RP Fuel 2-23-17 Pollution Solution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment, which cause adverse change. Cars consume gas and they pollute the Earth. I release about 28.8 tons of carbon annually. My CO2 emissions is equal to 2,940 gallons of gasoline consumed. Carbon offsets are investments that reduce carbon emissions. In order to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that I release into the atmosphere, 677 trees would have to be grown. Sandra Steingraber, the author of​ ​Raising Elijah suggests three ways to lower the amount of pollution being released into the atmosphere, One is plant a garden, next one is mow grass without the assistance of fossil fuels, and the last one is replace the clothes dryer with evaporation. She is suggesting these ideas because she wants to lower the carbon ppm. I came up with three of my ways to lower the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere. One of them is to create less garbage by throwing away less paper. When you need paper, try to use one of your old pieces of paper. My next one is eat more fresh food instead of eating packaged foods. If you eat packaged food, the factory has to make the package and that causes pollution. My last one is to walk more instead of taking transportation, As taking transportation causes pollution. My family does not own a car so they only pollution that I release into the air is by taking the bus. Having the trucks bring in the packaged food, there will be 3,795 gallons of gas being released into the atmosphere.
The equation for finding the number needed to balance your carbon footprint is 23.2 lbs C/tree × (44 units CO2 / 12 units C) × 1 metric ton / 2,204.6 lbs = 0.039 metric ton CO2 per urban tree planted. My answer was 677 tree seedlings. The equation for waste is 0.86 metric tons of carbon equivalent/ton × 44 kg CO2/12 kg C = 3.15 metric tons CO2 equivalent /ton of waste recycled instead of landfilled. The equation for gas for buses is 8,887 grams of CO2 /gallon of gasoline =8.887 × 10-3 metric tons CO2/gallon of gasoline. The carbon cycle is when fossil fuel cars release carbon into the atmosphere then the trees absorb the carbon and release out oxygen. The carbon ppm, parts per million, is at 400, and we need to reduce it to 350. To do that, we can plant more trees. Eating more fresh vegetables can help because that releases very little pollution into the atmosphere. When you consume packaged meals, the factory makes the packages and that causes pollution to be released into the atmosphere. Walking more creates absolutely zero pollution. Taking the bus, train, etc. releases pollution into the atmosphere. Less garbage releases less pollution into the atmosphere. When there is more garbage, the garbage trucks have to carry more garbage to the dumpster and that causes pollution. More garbage slowly releases pollution into the atmosphere. We are going in the wrong direction, we keep increasing our carbon ppm. If we want to decrease the carbon ppm, we have to try to achieve these, for example using fewer cars In conclusion, pollution is bad for the Earth. If we need to fix that we need to bring our ppm, parts per million, down. To do that, we need to walk more instead of taking transportation and plant more trees. What we should not do is eat more
packaged meals because the factory has to make the package and that causes a lot of pollution. Those are the main reasons why we should bring our ppm down. It will be better for the environment. Sources Cited: "400 Ppm CO2: What It Means." 400 Ppm CO2: What It Means. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2017. "What Is The Carbon Cycle?" What Is The Carbon Cycle? N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2017. "Car Images." ​Free Stock Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.