[aveemashfaq]

I am moderately conscious about environment. While I feel that I don't want to go out of the way to save environment, I do all that I can. But ironically, my parents who are old are very less bothered (maybe just the generation they lived in).

• I work from home so no carbon footprint in that department
• All my electronic equipment is energy efficient and I use it so. For example, I use an Ultrabook with low energy usage, I use tab for smaller meetings which saves further energy, I use a Amazfit Bip smartwatch which is energy efficient.
• I carry bags wherever I go and insist vendors to bring environment friendly things (for example, use banana leaves for packing food)
• I pedal and walk most of the time and drive a Maruti 800 so efficiently and at optimum revvs that it gives me 24 kmpl on highways (recent accquisition of Apache does not help there)
• We own a 5 acre mango garden which absorbs CO2.
• We plan to buy a piece of land for housing and grow rooftop vegetables and fruits.
• I plan to install solar panels and create a 12v DC system at home for lights and fans and charging devices
• I plan to get a 48v E2o AC system for my parents because they use AC even in winters. I want to power it with my solar setup.
• I don't use AC or coolers at all. I just go to my parents' room for refresher and that's enough for me.
• I'm designing our new home to be as energy efficient as possible with good ventilation and plant trees around to make the house cooler naturally. (Hopefully it all materializes)

I seriously feel that with the option of work from home, it's better for people to move out of cities and get some sizeable land for house with solar panels on top and vegetable and fruit gardens. This investment can also help family expenses by huge margin while providing healthy life and joy.

[ts1506]

This thread does give me a lot to ponder about.

I have not taken any choices consciously to reduce my carbon footprint.

Coming to my lifestyle, I started using shared office cab for daily commute few months back, saves hassle and also its free. My usage of personal car is restricted to weekends, road trips (once every 2-3 month). I drive an Ecosport petrol, which I’d think is decently less polluting.

I live alone, and do not have an AC in my flat. Among the big electricity burners would be the fridge and geyser.

I do buy and use a lot of electronic gadgets and frequently change them.

I take around 1 to 2 international vacations a year, and about 8-10 domestic flights a year.

I order food from Zomato/Swiggy almost everyday at least once, probably could reduce a lot of plastic waste here.

[Piyadassi]

Originally Posted by alpha1

... and since when have we human thought about any other living creature on this earth except ourselves and our personal/social desires?

That's exactly the point. The appearance of human beings is linked to accelerated pace of extinction of other species is well-established now, except in the last 100 years this number has become alarming. The fact that we are talking about environment is because this idea is also centred around us. A case in point - we are so excited about preserving soon to be extinct animals but are adopting every measure to exterminate organisms that harm us.

Personally for me what had opened my eyes was a sentence that I had read in my daughter's Class Xth biology book. It said that "human beings are at the top of consumption chart and have the least bio-value among every creature on earth." That is we consume every resource while give back next to nothing to earth.

At the same time while I try to do my small bits to reduce my carbon footprints I also believe that as species we should be less concerned about ourselves being at the centrepiece of creation.

Other times when I sit down to think over the entire issue it leaves me confounded. For example, since I love dogs I will take a pet away from its niche transporting it to my 2/3/4 BHK apartment and later take it to a vet to get in treated for obesity.


Human beings talking about saving environment is like an oxymoron but yet we have to continue making efforts.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

That consumption is per capita

Imagine vegan family of 20 kids has 2 carbon units per child per year. Total 40 carbon unites

Their irresponsible gas car driving beef steak eating neighbor with one kid does 5 carbon units per child

So Vegan family

Total units = 40
Position on chart - Praisworthy on Teambhp

Steak family
Total units = 5
Position on chart - Comment on TeamBHP how its bad

So family with more carbon footprint is suddenly better?

That is a whole other conversation. Artificially trying to control population is a human rights violation and fertility is not a switch that can be turned on and off. Fertility rate and in consequence, population growth will reduce automatically as education and living standards improve as has been demonstrated worldwide.

Moreover, in countries like India, the fertility rate is at 2.1 which is the replacement rate. So, the current birth rate is just about enough to replace the current population. So, while our population will keep growing till 2060 (since birth rate > death rate), it will actually start reducing after that.

Lets assume we force people to stop having children altogether right now itself (though our fertility rate is already low enough, it doesn't make sense), then we will have a generation of people with no one to look after them and they will require more resources in terms of healthcare, resources which were never produced in the first place because we stopped people from giving birth and there are no people in the working age.

