Eco-Products in a company that uses recycled materials to make their food and drink containers. They make everything from paper plates to insulated cups. Only 3% of “Eco-Products” carbon footprint is trash and paper use! Most of their carbon footprint is from transportation, delivering their products. I think there should be more companys like this. Also, I was unclear on what happens to products after we recycle them. I added a link below in case anyone else doesn’t understand this either.

The livestock industry has a big impact on the state of the enviroment right now. Meat-eating is causing destruction of natural habitats. Many trees are being cut down to give cattle fields to graze in. If the world did not demand the amount of meat that it does the state of the enviroment would be much better. The link below says, about “25% of the planet’s land surface is used for the grazing of domestic livestock.” That is one fourth of all land! If cattle were not on this land it would have trees on it and those trees would be producing oxygen and taking in the huge amounts of carbon dioxide being produced by the rest of the world.

Hi, my name is Jamie and I live in Texas. When I calculated my carbon footprint, I was shocked by my home total. It was 26,526 kg, compared to an average of 9,385 kg for my region. Upon further investigation, I determined that the main cause for this high number is my family’s light bulb usage. Most of the bulbs in my house are incandescent, and all the carbon dioxide they produce really adds up.

A greener alternative to incandescent light bulbs is to use CFL bulbs instead. According to the article linked below, “replacing just one incandescent bulb with a CFL can prevent up to 450 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.” Now imagine what could happen if everyone switched from using incandescent lighting to using CFLs. That could close 90 power plants in the U.S. alone, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by millions of pounds each year.

Participating in the ISCFC has made me realize the heavy environmental impact of using incandescent light bulbs. Now that I know more about the benefits of CFLs, I will make a point of installing them in my house.

Hi, I’m Julia and I live in Texas. As shown in this video, schools who recycle can make a huge impact on our carbon footprint. By adding recycling bins around the campus of a school, a huge difference can be made. If you want to make a difference in our society’s rising carbon footprint, try petitioning to add recycle bins in your school! The school that I attend is very big on recycling. Is yours?

Hi, I’m Julia and I live in Texas. When I calculated my carbon footprint, the first question that was asked was “What country do you live in?” I figured out that the United States of America is the biggest contributor to the worldwide carbon footprint. Central heating, cooling, lighting, transportation, industry, agriculture, and practically every current convenience that we have come to depend on relies on fossil fuels. Since 1950, the U.S. carbon emissions have sky-rocketed. As stated in this article (from the URL):
•In the year 1950, each US citizen produced 16.21 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 2.32 metric tons
•In the year 1960, each US citizen produced 15.42 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 3.05 metric tons
•In the year 1970, each US citizen produced 20.36 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 3.89 metric tons
•In the year 1980, each US citizen produced 20.87 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 4.23 metric tons
•In the year 1990, each US citizen produced 19.17 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 4.04 metric tons
•In the year 2000, each US citizen produced 20.33 metric tons of CO2 vs. the average global citizen’s 3.93 metric tons
These statistics prove that without a drastic event, the United States’ carbon emission will keep on steadily rising.
Each citizen should contribute to the lessening of our country’s carbon emission. I will take shorter showers, carpool with my friends or neighbors when driving places, and stop buying plastic water bottles. Hopefully, after reading these statistics, other students will make sacrifices to lessen our carbon footprints also.

In order to minimize the amount of food wasted in the world, I believe that people should buy and provide only the food that they need. The UN states that an estimated billion tons of valuable food goes to waste every year. Much food is wasted every year due to excess food rotting after being discarded or simply not being purchased to be later discarded as well. A large amount of food is wasted due to the overstocking of supermarket shelves and an overproduction of food. There is such an abundance of this food that there is more supply than demand for it. Instead of being used to feed the poor and help those in need, this food is usually thrown out or discarded. Even the food that is sold goes to waste. Many people throw away tons of perfectly edible uneaten food into the trash every day. Much of this waste is caused by people in first-world countries like the U.S., the UN, along with many others. The amount of food wasted in the U.S. alone could be used to feed over 25 million people! If we can find a way to avoid the wasting of this one billion tons of food and utilize it to feed the poor, I believe a great step towards solving world hunger could be taken.

