Carbon Footprint

Task 5

What does carbon footprint mean?

A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the atmosphere mainly climate change which we individually produce. In other words the amount of greenhouse gases produced on a daily basis through burning fossil fuels for electricity, transportation and from other well known issues.

I measured my personal carbon footprint at http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ which shows an average of 3.17, which makes clear that it is a high figure. The major ways I contributed most to greenhouse gases were:

a) Travel: 39%
b) Stuff: 25%
c) Food 20%

On the other hand, the average figure for my class CRB is 3.778 which is almost same as my figure. The worst contribution was for my colleague Mubarak Al Mansoori which was 6.67. Frankly, every single person, company, institution, college including ADMC which I am studying at and even the other countries have carbon footprints which badly affect to the environment. Indeed, the U.A.E has the largest per person footprint in the world.

We are all part of the problem, should we not also be part of the solution?

Although it seems hard to believe, the actions we take and the things we do in our daily life are so opposite and negative. If we don’t all do our part to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re in for hot weather and likewise our children and grand children.

Truthfully, we have to take some serious steps to reduce our carbon footprint. Firstly, we can reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by saving energy as well as saving water. Secondly, we could cut down on waste. For example, we can re-use the things that can be used for more than one time or we can support the companies who recycle the waste. Moreover, we can buy recycled products such as toilet tissue and stationery. Lastly, don't travel by air if you can avoid it or don’t travel much if you can.

Overall, I believe it is a serious matter and we have to do something about it. Even though we are blamed, we are concerned to solve this problem.