Carbon footprint

From Rod Beckstrom - The Starfish and The Spider

Carbon footprint

is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO₂ emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market. The definition can be expanded to include the emission of all greenhouse gases, converted into CO₂ or carbon equivalents.

The Global Carbon Footprint

All human related emissions 22 billion metric tons of CO₂

Earth's annual absorption 7 billion tons

Annual global surplus 15 billion tons contributing to atmospheric CO₂ imbalance and global warming

The Average Human Annual Carbon Footprint

Worldwide 3.6 tons

Americans 20 tons

Click here to calculate your Personal Carbon Footprint

There are numerous companies and non-profit groups that can help you calculate your carbon footprint:

The Carbon Fund

Or if you want to work with a management consulting and process change group that can help:

Interaction Associates Elad Levinson

How to Become Carbon Neutral

Buy an equal amount of carbon offsets or reductions equal to your tonnage above. So if you emit 19 tons, for example, you can go to www.carbonfund.org and purchase exactly the offsets you need.

Or if you want to become personally Kyoto compliant, you can purchase 20 to 30% of your tonnage.

CO₂ above refers to carbon dioxide equivalents, which means our emissions of other gases are covnerted into CO₂. Methane, for example, has a CO₂ weighting of 19, nitroux oxide 310. There are other conversion factors for all greenhouse gases.