What is a carbon footprint?

One of the talking points that's been tossed around lately on the news is the idea of a "carbon footprint". What is a carbon footprint, exactly? Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO₂ emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market. In materials, is essentially a measure of embodied energy, the result of life cycle analysis.

A carbon footprint is often expressed as tons of carbon dioxide or tons of carbon emitted, usually on a yearly basis. There are many versions of calculators available for carbon footprinting.

This is directly related to the amount of natural resources consumed, increasingly used or referred to as a measure of environmental impact. Carbon dioxide is recognized as a greenhouse gas, of which increasing levels in the atmosphere are linked to global warming and climate change.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol sets forth a methodology by which voluntary emission reduction can be monetized in the form of a carbon project. These standards involve the use of an environmental proof called additionality.

What does this mean for all of us? This means that we all need to take personal responsibility for our carbon footprint. Some easy ways to do this include:

• Ride share when possible
• Walk or ride a bike for short distances or small trips, such as to a store or local restaurant
• Eat foods that are grown and produced within 250 miles of your house. The closer the better, as this keeps another truck off the road that would have to haul food to you over long distances.
• Insulate your home and business with the maximum R-value that you can.
• Use air conditioning and heating sparingly and set your controls at the boundaries of what you consider comfortable.
• Minimize waste in all of it's forms: water, trash, food waste, industrial waste and vehicular waste included.