News reports about climate change are becoming more frequent and are having a bigger impact on our daily life. The unfortunate truth is that humanity has had a significant impact. However, each and every one of us may contribute in some way to lessening it.
What kind of carbon imprint are you leaving? It is what?
The total amount of carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalent gases (CO2e) that you release into the environment as a result of using energy is known as your carbon footprint.
Every single day, we all use energy continuously. Unfortunately, the majority of this energy is still produced by burning fossil fuels, which must come from someplace.
When you drive your automobile, you are using energy. The fuel it requires was transported by another vehicle, which also required energy. The factory where the car was made also required energy, and parts were delivered by yet another vehicle, which required even more energy.
It continues.
You leave a carbon footprint behind you at every step of the journey.
Your shoes, for example, and other seemingly unimportant items like them all leave a carbon impact.
Greenhouse gases are a significant element in the accelerating pace of climate change.
The amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released is referred to as the carbon footprint.
This produces a variety of secondary effects.
To mention a few, it has an impact on the availability of water, weather patterns, and the growing seasons for crops used for human consumption.
The CO2Shoe project, based in Europe, was able to create a tool to estimate the carbon footprint of the footwear industry between 2013 and 2017.
The project’s pilot action examined the carbon footprints of 36 footwear styles made by 16 different companies, primarily in Europe. Spain, Poland, Italy, and Portugal were among them.
The project found that 58 percent of the carbon footprint of footwear is caused by the production of its components.
The distribution and life cycle of the footwear make up the final 6%. Packaging makes up 16%, assembly and finishing make up 11%, and finishing makes up 12%. Studies done for the project show that a pair of shoes emits the equivalent of 10 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2e).
Reference: Cec-footwearindustry.eu. (2018). CEC – News. [online] Available at: http://cec-footwearindustry.eu/co2shoe-project/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018]
Recommendations on how to reduce their environmental impact were given to the participating companies in the exercise. Some of these suggestions were:
using resources with less of an impact on the environment
Both the energy consumption and the weight of the components used to make the shoes should be decreased.
It is preferable to utilize water-based compounds rather than those with solvent bases.
The use of environmentally friendly forms of transportation should increase the efficiency of the transportation load.