Knee-jerk reactions are not a solution to anything!

[Sk8r]

Slightly OT, but relevant : I spent the weekend binge watching "Our Planet" on Netflix !

Boy does it show how beautiful and fragile our planet is. We all know these things but it reinforces that a catastrophic is bound to happen sooner or later

I would suggest it to everyone (believers/ naysayers equally) who took efforts to comment on this thread, it is definitely worth the time spent

On the topic, I follow the below :

- Walk / Cycle to purchase groceries
- Reject any form of plastic bag - Reuse what is at home already
- AC at 25` C, with timer for 6 hours
- Minimal / no lights during day time at home
- AC in Car - never at Low

[wankhade]

With my 3KW rooftop solar, it looks like we could save about equivalent of 3T Co2 emissions. Attached is the snap from the monitoring app

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

That consumption is per capita

That is not consumption per capita but CO2 emissions per capita.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

So family with more carbon footprint is suddenly better?

Never said that. The chart provided by you does not have any unit of measurement. I am assuming that it is the reduction in emission of CO2 per capita by adopting the Green initiatives, chief of which is "Have one child less".

What left me a bit confused was data about china which for years had a "one child only" policy and still be so high up in the CO2 emission per capita chart.
Not to mention the analogy of 20 kids and 1 kid family did not help me correlate the charts any further.

[jusgetgoing]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

What steps have you consciously taken to reduce your carbon footprint?
Image Source

A few things that I do :-

1. Availing the pooled office cab to work whenever possible
2. Walk / public transport whenever possible
3. Composting at home
4. Carrying water wherever we go instead of buying them
5. Opting for warm/hot water to drink at restaurants instead of buying plastic bottled water
6. Using a handkerchief instead of a tissue (this goes to a landfill)
7. Shop from supermarkets that use paper for packaging loose items instead of plastic covers
8. Walking to the nearby joint to eat / carry a container rather than ordering in
9. Cone ice cream instead of ice cream that is served in a plastic bowl

[Gansan]

For the past many years, I have followed a "no driving/riding day" at least once a week. Wherever I go, I will take only public transport, mainly EMU/Metro trains and buses. Even share cabs don't count as public transport!

Climate permitting, walk to any destination if it is within two kilometers. Take the bike instead of the car if I am the only person going somewhere. For intercity journeys I take the train if it is an overnight journey. Air travel only for longer distances. For shorter (~ 300 km) distances I drive the car provided there are two or more passengers including me, else I take intercity buses.

I have replaced all the lamps at home with LED bulbs. And everyone at home takes care to always switch off whatever light or appliance is not needed, even low wattage ones.

[sourishganguly]

I do not think that I have taken aggressive steps to reduce my carbon footprint, but my family and I do follow certain methods so as to create less of an impact:

-Replaced all our archaic CFL lighting systems with LED's this year ( Waited till the old products reached the end of their lifecycle or near end)

- Despite being a petrolhead, held off any new car purchases, I am a resident of Thane, the public transport system is fairly developed( although supremely uncomfortable) and travelling to and from Mumbai isn't much of a hassle. Our car usage is less than 50 kms on any average month. End up walking most of the times.

- Reduce online shopping; we might not realise but sporadic purchases do have a huge carbon impact.

- Have almost stopped using imported goods ( I must admit cost being the main driving factor)

- I think our energy consumption is among the lowest in my building (Electricity Bill being an indicator) that I reside in. I keep barely any devices on stand-by, Air Conditioners and water heaters are used very efficiently.

- Our housing society has an in house digester and composting pit, so segregated garbage is sent off to be recycled. Blackwater is recycled.

- A huge contributing factor to reduction on our overall carbon footprint has been my call to quit my job and pursue further studies( I guess you can connect the dots as to why most measures taken also save costs )

[Sasanka_Sanga]

I can proudly say I've been following the below for the past 3 years (that's when I wanted to be responsible). I know I realized late but a strong believer of "Better Late than Never".

