Reducing our carbon footprint (video transcript)

What is a carbon footprint?

In a previous video, I explained what our ecological footprint is. In a nutshell, it is how much land and
water area we need to produce the resources we use and to absorb our waste. Here is a link to that
video if you haven’t seen it. One resource that we use a lot of is carbon, mostly from the burning of
fossil fuels. [Now, this is a cute drawing but truly THIS is what fossil fuels extraction looks like
nowadays] When we do that, it produces greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. There are other
greenhouse gases, but to keep it simple and easy to compare, we count it as CO2 equivalent. So part
of our ecological footprint is actually our carbon footprint: it is the amount of CO2 equivalent that is
released into the atmosphere as a result of our activities. In my case, about half my ecological
footprint is carbon, and worldwide it is about 60%. We can also calculate the carbon footprint of the
world, a country, a business, an individual, an event, a product, etc. For example, when we travel with
a vehicle that burns fossil fuels, it clearly releases carbon into the atmosphere. If I use an electric
vehicle, then the question is: how is the electricity produced? In the United States and China, for
instance, the two countries with the largest carbon footprint, about 65% of the electricity is produced
from fossil fuels, so there is a good chance that an electric car generates a lot of CO2. But I am
already getting into how the carbon footprint is calculated so how do we do that?

How is the carbon footprint calculated?

Well, you are going to need a pen, a notebook, a calculator, no, I am kidding, calculating your carbon
footprint is like many other things nowadays, there is a website for it. If you are in the US, I
recommend this one. If you are in the UK, I recommend this one. If you are anywhere else, I
recommend this one. Essentially, you enter how much energy it takes to heat your home, how much
driving and flying you do, how much money you spend on food, clothes, technology, investment, etc.,
and the engine behind it translates everything into how many metric tons of CO2 equivalent that is.
Adding it all up at the end, you get your carbon footprint. Mine is 8.63. It is significantly lower than the
average in Canada where I live but you can see that it is significantly higher than the world’s average
and, more importantly, to the worldwide target.

Why do we need to reduce our carbon footprint?

Where does this target come from? The scientific community agrees that when we use fossil fuel, it
releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which makes its temperature rise. We have emitted
so much of these greenhouse gases over the past century that the earth is getting warmer than it has
been over the past 400,000 years (we found that out by drilling ice cores in Antarctica which is the
topic of another video you can watch if you like). So we need to reduce our emissions which means
we need to reduce our carbon footprint.

How to reduce our carbon footprint?

How do we do that? One option is carbon offsets. This means paying a certain amount of money,
depending on your emissions, that will go toward a program designed to reduce the same amount of
carbon emissions somewhere in the world: either by planting trees, building a wind farm, a solar
power plant, etc. When you calculate your carbon footprint, some calculators will give you a link to
offset your carbon emissions. If I chose this one for instance, it would cost me less than 100$
(Canadian) to offset my carbon emissions for the entire year. Great deal, right! But here is the rub:
Planting trees does not make airplanes fly. YET! So offsetting does not keep the fossil fuels (the
carbon) in the ground. It just transfers the problem onto another project somewhere else in the world
while we keep extracting them. In a way, it is like killing panda bears and donating to WWF to protect
them. Carbon offsets should be seen as a great way to fund tree planting and renewable energy
projects around the world in order to transition away from fossil fuels. NOT as a long-term solution.
The best way to reduce my carbon footprint is to address its root causes so the carbon is not
extracted in the first place. I can live in a smaller home, improve its insulation, heat it with geothermal
energy for instance, use less electricity, have more of my electricity produced from renewable energy,
walk and bike to drive less with in-car, when I do drive, use a very efficient vehicle, maybe an electric
vehicle given that the electricity is mostly hydro where I live, fly less, eat less meat, especially beef
which generates a lot of carbon emissions. And finally, one we don’t talk about very often: be smart
with my investments, meaning the money I give to financial institutions through my mortgage and
insurance products. Why? Because most banking and finance organizations invest my money into…
fossil fuels. According to carbonfootprint.com, if I cut my mortgage, it would reduce my total annual
carbon footprint by 2 metric tons, 20% of my total carbon footprint! Finally, according to the 2020 gap
report published by UNEP, the 10% part of the population that earns the most money have just about
the same collective carbon footprint as the other 90%, so it is our entire system that is dysfunctional
and at the end of the day, the best way to reduce our carbon footprint is to take action and to vote for
those who will help create the new systems that we need.