What is a “carbon footprint?"

By: Anikka Wattnem

Carbon footprint is definitely one of the latest buzz words in our culture. It’s all over the media and I know that I am suppose to reduce it. But I have to confess that I didn’t know what it meant. I knew that it measures your impact on the environment but I didn’t know how. Simply put, your carbon footprint is a measurement (more likely an estimate) of how much carbon your life produces. The idea is that by releasing carbon you are contributing to green house gas emissions and therefore to global warming. However global warming is just one of the “green issues” we have to be concerned about.

Here are a few sites that will help you estimate your carbon footprint based on things like driving, flying, home size and the number of people you live with. If nothing else it’s a way measure where you are at and how far you have to go in your quest to be green.

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
http://www.pge.com/myhome/environment/calculator/