Links to News Articles and Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/11/news/economy/world_squanders_food/index.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/americans-waste-165-billion-in-food-per-year-ndrc-2012-8

Hi my name is Grace and I live in the United States. I think that nuclear testing is very dangerous, however, it seems to be good for the environment since it gives off little green house gases. Some pros to using nuclear energy is that it doesn’t give off smoke. Smoke is a major pollutant in the air. It also produces a lot more energy that wind and solar energys. The investment in nuclear energy could also create many jobs for the U.S.

Some cons however is that is very dangerous. Uranium is required for nuclear energy, and there is a lot of radioactive material. It is also not biodegradable. They energy is considered cheap, however it is very expensive to store the nuclear waste for a long period of time. The power plants would also have to use a lot of water which could harm wildlife.

Overall, I think nuclear power is a good idea and would reduce our carbon footprint, however, it may be too dangerous to use, and would be a big risk.

Hi, my name is Lindsey, and I’m from the U.S. Whenever my parents and I go to the grocery store we always get plastic bags. We never use reusable bags, but we do reuse the plastic bags, mainly to put dirty cat food boxes into. It is just so easy for us to throw so many recyclable things out. But, we do reuse as many things as possible. The plastic bags are stored and reused for carrying lunches or trash. Old shoe boxes are used for… wait for it… storing shoes!!! Isn’t that amazing, but they are also used for school projects too. We even hang on to fabric scraps so that we can make a nice patchwork blanket. There are so many ways to reuse things its crazy, but there are lots of great ideas out there, like these.

I know that a lot of what is written in this discussion is about growing your own fruits and vegetables at home yourself, but something that is often overlooked is hunting and fishing for your own food.

I think that a lot of times this topic is not thought about because there are a lot of people who are vegan or vegetarian that are animal rights activists who do not believe in the killing of animals partially because of the effect that eating meat has on the environment. However, what many people do not know is that hunting or fishing for your own meat has a much smaller effect on the environment than buying meat in stores does.

I know that my dad loves to hunt and goes almost every season. The majority of what he brings home is deer and doves. Not only is it some of the best, freshest meat I’ve ever had, but it is actually not bad for the environment. The meat that you buy in stores is from farm raised, sometimes tortured animals. Not only are they kept in horrid conditions, they are sometimes given “unnatural feed” which can be contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, and there can also be artificial hormones given to these animals. On the note of carbon emissions, wild animals don’t have to have tilled soil which give off large amounts of carbon into our environment.

On the other hand, I know that the birds and deer that my father brings home once a year were not in these conditions, but were living a natural life just like any other animal and did not give off large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Hi my name is Marissa and I live in Houston, Texas. I recently calculated my carbon footprint and these were my results

Average of myself; my region

Transportation: 12543 kg, 6387 kg
Home: 8433 kg, 9385 kg
Food: 4710 kg, 5551 kg
Purchases: 740 kg, 2977 kg

I noticed that the transportation factor of my carbon footprint was extremely high! The section that contributed the most carbon was my flight plans. Over the past year, I have been on 6 different flights to Spain, Italy, and New York. I knew these flights were long distances, but when your about to go on such fun, cultural trips you don’t realize how much carbon and other bad chemicals the planes are releasing throughout the flights. If I knew how much this aspect affected the enviroment, I probably would have changed the itinerary and destinations of my trips.

Another factor of my footprint that surprised me was my shopping/purchases. This average was very low compared to my region’s average. I would have thought that my average would be higher because of my urge to have new clothes every week. I probably go shopping twice a week and most of the time I buy new things. I never buy anything from thrift shops. I also never bring reusable bags to store my new clothes in, which is a factor that I thought would add alot to the average. I never knew how much different aspects of my shopping skills affected the enviroment.

The other two topics of my results were a little bit below average, which I thought was normal.

Overall knowing the results of my carbon footprint and the results of my region’s footprint really allows me to see how one person can affect and change the enviroment.