Eco-Friendly Fail: 8 Ways We Emit Carbon Every Day
photo: Thinkstock
You buy local. You avoid using plastic. You ride your bike. You’re basically doing your best to reduce your carbon footprint. But Fast Company found eight surprising ways we emit carbon every day, without even realizing it. Check out this list and see if you’re guilty:
1. Eating. Including food production, transportation, and toilet paper use, humans emit two tons of CO2 a year just form eating.
2. Telecommuting. Staying at home rather than driving to work seems like it would save energy. But actually, telecommuting can increase home energy use by up to 30%.
3. Shopping online. Having your packages shipped to you usually means that there is a higher carbon footprint than if you had just driven to the store and gone shopping.
4. Buying CDs. We know you hardly ever do this anymore, but sometimes we can’t resist nabbing our favorite band’s new CD. Try to quell that urge — buying digitally reduces carbon emissions by 40-80%.
5. Using black pixels. There have been debates about whether black or white pixels use more energy on your computer monitor. It turns out that on new LCD screens, dark pixels use more energy to be displayed.
6. Reading spam. People who open and read their spam emails are wasting enough energy to power 2.4 million homes a year. Just install a spam filter.
7. Reading books. We love real, physical books also, but using an e-reader saves 168 kg of carbon a year.
8. Not using the bathroom before a flight. Full bladders on flights weight the plane down, which increase fuel use. If half of travelers peed before flying, carbon emissions would be cut by 4.2 tons a month.
via Fast Company
Post from: BlissTree
Eco-Friendly Fail: 8 Ways We Emit Carbon Every Day