What is my carbon footprint? What impact do I have on the environment?
In my own words, our carbon footprint is basically the total quantity of emissions released into our environment (such as carbon dioxide, etc.), as a result of the activities/resources that we/industries use or generate. What impact does our carbon footprint make on our environment on a daily basis?
What are we doing to our earth?
Whether or not you believe it, I believe our world will come to an end someday. Humans have basically stripped the earth from its core (think: digging for minerals, drilling oil, etc.); and through our lifestyles, have created so much damage (think factories, landfill waste, mineral exploitation, greenhouse gases, ozone layer depletion, etc.). A friend told me that some areas of China are covered in yellow smog. Don’t know about you, but I think that’s disgusting. Just think about what we are inhaling into our lungs every day. Through our actions, we are harming our health as well as our environment.
Nifty carbon footprint calculator
I found this carbon footprint calculator online: www.carbonfootprint.com. I think it is interesting to know and visualize what kind of impact we have on our environment. As well, to get a comparison of our impact versus that of other countries.
Three simple things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint:
- Instead of driving (where possible), walk or ride your bike instead.
- Turn off the lights in your house/office when you don’t need them.
- Buy local produce and food (rather than have a truck burn diesel fuel for hours just to deliver food to your local supermarket).
- Instead of flying to exotic destinations by airplane, find a local park (FYI – Provincial and National Parks are usually spectacular) and enjoy a walk or a swim in nature.
My love of nature
I love being out in nature. I started taking foot photos last year because just being in nature humbles me. I thought it would be kinda cool to put together a collection of ‘touched the earth/soil/water with my feet’. Below is a sample of my collection. I find being in nature so therapeutic – for both body and mind. I am sure many of you have this feeling as well…
As you may or may not know, my visit to the speculator Bruce Peninsula National Park and enjoying a relaxing canoe ride in the swamp at Point Pelee National Park (both in Ontario) are what originally sparked my imagination and inspired me to write and illustrate “My Great Canadian Adventures”. My love of Canada and its spectacular natural landscape continued to inspire me. I ended up working on two books at the same time. “Winter Moose visits Montreal” is my second book, but the first in its series (Winter Moose visits Alberta is in the works). Winter Moose is a fun-loving moose who travels all over Canada and has great adventures everywhere he goes. My books can be purchased online: www.CanadianAdventureBooksbyMonica.com
and available soon (could be as early as tomorrow, December 9, 2018) in Newmarket Chapters (17440 Yonge St, Newmarket, ON L3Y 6Y9).
What inspires you?
In this thing called life, we can find simple and inexpensive places to go and heal ourselves, and meanwhile help our environment by staying local.
I would love to hear your comments – where are some great outdoor places that you enjoy going to?