to take a certain toll on your well-being – whereas raking those leaves can be another source of beneficial exercise, to say nothing of keeping the air around your home a lot cleaner and allowing you to hear yourself think.
Another possible health benefit of making a conscious effort to cut your energy consumption is the chance to reduce the electromagnetic field, or EMF exposure in your home, by turning off and unplugging electrical devices (including computers) when not in use. Many experts believe that constant exposure to EMFs can be detrimental to our health. (And while most people may not realize it, plugged-in appliances can continue to draw power even when they’re switched off.)
One very noticeable – and beneficial -- effect of using less electricity will, of course, be a corresponding drop in your monthly bill, which can be further reduced by switching to energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs. Insulating your home and installing double-glazed windows can be another significant source of savings – although it may require a substantial up-front investment.
Another thing you can do – one that will help enhance your “personal space” as well -- is to bring as many plants into your environment as possible, since vegetation absorbs CO2 and converts it back into oxygen during photosynthesis. One major contributing factor to the global climate crises, in fact, has been the steady destruction of tropical rain forests, especially in the Amazon River basin, that are part of the Earth’s self-regulating mechanism.
(If you have the outdoor space, you might consider planting some bamboo. It has been estimated that bamboo forests absorb approximately four times as much CO2 as regular hardwood forests.)
Here are a few other life-enhancing ways you can reduce the size of your personal carbon footprint:
