A carbon footprint is the measure of the amount of greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide output a person or group produces by using fossil fuels over a specific period of time. Many environmental organizations have created questionnaires for people to calculate their footprint or how much natural resources their lifestyle requires. A environmental footprint quiz calculates the water and land quantity required to support your lifestyle and accounts for discarded waste each year.
Determine Carbon Footprint
Visit an ecological organization's website, such as myfootprint.org, to take a carbon footprint questionnaire. It may be a good idea to take more than one quiz since methods of calculating a person's footprint may vary by organization.
Determine the answers based on four consumption categories: carbon, which is home energy use and transportation, food, housing, and goods, and services that use natural resources. The footprint is also divided into four ecosystem types, such as forestland, biromes, cropland, marine fisheries, and pastureland.
Submit answers to the questions as truthfully and realistically as possible to generate as accurate a set of results as possible. It might be helpful to think about the answers for a few minutes prior to answering. After completing the quiz, the footprint calculator will figure out the individual carbon footprint based on the answers the applicant gave.. The computer calculates the footprint from the waste a person generates and his or her lifestyle and tells him how many earths are necessary to maintain the current lifestyle.
Lowering Carbon Footprint
The are various ways to lower a person's carbon footprint. One way is to purchase locally grown food because typically local food was produced in an eco-friendly way to reduce carbon footprint. Another way is to try not to purchase bottled water, since this greatly adds to the carbon footprint. If a person does drink bottled water, it may be a good idea to wash out the container and reuse a few times, rather than throwing it away after one use. Recycling household waste products such as newspapers, glass and plastic containers, can also reduce a household's carbon footprint. Although appliances may be plugged in, but not currently in use, they still can use energy. It is a good idea to unplug appliances that are not used on a regular basis to reduce energy use.
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Dianne Christensen-Hermance - Dianne Christensen-Hermance is an accomplished journalist with more than 10 years experience writing news and feature articles for various ...
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