Footprints, Carbon and Otherwise

 We certainly do live in an amazing and beautiful world.  As I travel around the Country and the World I am constantly amazed at the variety of offerings the world lays in front of us.

I also worry about what we are individuals are doing to preserve or destroy all this magnificent beauty.  Our oceans are becoming more and more polluted by everything from oil to plastics being thrown overboard. In some instances we have overfished areas so badly that they will never return to normal.

 I have lived on the Gulf and watched the dolphins play along the shore.  I live in the mountains now at the mouth of a beautiful canyon.  We have problems here in January and February because of "inversion," a phenomenon which occurs due to weather trapping pollutants in the valleys below the mountains.  Sometimes the haze is like a huge fog!

In spite of the fact that we have many volunteer

groups here in Utah who walk the trails and pick up trash, many times when I walk the river I see plastic bottles and other trash thrown into the river.  The water is amazing and clear and the river is full of brown and rainbow trout.  But if people continue to damage this pristine river, that will not remain true.  I like to adhere to the premise that we should leave nothing behind but our FOOTPRINTS when we go hiking, to the beach or anywhere in nature.

Okay, I say all this to ask you "What are YOU doing to reduce your Carbon Footprint?"

We recently converted to Solar for our home in an effort to contribute less to our Carbon Footprint.  In the first three weeks we have already reduced our Carbon Footprint by 680 pounds! Wow! I also drive a car which has a shut off when you stop for traffic lights.  As soon as you touch the gas, it restarts.  I never sit and idle while I am waiting for someone.  We have replaced every single bulb in our home with LED bulbs, which are initially expensive, but save energy and in the long run last so long that they really aren't more expensive.  

We live in a "throw away" society where people don't consider how much waste is being put into landfills on a daily basis.  We throw away so much that could be recycled.  There are so many ways to cut your Carbon Footprint.  Many times it is as simple as re-purposing an item rather than throwing it in the trash, not idling your car while waiting for someone, combining trips to the store instead of running out for one thing at a time.  Using Public Transportation or Car Pooling instead of driving to work each and every day is yet another way to reduce our Carbon Footprints.

Below is a table which shows a comparison of Carbon usage by country...it is interesting...and although the USA isn't the WORST offender, we certainly are close to the top.  

I urge you to look around and see what you can do to help reduce the use of Petroleum products and cut your own Carbon Footprint.  If we all work together to this end, the world will still be beautiful for our future generations!

I don't have more recent information available at this time, but I am sure you can get the picture of what is going on from the information posted below.

Let's all do what we can to reduce our Carbon Footprint.

A useful measurement is carbon emissions per capita (person). Under that measurement, the average American is responsible for 19.8 tonnes per person, and the average Chinese citizen clocks in at 4.6 tonnes.

World carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption and flaring of fossil fuels, 1980-2006

Country	% change since 1996	Emissions per capita	2006	2000	1992
China	2475.26	2966.52	6017.69	4.58	105%
United States	5079.53	5860.38	5902.75	19.78	7%
Russia	2056.55	1582.37	1704.36	12	5%
India	664.96	1012.34	1293.17	1.16	55%
Japan	1078.48	1203.71	1246.76	9.78	10%
Germany	896.37	856.92	857.6	10.4	-4%
Canada	485.09	565.22	614.33	18.81	18%
United Kingdom	579.82	561.23	585.71	9.66	-1%
South Korea	294.53	445.81	514.53	10.53	27%
Iran	234.79	320.69	471.48	7.25	79%
Italy	415.62	448.43	468.19	8.05	10%
South Africa	323.55	391.67	443.58	10.04	24%
Mexico	313.55	383.44	435.6	4.05	31%
Saudi Arabia	235.46	290.54	424.08	15.7	70%
France	382.89	402.27	417.75	6.6	7%
Australia	271.58	359.8	417.06	20.58	37%
Brazil	237.8	344.91	377.24	2.01	23%
Spain	254.21	326.92	372.62	9.22	52%
Ukraine	535.94	326.83	328.72	7.05	-10%
Poland	330.33	295	303.42	7.87	-13%
Taiwan	132.27	252.15	300.38	13.19	52%