1. I commute by bicycle almost daily (be it my workout/office).
2. I stopped using plastic covers and carrying my own paper bag/jute bags whenever I want to buy groceries.
3. I unplug the adapters from the sockets when I am not charging any devices (be it phones/laptops) as "Vampire Power" is responsible for power consumption though you are not charging anything.
4. I am an active member of Sangamitra Walking Foundation and Swatch Sarvekshan and I plant saplings during my off-office hours.
5. I am using tees made of recycled plastics (purchased from Max) and also built a room on my terrace using recycled plastics (milk packets, Shampoo Sachets, etc. made by Bamboo House India Limited).

On the contrary I should admit that I use my own vehicle (Mahindra Thar CRDe) when I want to go on a weekend getaway.

[thesquaremile]

Lots of positive initiatives outlined on this thread but surprising to see limited references to a critical aspect - meat consumption. Although, considering that meat consumption in India remains to be one of the lowest in the world (less than 4kg per person) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47057341] this is still a pertinent point.

I was lucky enough to have stumbled upon a recent BBC documentary that was literally an eye-opener to how our hunger for meat is one of the largest, if not the primary, contributors to overall climate change and global warming.
Not sure if it can be viewed in India? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bqsh
"Reports from the IPCC(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) revealed that the global livestock industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the running of all the world’s transport combine"

So for me, the most significant change I've made is to reduce my meat consumption drastically. Being an (enthusiastic) non-vegetarian my entire life converting into vegan or vegetarian is a bit ambitious, so one step at a time for now.
As for other steps
- A multi-fold approach to plastic- reuse of shopping bags, switching to glass bottles, maximising recycling. Councils in the UK are big on recycling. A bin for each type of waste is provided - that makes segregation of recyclable with non-recyclable fairly easy to understand and manage.
- Maximising use of public transport, and choosing to walk more. Being in the UK helps as both are a big part of day-to-day life anyway.
- Switching to a minimalistic lifestyle. This is a work in progress and will take a while to complete the transition. The thinking is that buying less articles, buying pre-owned if there is a need, overall using less resources must be less taxing to the planet!
- Water conservation. Among other things we try to inculcate habits of turning off the tap when brushing teeth or applying soap in the shower.
- Buying only organic products - especially for dairy and meat. Although not very applicable to climate change this certainly helps with animal welfare as part of EU Organic Food standards.
- I have not switched to an EV yet but it's definitely on the horizon.

[Nazaar25]

I am a student and don't have a license right now so I have no option but to use public transport or bicycle.
I use my bicycle to buy groceries and veggies from the market which is very nearby and use public transport to go to the college and for other work.
In this way, my carbon footprint is pretty low

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by srini1785

That is not consumption per capita but CO2 emissions per capita.



Never said that. The chart provided by you does not have any unit of measurement. I am assuming that it is the reduction in emission of CO2 per capita by adopting the Green initiatives, chief of which is "Have one child less".

What left me a bit confused was data about china which for years had a "one child only" policy and still be so high up in the CO2 emission per capita chart.
Not to mention the analogy of 20 kids and 1 kid family did not help me correlate the charts any further.

Oh, now I think where the confusion is coming from. You are talking about Per Capita, I am talking about Total.

So there are two ways to reduce carbon footprint

1. Reduce per capita footprint
2. Reduce number of people

All my graphics says is that reducing number of people has a bigger impact.
So having fewer people reduces carbon footprint.

For example USA has a lower carbon footprint than China
India is number 3 on the list with a higher total carbon footprint than Russia

[landcruiser123]

There's a lot you can do in terms downstream carbon footprint consumption than upstream.


Here are the ways I like to check carbon footprint downstream:
1. Wash clothes lesser (easy in the US)
2. Commute to work by bicycle (possible as long as there's no rain)
3. Use cloth bag/reuse plastic bags while shopping
4. Buy lesser FMCG stuff packed in plastic/bottles. Buy larger refill containers
5. Use metal/glass containers whenever possible
6. Plan your tasks, routes, and drive efficiently
7. Use energy efficient lighting
8. Go to a restaurant rather than getting delivery


Can't install solar panels as I don't own a house yet

For tackling upstream carbon footprint, here are my strategies:
1. Buy locally sourced products- especially vegetables, fruits, and other grocery (visit a farmers market/local vegetable market rather than large retail chains)
2. Going vegan/vegetarian significantly reduces carbon footprint
3. Buying less electronics/cars- supply chains of electronics & cars are extremely resource intensive
4. Buy more from a brick & mortar retailer. Example: I buy some utensils from a Walmart rather than an Amazon.

I've reached a point where I can give up my Amazon prime membership in the USA.