Tiny Footprint Coffee:
Page 2: Your Carbon Footprint
Overview
Most people understand what organic agriculture means. The two key points are no chemical pesticides and conservation of the environment. Organic products are called sustainable products because they keep the environment and the livestock healthy and viable.
While this isn’t an article on avenues to sustainability, another option is to lower your carbon footprint. Buying products that are local, organic, carbon neutral or any combination of sustainable features bonds you to the land and the food it produces for you.
What Is A Carbon Footprint?
Your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas produced to directly and indirectly support all of your life activities—food, shelter, transportation and so forth. It is usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Everything you buy and use makes your footprint grow. You can calculate your carbon footprint via the link below.
Why should you care about your carbon footprint? Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases—hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)—drive climate change, previously known as global warming. You don’t have to know Al Gore or have seen An Inconvenient Truth to appreciate the problem. Even if you’re just one person, you can contribute to the solution.
What About Buying Local?
Much has been written about the locavore movement. The goal is to eat foods grown/raised no more than 100 miles (“food miles”) away. The concept is that the fuel used to transport foods long distances is a key contributor to greenhouse gas.
However, Carnegie Mellon researchers Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews argue that it is dietary choice, not food miles, that most determines a household’s food-related climate impact.
Transportation as a whole, they say, represents only 11% of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the type of food purchased that makes a difference—not just in transportation but in the processing. Read the full article.
The article continues below.
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