What’s a Carbon Footprint and Does Yours Matter? – By Mike De Socio (CNET) / Dec 8, 2023
It’s a tool that can help you reduce your impact on the planet, but there are much more effective ways to help tackle climate change.
When you hear about the many dire effects of human-caused climate change — rising seas, boiling summers, intensifying natural disasters — it’s normal to think, “What can I do to help?”
One answer you often hear is to lower your personal “carbon footprint.” But what exactly is a carbon footprint, how do you measure it and what impact does it have?
Experts say that totaling up all of the carbon emissions associated with your everyday life can be a useful way to understand your contribution to global warming, and prioritize changes that can reduce it. But there are also limitations to how much an individual can do. Any talk of carbon footprints should center on the countries, industries and corporations that account for most of the carbon emissions, which largely come from burning fossil fuels. And according to some, personal carbon footprints are just a distraction from much more effective climate action people can take.
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