How to reduce your carbon footprint by 80%

In 2019 we witnessed extreme weather conditions: drought, heat waves, heavy rains, landslides, record-breaking storms, and flooding. All of this likely due to climate change, which is making these events more frequently than ever. We cannot wait for Businesses and Governments to catch up and take action! We believe it is our personal responsibility to the planet to minimizing our carbon footprint for the well-being of the planet's environment and ecology. 

Individual consumption of energy is the main contributor to climate change. Global warming is primarily caused by 2 gases: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane gas (CH4). Below is the chart of these 2 gases emission by sector. As you can see Electricity and Transportation combine make up almost half of global emissions. And, it is no surprise that average household contributes the most in carbon emission.

       

How can you reduce your household carbon footprint?

1.  Electricity: you can completely eliminate your electricity carbon foot print by choosing a provider that generates electricity through green alternatives. This one step will reduce your carbon footprint by 15%. We don't have to wait for the government or corporations to act. We can do it on our own. Pick a utility provider in your area that offers alternate source of energy.
2. Appliances: Appliances uses electricity to heat and cool your home, refrigerate your food, cooking, washing and cleaning. Since you already took the first step to switch to a greener source of energy provider. By opting for smart appliances and using smart control thermostats. You can further reduce your carbon footprint by 60%.
3. Transportation: Transportation and aviation are the huge contributor of Co2. Data shows that 74.5% of transport emissions comes from road vehicles. Reduce your footprint by opting to walk and bike for short commute. Not only you will emit zero emission. but these forms of commuting contribute to a better state of health. If you absolutely must have a car: instead of relying on fossil fuel to pump your gas, switch to ethanol based gas. All you need to do is buy a convertor, which allows a gas vehicle to run on ethanol. These converters cost around 300 dollars USD. If you have a diesel vehicle, the alternate source of fuel is bio diesel and you don't even need a convertor.
4. Food Consumption and Waste: The cheapest source of calories in the world is plant based staples. In order to produce 2000 calories of plant based food per person, farmers just have to grow 3000 calories of plant based food. However, in order to raise 2000 calories of animal based meat, the rancher needs to input up to 20,000 calories.  To feed a population of 6.74 billion people on the planet with a plant based diet will require roughly the area of Europe; whereas, to feed the people on meat requires the area of Asia and Europe combined. In short, going on plant based diet will further reduce your carbon footprint by 20%. 
5. Sustainable Lifestyle: If you reduce, reuse and recycle your consumables as much as possible, you can further reduce your carbon footprint by 80%.

These 5 steps can alone help you reduce your footprint by 80%. We can avoid climate catastrophe, the power is in your hand. All you have to do is take a decision and switch to green sources of energy today.

You can calculate your carbon footprint here. And take the first step to reduce your footprint. It is a one time change, you do it once and don't have to worry about it ever again. 

Please share this news with your friends and family, if we have enough people make changes in their own life, individual action becomes collective action, and that will help us reach the climate goal.