Baelyn Rackley

Professor Wolt

Biology 1010

December 13, 2022

Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint is defined as “A carbon footprint is the total amount of

greenhouse gasses (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our

actions.” (The Nature Conservancy, carbon footprint, 2022). This can be better summed

up as the amount of carbon you generate from the action you take daily, monthly, yearly

that generate greenhouse gasses.

Throughout this process of tracking my carbon footprint I used 2 different

applications. The two applications I used were Earth Hero and For Good. To get

introduced into the application they both had a similar format, they would ask you a

series of questions related to carbon emission output and give you a rough calculation

of your carbon footprint. I liked these two applications because they were simple, easy

to navigate and had information laid out that was easy to refer to.

I really enjoyed using earth hero. This application is a fun interface that allows

the users to really take whatever kind of approach to your carbon footprint, whether that

be just calculations or setting goals and actions or reading the many articles provided

about how you can make a difference. Another thing I really enjoyed is my progress and

community. Firstly, my progress space allows you to investigate how your carbon

footprint is broken down in comparison to America and the rest of the world. Secondly is

the community space, this space provides information about groups that have changed
and are looking to change the world. This is a great space and allows any user to make

a change.

Subsequently the second application I used was For Good. This interface was

like Earth Hero with a personalized carbon footprint along with recommendations on

how to be more sustainable. This app also tracts miles traveled and gives you a space

where you can look at your transportation logs which I found interesting. Along with this

it also includes a space where it graphs your energy consumption along with food and

transportation. However, I found this app hard to navigate and underdeveloped at times.

My carbon footprint according to Earth hero is 19.9 and according to For Good if

everyone lived like I do then we would need 0.4 worlds. I found that the For Good

application can change your transportation information, and I was unable to further

change the food information after the general questions. The application had tracked a

couple of my trips but had a hard time regulating tracking my miles traveled. I found

most of my data entry to be within the Earth Hero app. The best way I could do this was

to weekly update a series of questions regarding miles traveled and how and food eaten

and what kinds, and lifestyle sustainability questions. This information allowed me to

look at what I struggle with and allow me to look at courses of action for changing my

carbon footprint. It is important to watch our carbon footprint and as a society it is

especially important to watch our CO2 emissions. The reasoning behind this is because

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, this is significant because greenhouse gasses are the cause

of global warming. If we continue to produce CO2 and do not limit or regulate our
output, we will continue to contribute to global warming and the consequences that

come with it.

 Over the course of me tracking my carbon footprint the area I decided to focus on

more was transportation. I found by trying to maintain more healthy transportation styles

that my carbon footprint was able to slowly drop a little and that I was able to make a

difference. It was able to affect my carbon footprint by a couple tenths of the decimal

point provided.
 Works Cited

The Nature Conservancy. “What Is Your Carbon Footprint?” The Nature

Conservancy, https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-

calculator/.