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If we continue to use fossil fuels and produce CO2 at the rate at which we currently do, there will be severe consequences. Personally, I am responsible for the emissions of 10.2 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. If everyone where to live as I did and produce as much CO2, we would need 3.7 earths to sustain this behavior. To offset my personal emissions, it would take 12 acres of US forest, or 169 tree seedlings to be grown for 10 years. My overshoot day is April 12th. This means that every year, by April 12th, I have already emitted more carbon than nature is capable of offsetting, considering my proportion to population size. If you haven’t already, I recommend calculating your personal emissions, as it was very surprising to see how I am really affecting the Earth. The carbon cycle is the natural cycle in which carbon is distributed throughout the environment. The basic steps to this cycle are as follows. First, carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Second, carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers, who put off oxygen. Third, consumers feed on the producer, but most of the carbon consumed is exhaled as carbon dioxide. Fourth, both producers and consumers eventually die, either releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere or turning into fossil fuel. However, this cycle has been thrown off by human interference. Humans are burning fossil fuels and producing CO2 at a faster rate than the other steps to the carbon cycle can process it, creating an imbalance. This imbalance is measured in ppm, or parts per million. What this measures is if you were to take a million molecules of air, how many of them would be CO2. The current ppm is 411.75, but an acceptable ppm is 350. This high ppm has led to many natural disaster and has long term effects. There are many ways individuals can help lower the ppm. In the book Raising Elijah, the author suggests several ideas to reduce one’s carbon footprint. The three ideas she suggests are to plant a garden, find ways to mow lawns without fossil fuels, and dry clothes using sunlight. These are all effective ways to reduce your personal carbon footprint, and relatively easy to do. It may be slightly more difficult to dry clothes using sunlight depending on where you live, but it is worth a shot. One way the average american could reduce their CO2 emissions is by purchasing more efficient appliances. While this may cost more money initially, it saves money on energy over time and uses less electricity, and therefore produces less CO2. One way that communities and individuals can absorb existing CO2 is by tending to a community garden. These plants absorb
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3/25/2019
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CO2, produce locally sourced food, and their need for compost creates a alternative to throwing out food scraps. In 2017, the world’s first company began to capture and compress CO2 and sell it as fertilizers. Not only does this technology reduce carbon emissions, but it creates fertilizer that can be used to grow plants, also decreasing carbon emissions.
Citations: “The Changing Carbon Cycle.” The Changing Carbon Cycle | UCAR Center for Science Education, UCAR, scied.ucar.edu/longcontent/changing-carbon-cycle. “400.350.Org.” 400.350.Org, 400.350.org/. “Earth's CO2 Home Page.” CO2.Earth, www.co2.earth/. “How Many Planets Does It Take to Sustain Your Lifestyle?” Ecological Footprint Calculator, www.footprintcalculator.org/. “Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 15 Oct. 2018, www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator. Magill, Bobby, and Follow @bobbymagill. “World's First Commercial CO2 Capture Plant Goes Live.” Climate Central, Climate Central, 31 May 2017, www.climatecentral.org/news/first-commercial-co2-capture-plant-live-21494.
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