Cutting Carbon - Delivering Value

What exactly is a carbon footprint? Well to put it simply it is a measurement of impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular - climate change. It relates to the amount of green house gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation, etc. I found this great pie chart above to go along with this explanation. It is meant to show the typical carbon footprint left behind by an average individual in the developed world.

Scary thought isn't it? Think about all this nice weather we have been having... for JANUARY! Don't get me wrong, I love it when it's warm out... but I also live in Pennsylvania where by now it is supposed to be in the low 30s... not 60 degrees.

A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts, the primary footprint (shown by the green slices of the pie chart) and the secondary footprint (shown by the yellow slices).

1. The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane). We have direct control of these.

2. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use - those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put it very simple - the more we buy, the more emissions will be caused on our behalf.

So, is global warming happening? You bet it is. To figure out your own carbon footprint here is a great "carbon footprint calculator" that I found on the internet...My Carbon Footprint.

Let's make it a point to reduce our individual carbon footprint while still understanding that a person needs to get to work, and a person will never stop being a consumer of products.
Here is a list of things you can do to help immediately:

- make it a point to turn it off.... lights, TV, DVD player, computer, etc. Anything not in use should not be on.
- turn down your central heat slightly (try 1 or 2 degrees to start). Just 1 degree will reduce your bill by about 8%.
- turn down the water heating setting (just 2 degrees will have an enormous positive impact).
- remember, there is no point heating the house after you have left for work.
- energy saving light bulbs!
- buy local produce... or even grow your own.
- reduce your consumption of meat (less consumers = less killing of animals)
- buy organic
- recycle as much as possible
- don't buy over packaged products
- shop locally, buy the RIGHT products.

Visit Get Healthy, located in Richboro PA or call our store at 215-355-5350 to find out what we do to help our planet thrive.

Because THIS is not the answer.

According to National Geographic News:

• Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

• The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.