Going Green: Getting Started and What Is My Carbon Footprint Anyway?

I have been experimenting with the idea of going green, eating organic and giving back to the community for several years now but I have been doing so without any real education on these subjects. After all of the hooplah surrounding Al Gore's movie and his "carbon footprint" I decided to research into all of this to try and educate myself and change my lifestyle. I am sharing my findings on ways to go green, eat organic and give back in Atlanta specifically to help other Atlantans and improve our fabulous little city.

Giving Back

Giving back is an easy one for me so I'll start with that. My mother and father have always been involved in helping others personally, through their church as well as other charitable organizations. Living by their example, I have been volunteering my time and/or money since I was very young. A few years ago I got involved with a charity that fits with my career (wedding industry), supports a good cause (breast cancer) and involves going green to some degree in the form of recycling and reselling wedding gowns and other accessories: the Brides Against Breast Cancer Nationwide Tour of Gowns benefiting the Making Memories Foundation.

By the way if you are in Atlanta and you are getting married, the Atlanta Brides Against Breast Cancer wedding gown sale is coming up at the end of March. Click here for details.

In any event, I will try to write about charitable giving opportunities in Atlanta regularly as I hear about them, so please let me know about anything worthy of writing about...

Eating Organic and/or Local

Apparently there is a big debate as to whether eating organically grown food or locally grown food is better for our health and our environment. I don't think I will ever be qualified to answer this questions as I delve into this subject matter. However, I do plan to write about places to find the best organic and locally grown foods. I have been a big fan of the Whole Foods Market on Ponce de Leon Avenue for several years now but I know there has to be more out there in Atlanta...

But let's just start with the Whole Foods Market. I love it because the produce and seafood are absolutely fabulous and the entire Health and Wellness atmosphere is just refreshing. As I understand it, Whole Foods does try to support local farmers whenever possible but let's not worry about that right now. For the sake of being healthier, eating organic foods that haven't been sprayed with pesticides, injected with hormones and other chemicals seems like a good healthy start - and the Whole Foods Market is a great place to buy these types of food products.

Find a Whole Foods Market in Atlanta >>

Going Green: What is My Carbon Footprint?

So in my attempt to change my lifestyle to be more "green" I am really having to research. There is a lot of information out there and I am apparently a little behind the times. But since I don't know too many people who are actually eco-conscious, hopefully many Atlantans will find this information useful.

First off, I wanted to find out what a carbon footprint actually is and then what my carbon footprint is. According to TimeForChange.org, a carbon footprint is defined as:

The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide(CO2).

And your carbon footprint is defined as:

The sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame.

Ok so the following activities all create CO2 emissions:

• driving cars and traveling in other vehicles including planes, trains, buses, etc.
• heating your home
• the production of foods and other goods such as plastics
• using your computer for hours on end

This article on TimeForChange.org gives a fabulous explanation of the term carbon footprint along with a guideline for calculating your carbon footprint.

Also, here are some links to calculators that I am going to use to calculate my own carbon footprint:

• Offline Carbon Footprint Calculator (downloadable pre-defined spreadsheet)
• Online Carbon Footprint Calculator

Calculating...

Yikes! My carbon footprint is 31 tonnes of CO2 and according to the BP calculator the country average for the U.S. is 18.58 tonnes of CO2.

So what in the world is a tonne of CO2? According to the BP Web site, "1 tonne of CO2 emissions occupies 556 m3 of space at 25 degrees Celsius and standard pressure. The volume of water in an Olympic swimming pool is approximately 2500m3. Therefore the average household emissions in the USA (approximately 20 tonnes per year) would be enough to fill about four and half Olympic swimming pools!"

BP is a global energy company that is doing what it can to research and develop alternative fuels and energy sources. In Georgia, BP has helped to improve our air quality by introducing BP’s ultra-low sulfur (30 parts per million) gasoline in Atlanta - and we need it! Did you know that Atlanta is one of several U.S. cities out of compliance with EPA air standards? We need to fix this! Click here to read more about what BP has done in Atlanta and Georgia and now start using BP gasoline... I am trying to think of where the closest BP is to my house but I can't find any type of station locator on the BP web site. Ok more on this later when I start locating some BP stations!

Well this was a nice little, very little, introduction for me. Now I need to figure out how to go about reducing my carbon footprint.

Join me on my journey to better living Atlanta!