 |
| Footprints- Jomo Beach, South La Estates, La-Accra |
If you are into greening of planet Earth, and for that matter greening of human attitudes and activities, as tools thereto, the phrase carbon footprint ought to be a phrase that you are familiar with. As a way of spreading the greening concept, and thereby getting more people on board, I have picked the above topic as the subject of this post. Greening simply means keeping the environment green or in the parlance of this blog, sustaining a clean and balanced natural environment. It involves a restoration effort for a natural environment clean and balanced, on planet Earth.
Why this greening matter? The
natural environment is not in the best of shape because of the negative impact
of human activities on it. Global warming is one of the problems that is giving
earthlings a headache. Global warming is the result of greenhouse gases emitted
into, and trapped by the atmosphere, through the activities of humans. The
gases are carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs etc.
Carbon footprint is the amount of
carbon dioxide emissions associated with the activities of an individual,
corporation, house, industry, country etc. It is measured in CO₂ metric tonnes
per year. Notwithstanding the definition of carbon footprint, other greenhouse
gases are measured as such.
How you, as an individual, build
up carbon footprint; there are two ways. The two are the direct way and
indirect way. The direct one is when your activity directly generates
greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The indirect one is when you consume a
product whose production involved the emission of greenhouse gas.
DIRECT WAY
During winter you burn wood at the fireplace to
keep your room warm, greenhouse gas emitted as a result of the burning of the
wood directly adds to your personal carbon footprint.
In our part of the
world where only a few people have heaters in their homes, water is heated at the
hearth with firewood, greenhouse gas emitted in the process because firewood is
biomass directly adds up to your personal carbon footprint.
Use of charcoal in cooking is common in Africa.
When one uses charcoal in cooking, for example rice, greenhouse gas released
from the burning of the charcoal adds up directly to one’s personal carbon
footprint.
When you drive
around in your own car fuel combustion in the car results in the emission of
greenhouse gas which directly adds to your personal carbon footprint.
Tending
your garden results in the gathering of organic waste like dry and green leaves.
When the waste is burnt in the backyard of your house greenhouse gas is emitted
into the atmosphere. The gas emitted into the atmosphere directly adds to your
personal carbon footprint.
If you use a refrigerator
that is not environmentally friendly, CFCs emitted from the refrigerator
directly adds to your personal carbon footprint.
INDIRECT WAY
When one buys instant food like waakye (cooked
rice and beans with hot black pepper), kelewele (spiced sliced plantain fried
with oil), yoo ke gari (cooked beans and gari, gari is derived from cassava),
banku and okro stew (banku is milled corn cooked into a paste, it goes with
okra or okro stew) etc from the roadside, take it home to eat, indirectly one builds
up carbon footprint because the fossil fuel used in cooking the food emits
greenhouse gas. Meals mentioned here are Ghanaian (West Africa) meals.
I go to Osu Shopping
Mall, specifically Shoprite (a South Africa shop), to get my supplies, brown
bread, pineapple, lettuce, cucumber, beer etc. These supplies are served in
plastic carrier bags. In the manufacture of the carrier bags greenhouse gases emitted
add up to my carbon footprint indirectly. Osu Shopping Mall is located on
Oxford Street in Osu, a town in the Accra Metropolitan area- Ghana.
Much of the electricity we use in our house is
generated by the use of coal, fuel and gas. These are fossil fuel that emit
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So while you watch television powered by
electricity in the comfort of your home, remember that it is done at the cost
of a warmer atmosphere. This could be said for laptop, radio, heater, air
conditioner etc. used in the house. The electricity used as such attracts
personal carbon footprint indirectly.
PARTING SHOT
This post is trying to make clear an
individual’s contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, directly and indirectly. This is to point out how close the cause
of global is to each and every one of us, indeed you and I are part of the
causative factor. Thinking that the cause of global warming is so far from you
is not true at all. Do a reality check. You can do something to reduce global
warming at the individual level. How? Shift to the use of environmentally
friendly things. For example, instead of riding in your car frequently, do some
of your travels by bicycle, which should reduce carbon dioxide emission through
car fuel combustion. Reduction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will not
only reduce your personal carbon footprint, it will help in the greater process
of bringing about a clean and balanced natural environment globally, in a sustainable
way.
Reference:
https://www.britannica.com/science/carbon-footprint
Comments
Post a Comment