What is meant by the term Carbon Footprint, and how can I measure mine?
A carbon footprint is a way for each person to measure and understand the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted as a result of their daily activities. Because energy is required to produce everything we commonly consume, including food, electricity, heat, clothing, housing, and other daily needs, each of us have direct and indirect responsibility for the GHG released to the atmosphere through the use of energy. As a quick example, consider the fuel used to simply transport a tomato from the farm to the grocer and finally to your table as the consumer of that tomato, the fuel used to get it to your kitchen is part of your overall carbon footprint. Energy comes from a variety of sources; fossil fuels are currently the most heavily used including coal, natural gas, and oil derived fuels such as gasoline and diesel. The term embodied energy describes the overall energy used in the creation of a product consider how much energy is needed to make a car, for example from the original mining
