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Carbon Footprint is the term used for how we measure greenhouse gasses and other emissions that are a direct effect of human-induced climate change and global warming. The term has utterly exploded over the last 10 years and shows no sign of slowing down in the press. The information that has emerged about climate change over this time has been truly shocking and has triggered a global outcry for urgent change.
Our ever-increasing carbon footprint is having a profound effect on the environment with global temperature rises, sea levels rising, polar ice caps melting, extreme weather events, air pollution and ocean acidification to name just a few of the negative things impacting our planet.
The best way in which we can help in the fight against global climate change is to reduce our carbon footprint, not only as a country but as individuals too. Check out our other blog 'Other Ways you can Reduce your Carbon Footprint' to see different ways you can easily start to reduce your own carbon footprint, and most of them cost nothing and are really simple to start implementing in your day-to-day life.
So, why should you look to reduce your carbon footprint? Let's take a look at some of the top reasons...
Public Health
If you had the choice to save a life, would you? A 2019 study into Greenhouse Gas Emissions showed that we could prevent up to 3 million premature deaths annually by the year 2100 if we start to take immediate action to reduce our carbon footprint. The degradation of our air quality is a direct and serious result of increasing carbon emissions. Increasing emissions are being directly linked to cancer, respiratory problems such as Asthma and COPD, strokes, cardiovascular disease, waterborne diseases, mental health disorders, foodborne diseases and allergies to name a few.
An aggressive reduction in the current dangerous levels of greenhouse gasses could help to prevent between 300,000 and 700,000 annual premature deaths by 2030, with two-thirds of this number being from China alone. If we can maintain this level of reduction, we could potentially prevent between 800,000 and 1.8 million premature annual deaths by 2050.
Maintain Plant & Animal Diversity
After poaching and habitat destruction, climate change is one of the biggest threats to the planet's plants and wildlife. The world's on-land habitats play a huge role in addressing climate change, plants of every shape and size help to soak up carbon emissions, but with them being destroyed at an alarming rate worldwide, we risk losing the one natural thing that could actually help us turn the tide on climate change and recover our losses so far.
As a direct result of deforestation and other on-land habitats being destroyed, we are seeing wildlife species becoming threatened. They simply cannot keep up with the rate that our climate is changing. For example, deforestation is destroying the food sources and shelter of threatened species such as Orangutans and Jaguars as well as three-quarters of the world's bird population. The melting of the polar ice caps is destroying hunting grounds for polar bears and homes and shelter for penguins and seals. Migratory birds are arriving at their destination to find that food sources have either bloomed too early or not at all.
If climate change continues to increase at the current rate, a quarter of the earth's species will be extinct in 40 years.
Improve the Environment
Our carbon footprint is having significant effects on the environment. Extreme weather events like wildfires, heat waves, tropical storms, floods and severe droughts are causing huge disruption and devastation to crop yields and animals' natural habitats. Earth's atmosphere is increasing in temperature, sea levels are rising and destroying coastal towns and cities, ice caps are melting, precipitation patterns are drastically changing and ocean acidification is increasing.
Any way that we can try and reduce our carbon footprint will play a role in mitigating all the environmental side-effects of climate change. The more we reduce the levels of greenhouse gasses, the more we slow the rate of the aforementioned facts. When rates slow, the earth's biodiversity doesn't struggle to adapt to temperature and pH changes. The planet will be able to regulate itself again without threat.
Our planet's future literally depends on us standing up and making a difference. There really is no excuse not to hit the ground running and make some changes in our lifestyles that will positively impact the planet. After all, we want a beautiful, clean planet for our future generations to live in, don't we?