Climate Action — Understand Your Carbon Footprint
Background — The Climate Crisis
Before we move into Climate Actions, a brief background of the problem seems adequate. If you’re ‘yeah I know all about the problem — just tell me what to do’, go to the Understand Your Carbon Footprint section below.
So, what’s the problem? In simple terms, the Earth is heating up due to increased levels of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere which is caused by human activities like the burning of fossil fuels. This is causing the Arctic ice sheets to melt, which contributes to rising sea levels, possibly forcing billions of people on the move.
Climate change is causing more extreme weathers, more wildfires, more heat waves and more widespread drought which will make food and water a scarcity. And as the sea levels are rising, the droughts are spreading and the temperatures are rising our inhabitable space on Earth is shrinking. We will have less space to live, and less space to grow. Our civilization is at stake. If you haven’t grasped how bad it really is, here’s a good article on the various outcomes of 1.5℃, 2℃, 3℃ and 4℃ warming — 4℃, which we are currently approaching. Take a deep breath before you read though.
But there’s hope
If the problem is that we release too much greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, what’s the solution you might ask? Yes, correct! We have to release less. We have to start emitting less right now. And by 2050 we have to be carbon neutral, to even have a chance of staying below 1.5℃. It means that for every ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, an equal amount must be removed and captured from the atmosphere. In other words, we have to reduce as many emissions as we can, and then compensate the remaining.
Understand Your Carbon Footprint
We all have a carbon footprint, we are all carbon dioxide polluters, we are all a part of the problem. But that means that we are also all a part of the solution. We can — and we have to — change our lifestyles to reduce our carbon footprint. But to know what we can do and how we can change our lives we need to understand what is causing our carbon footprint, and what actions would be most effective and have the most impact. Therefore it’s a great first Climate Action to calculate your carbon footprint. Every change starts with insight.
Calculate
There are many different calculators out there, one more intense, complicated, user-unfriendly than the other. But there are some good ones. If you’re based in Sweden I would recommend using OneTonneFuture (there are apps for iOS /Android), ClimateHero or Klimatkalkylatorn. If you’re based elsewhere I’d recommend you to use UN carbon footprint Calculator and WWF Footprint Calculator.
If you want a more granular result. have more time and are not on a mobile device, you can try Klimatkontot if in Sweden and CoolClimate Calculator if elsewhere, but I’d still recommend you to start with the aforementioned.
What is great about OneTonneFuture is that you can start with answering just a few questions about your travel; what you eat, your household and your consumption habits and get a pretty good estimate. Then get a more granular calculation by keeping answering questions. A low barrier means it’s more likely you’ll ever do it. And remember — it’s all estimates. Which is totally fine. What we need is an indication of which action would make the most impact in your life.
If you haven’t done it yet, go calculate your footprint and come back. What result did you get? I’m ranging between 7 and 9 ton CO2e depending on which calculator I’m using. The US average is 17.6 metric ton CO2e/year, the European average 7.6 ton CO2e/year, Asia 3.8 ton CO2e/year and Africa 1.1 ton CO2e/year according to Our World in Data.
Next up I will write about what is considered to be the most effective lifestyle changes of all. Stay tuned.
