The carbon footprint from our home life

Our carbon emissions will not be zero even though we are staying at home, try to think about what did we do…Before we actually get to this, let’s start with some admitted facts about the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.

The step of ‘Eavenger’ is unstoppable

Over 71 percent of the Earth is covered with water, therefore from the outer space it appears blue and that is exactly why Earth has been called the ‘Blue Planet’ for ages.

However, according to some experts estimate that 1.79 million square kilometers of land will be submerged by the rising sea levels till 2100 which is caused by glacial ablation, it’s bound to threaten some countries such as Netherlands and Bangladesh, also some coastal cities like New York, London and Tokyo. by that time the earth probably will be like…

Are you zooming in on your screen and trying to look for the land from that picture? exactly the same as what I did. Anyway, what I want to say is, the avenge of the earth has just started, and the current human civilization ultimately will become the next Atlantis in less than 5000 years if we still do nothing about it.

 

Just do the least that we can do to reduce the carbon footprint from our home life

The era of climate change is coming, although currently, it has already had some solutions to decrease our carbon footprint to reduce some carbon dioxide emissions, for example riding a bicycle or taking the bus instead of driving, also something relatives like flying less or taking the train instead of flying.

But there’re some trivial matters that we normally will be really easy to ignore in our daily life and believe it or not, they actually contribute a lot to our carbon footprint, just you haven’t realised it yet.

1. Sending emails

sending emails has already become an integral part of our lives, but have you ever wondered what all that unnecessary daily communication is doing to the environment? While a typical email creates 4 grams of carbon dioxide, an email with a larger attachment has a carbon footprint of up to 50 grams, which is related to the electricity needed to send, receive and store the email. It may not seem like much, but considering the total number of emails sent worldwide, it’s actually a lot.

What can we do? There’s a study found that if every adult sent one fewer “thank you” email, it would save nearly 16,500 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Watching movies on Netflix

Binge-watching their favorite Netflix series is a priority for many people at home. For me, it definitely is, but it also contributes to our carbon footprint. A study has shown that watching movies on online streaming platforms emits 420g of carbon dioxide per hour. Netflix also revealed in February that its global energy consumption had increased by 84% in 2021.

What can we do? Watching videos in SD rather than HD (which uses up to five times as much energy) can simply reduce our carbon footprint. (Netflix said in March that it was reducing video quality in Europe to reduce pressure on Internet providers during the coronavirus pandemic.) Not continuing to stream episodes when we’re doing something else is also a way to reduce our carbon footprint.

3. Having cheese

Most people are aware of the bad environmental effects of eating meat, but dairy products also contribute a lot of carbon emissions. Cheese is a good example, with each kilogram of cheese representing around 8.8kg to 13.5kg of CO2 emissions — much more than chicken, which has a carbon footprint of 6.9kg.

What can we do? In addition to eating less cheese, another way to reduce dairy’s carbon footprint is to choose low-fat, low-density cheeses, such as mozzarella or ricotta.

4. Using hot water

Saving water saves more than just water; Because the process of supplying, treating, and using water requires a lot of energy, and water use leads to high carbon dioxide emissions. One study estimates that 5 percent of all carbon emissions in the United States come from water use, and a report from Energy Saving Trust says that each household uses hot water to produce 875 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year.

What can we do? To save water and energy, we can reduce the time of having a shower and use water at 30 ° C to wash clothes. According to the energy saving trust fund, compared with the higher temperature of the water, a year can save up to 40% of the electricity, we should also maximise the use of the space of the washing machine and dishwasher.

 

Conclusion

There’s one of my favourite sentences that said, the earth is a place of endless wonder where landscapes are often created from mere dust. the single of us is exactly like mere dust, the dust that can form the landscapes can build the whole world, and all the little efforts we gathered will make big changes.

Finally, I’m willing to say that We can start again if we fail, but there’s no restart button for the earth. Start discovering and practicing sustainability during our daily life, start with some little things around us to make our life become more sustainable.

 

Referencing

Mahoney, P. by J. (2020, September 12). Scientific scribbles. Scientific Scribbles. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2020/09/12/dear-cheese-i-think-we-should-take-a-break/

Osmanski, S. (n.d.). Is our obsession with netflix, Spotify, and other streaming services harming the planet? Brightly Eco. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://brightly.eco/blog/environmental-impact-streaming

Ro, C. (n.d.). The hidden impact of your daily water use. BBC Future. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200326-the-hidden-impact-of-your-daily-water-use