The impact of our lifestyle and behavior changes on carbon footprint reduction
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we are facing and right now we are actually on the edge of the environmental disaster. Hence its high time for us to realize that, not just industries but every individual on earth is responsible for carbon footprint reduction (CFP) in his/her daily life.
The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report emphasises that behaviour, lifestyle and cultural changes of the people have an important role in bringing climate change impacts under control. More developed the country is, more the per capita energy consumption and associated GHG emissions are. This happens due to increased usage of electric and electronic appliances such as air conditioners as well as usage of private cars as the mode of transport.
In today’s world, a lot of awareness must be created among the individuals about the ways to reduce their carbon footprints. For example, purchase of energy efficient air conditioner can reduce electricity consumption and carbon footprint. Similarly, the use of non-motorized transport or avoidance of transport as much as possible is another important approach to reduce greenhouse gas emission. It is interesting to note that the food habits too contribute to the climate change. Eating fresh foods as opposed to canned products are relatively less carbon emissive. In addition, switching off lights when not in use, using day light as much as possible and carpooling will also help in reducing CFP.
Above are just few simple guidelines which can be practiced in our day-to-day life for reducing CFP. Even though they look simple, when followed by many, they create a huge impact by making the world a much better place for all the species to live in. Also, we can leverage free carbon footprint calculator, play around by changing different options in order to understand how our daily lifestyle impacts on CO2 emission. So, get ready to make a small change which can prevent climate change!