Carbon Footprints: How Do We Figure This Out?

The first stop on my sustainability journey was trying to calculate my personal effect on the planet. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.

We're told to "reduce our carbon footprint", but what does that exactly mean? We have to be aware of ourselves to start making green choices, but what happens when that process seems impossible?

We've all heard about "carbon footprints", but what really are they? Time for Change defines it as "The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)."

Basically, think of everything you do as having a reaction, and that reaction produces Carbon Dioxide. Some individuals, or countries, produce more than others. Too many greenhouse gases aren't good for the environment, so we're commonly seeing "reduce your footprint" or things like that. So, what kinds of activities contribute to a carbon footprint? This handy-dandy infographic will be easier to understand than my explanation.

While this is a simplified peek, there's a whole lot that goes into a footprint. The timber industry and even using the internet adds to it. So, to start cutting mine down, I wanted to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide I was returning to mother earth. I figured I would fill out a multiple choice questionnaire and BIM BAM BOOM it would spit a number out at me.

I was so wrong.

I tried using the test on carbonfootprint.com. It has tabs divided into "house", "flights", "car", "motorbike", "bus and rail" and "secondary". I went with bus and rail, being a commuter. You must know the exact mileage of your trips-- from the subway to train to taxis (more like Uber) within your choice of per year, month or week. If you're a homeowner, be prepared to type in numbers reflecting your natural gas, heating oil, coal, propane and wooden pellets. There's more, but that's just the beginning. Point is, you need precise numbers.

"Secondary" covers more common items, but you still need numbers. I don't know about you, but I don't know how much I spend on clothing, technology, paper-based products or restaurants in a year. There are more specific categories, just those are just a few. I had been excited to be ready to have a tangible number to little away at, but was quickly discouraged. There was no way to calculate my electric use being a student in a dorm room. I wish there were updated tests that catered to the modern person, maybe a younger demographic.

For something we commonly hear about, understanding Carbon footprints and how to offset them is a hefty process. I'm back to the drawing board to evaluate how green I'm living.

Have any of you successfully calculated yours? If there are simpler tests, leave them in the comments!