Carbon Footprint Exercise What is it? Benefits? Negatives? What is a Carbon Footprint? Look through the Metro today and find one article that is to do.

Calculating and Realising our own Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint Exercise

What is it? Benefits? Negatives?

What is a Carbon Footprint?

Look through the Metro today and find one article that is to do with Carbon Footprints or the Environment.

What are the benefits of knowing our carbon footprint?

How can we all lower the carbon footprint?

What benefits will there be from lowering the carbon footprint?

Carbon Footprint Exercise

What is it? Benefits? Negatives?

A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.

By knowing the areas where we have a high carbon footprint, we can lower it by finding an alternative. For instance buying organic produce at a supermarket instead of buying a cucumber from Argentina. Or better still growing our own in the back garden.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Consequences of not lowering our Carbon Footprint

There could be severe consequences if we keep on going at the rate we are now. Rising global temperatures will cause sea level to rise and alter local climate conditions, affecting forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It may also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand and some of our countryside may be permanently altered.

•The likelihood of "killer" heat waves during the warm season will increase (Karl et al., 1997)

•The IPCC Second Assessment Report estimates that sea-levels will rise by approximately 49 cm over the next 100 years, with a range of uncertainty of 20-86 cm.

•Sea-level rise will lead to increased coastal flooding through direct inundation and an increase in the base for storm surges, allowing flooding of larger areas and higher elevations.

•Further melting of the Arctic Ice Caps (at the current rate) could be sufficient to turn off the ocean currents that drive the Gulf Stream, which keeps Britain up to 6°C warmer than it would otherwise be.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Relating this to everyday situations and then the consequences.

Carbon Footprint Of a Cheese Burger.

Carbon Footprint explained Video

How do Polar Bears feel about climate change?

After watching these videos how would you argue in 100 words this statement....

“I don't really care about the climate, ill be dead in 70 years time, and by then the world will have only heated up by 2 degrees. Who really gives a monkey – at least I get sunburnt more often. I'm going to carry on leaving my computer on, my TV on stand-by and driving around in my big fat people carrier – even if it is just down the road to the

shop to buy some expensive imported cigars”

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Eco-Logical Footprint

Eco-Logical Footprint Game

The Eco-logical footprint is a way of expressing our impact on the planet. It shows us the amount of land that is used to provide us with everything that we consume.

The eco-logical footprint classifies it into sea and four different types of land use;

1) Bioproductive Land - Arable, food and cotton, pasture land for grazing, forest land.

2) Bioproductive Sea Space - Products would be fish and seaweed

3) Built Land – Roads, buildings, airports etc

4) Energy Land – Woodland needed to absorb the CO2 produced in using the energy

5) Biodiversity Land – Land needed to ensure the protection of non-human species

Carbon Footprint Exercise

What does the Eco-logical Footprint do and not do?

•Incorporates all aspects of our physical impacts on the planet.

• CO2, Methane and NO2 are not included

•Measures peoples consumption of resources not what they are producing

•The footprint allows us to see the impact of using Natural resources such as timber, cotton, biofuels.

THE NUMBERS

The earth has a surface area of 51 billion Hectares – Only 15 billion Hectares is land.There are about 11.4 billion hectares of bio-productive landThe world population is 6 billionThis would mean that we each have around 1.9 hectares of land to live off.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Carbon Footprint of a Can of Coke

The can itself –

Quarry – bauxite

Lorry – transport to a port

Freight Ship - transport the bauxite to a smelter to make the metal

Factory - processing plant for the metal

Lorry - transport to a port

Freight Ship - transport the metal to the UK

Lorry – transport to the factory where the cans are made

Factory - cans are processed

Lorry - transport to retailers

Carbon Footprint Exercise

The drink itself –

Cropland - For sugar cane

Tractor - Collecting the cane

Lorry - Transporting to sugar processing factory

Factory - Creates the sugar

Lorry - Transports to the port

Freight Ship - Transports sugar to the UK

Lorry - Transports sugar from port to factory

Factory - Factory where the sugar is used to create the drink

Reservoir - Collects the water

Lorry - Factory where the drink is put in the can

Factory - Completes drink process

Lorry - Transports out to retailers

Car - Shopper drives to shop to buy drink – drinks it

Rubbish Truck - Can goes in bin, picked up by rubbish truck

Landfill - Emptied into a landfill site, where it wont decompose for another 200 years

Carbon Footprint of a Can of Coke

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Aluminium – A problem?

•Bauxite extraction – pollutes water and causes deforestation

•Large amounts of electricity is used to produce aluminium from bauxite

•Because of the large amounts of electricity used in the smelting process bauxite is transported thousands of miles around the globe to find cheap hydroelectricity.

•There is a hydroelectricity scheme in the wilderness in Iceland that processes imported bauxite.

•It is then shipped out to countries.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Chocolate – a problem?

Transporting the cocoa from Africa to Europe wont cause a problem – transporting the cocoa by lorry around Europe will.

Cocoa workers treated like slaves

High milk content – milk has a large ecological footprint

Eating a lot of sugar in chocolate can cause health problems and obesity.

The European Community now grows its own sugar beet – but there is too much to consume, so it gets dumped on developing countries that grow cane sugar. This causes problems for the Cane sugar farmers.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Plastic and Paper

Plastic

Pollution issues related to plasticsPlastic comes from oil – mined and is in demand.Plastic toy inside kinder egg unlikely to be recycledVery few children play with the toy after 5 minutes of building it, and are thrown away immediately.

Paper

Paper and card is a large part of our footprint.This is probably screwed up and thrown on the floor, where it will decompose within a few days.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Working out the carbon footprint of the Kinder Egg

You are to use the cards placed on your desk to tell the story of the object from beginning to end.

Think about how many elements make up the Kinder Egg – so each one of these will need a life span.

Make sure that all the cards are in order and clearly visible.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Organic Chocolate

You are to use the cards placed on your desk to tell the story of the object from beginning to end.

Think about how many elements make up the organic chocolate – so each one of these will need a life span.

Make sure that all the cards are in order and clearly visible.

What can you notice about the two life cycles?What are the advantages or disadvantages of both pieces of chocolate?

Carbon Footprint Exercise

Sustainability...

Sustainability means.....

...to make the life span of a product longer without damaging the environment in doing so.

How can we make this chocolate more sustainable?

Sustainability...

Replace materials with recycled ones

Change the method of transport

Change processing

Replace energy sources

Not make it at all

Carbon Footprint Exercise

The bigger picture...

This is just one little product. When you look at everything that we consume you see that we consume three times our fair share of earths

resources. If everyone on the planet lived like we do in the UK we would need 3 planets to provide

all the stuff we use.

Carbon Footprint Exercise

What about other issues??

Even though the carbon footprint is important, the other issues connected with the products used in the process are equally as important.

I want you to write a short description for each topic – link them all back to the Kinder Egg

1) Finite resources used.....2) The workers used....pay / working conditions etc3) Other pollution caused....4) Any other health issues related to the product....5) Social or cultural impacts....

Carbon Footprint Exercise

What is it? Benefits? Negatives?