Three processes have contributed to human-induced increases in the carbon dioxide content of Earth’s atmosphere. Two of these processes concern emissions: increasing global economic activity and an increase in the use of fossil fuels to drive the economy. The third process is a suggested decline in the efficiency of CO2 sinks on land and oceans in absorbing human emissions. These changes characterize a carbon cycle that is forcing stronger-than-expected and sooner-than-expected climate change.
The United States ranks first in total and per capita emissions among the top twenty carbon dioxide-emitting nations and is responsible for more than 22% of the total annual carbon dioxide introduced to the atmosphere by human activity. For perspective, the United States population stands at ~4.5% of the total global population—our society’s profligate lifestyle is supported by our consumption of a greater proportion of Earth’s resources than the rest of humanity and therefore translates to a greater share of the waste products of human activities, in this case, human inputs of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Although the United States Federal government has a policy regarding greenhouse gas emissions and climate change (see U.S. Climate Policy and Actions [1]), each citizen, church, school, and business—all of us—can play a role in reducing our nation’s carbon dioxide input to the atmosphere. Reducing the amount of energy we use is one important step in the effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To do so, we must first inventory our carbon dioxide emissions by identifying the energy-intensive activities we partake in throughout our day-to-day lives.
Go here to find information that was once available through the link above: January 19, 2018 Snapshot [2].
You may also be interested in exploring the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit [3], designed to help citizens, communities, businesses, and others to manage climate-related risks and to improve resilience to extreme events.
For this activity, you are to use three different "calculators" to calculate your own carbon footprint. As you use the three calculators, consider these questions:
I ask you to be honest, with yourselves, with me, and with your classmates. Remember: On average, the U.S. citizenry’s carbon dioxide emissions are grossly out of balance with the rest of Earth’s human inhabitants, so we all play a role in current emission levels. Let’s see what we can learn through a non-judgmental assessment of our community’s lifestyles.
You will be graded on the quality of your participation. See the grading rubric [6] for specifics on how this assignment will be graded.
Interested in determining the potential C footprint for a planned building construction or retrofit? See: the Green Footstep website [7] to learn how to plan and design for C neutrality.
Also, visit Global Footprint Network [8] for yet another C footprint calculator as well as an assessment of various country's standing with respect to their C emissions and more.
Links
[1] http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/policy/
[2] https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange/evaluating-climate-policy-options-costs-and-benefits_.html
[3] https://toolkit.climate.gov/
[4] http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html
[5] http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
[6] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth530/node/1650
[7] http://greenfootstep.org/
[8] http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/