When it comes to having a carbon footprint sadly it is a print that we all leave on the earth, we cannot fully stop making carbon footprints but there are very many ways in which we can help to reduce the footprints that we leave. So, you may be asking ‘How Can I Reduce My Carbon Footprint?’ and wondering what type of changes you are able to make.
Surprisingly the food that we buy, eat, or waste all contribute to our carbon footprint. In fact, in the EU food is one of the largest contributors to our individual footprints. This is due to the different stages of food life cycles. Food has a production cycle which includes fertilizers, pesticides, animal feed, water, and other materials used to grow or raise food. It has a processing cycle, harvesting crops and dispatching animals, or the energy used in creating secondary foods such as dairy products. It then has to be transported which includes from farms to processing plants, then on to retail units and finally from the shops to your home. Then comes storage and cooking and the electricity involved in refrigerating and then cooking the food you’ve bought and finally waste. This is both the food you throw away and unsold food disposed of by retailers. Each stage will have a different impact on a food’s carbon footprint. There are plenty of ways to reduce your food carbon footprint, from switching to a plant-based diet to eating your leftovers or prioritizing seasonally grown produce. Until then, ask yourself where your food comes from and what processes were involved in producing it. Just by looking closely at the foods you buy and reading the labels contained on some food packaging will could cut your carbon footprint and help protect our planet.
Another way that you can help to reduce your carbon footprint is by helping and contributing to the process of reforestation. Reforestation projects are taking place worldwide to try and reduce those CO2 emissions and converting them into oxygen to help with a cleaner, greener environment for all. We can all take responsibility for our gardens and personal spaces but when it comes to planting trees on a larger scale then it comes down to the responsibility of a charity or company to help restore those cleaner air spaces. Companies or charities that spend all their energies trying to make the world a better place for all and helping to reduce the carbon footprint around the world are only to be admired. We can really appreciate the work that goes into these reforestation builds and one way we can do this is by contributing financially to help the work continue. It does not have to be a financial burden, charities, and companies helping with reforestation really appreciate any financial support that is given to them. Reforestation is a lengthy process but the way that it contributes to the reduction of carbon footprint is more than worth investing your money in to and being able to play your part.
