Barbara Behr

I really didn't know what else causes a large carbon footprint so I had to look some articles up on Google to figure this one out!
Cars and other modes of transportation apparently cause a large carbon footprint so reducing the amount you drive or travel can reduce this footprint.
Using appliances in your home is also responsible for a large carbon footprint.  Using electricity, coat, gas, and oil emits carbon dioxide into the air.  The appliances that put out the biggest carbon footprint are electric dryers, refrigerators, freezers, ovens, and dishwashers.  But by decreasing the use of these appliances or buy switching to energy efficient ones you can reduce the carbon footprint.
You can also decrease your own carbon footprint by using rain barrels to collect water for use on flowers and other purposes than drinking.

I don't like coffee which is responsible for deforestation.
But I love chocolate so I will have to look for cocoa products which have the Rainforest Alliance Certified Seal so I know the cocoa used in those products do not support deforestation.
Meat, dairy and eggs are not directly responsible for deforestation but they feed for the livestock is... I eat lots of burgers so will have to cut down on those but my dairy and eggs consumption isn't that high.
Apparently palm oil is responsible for mass deforestation in Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia, but it is in everything!   It can be found in over 50% of all consumer goods!!  I read it is commonly found in processed food so I need to cut back on my intake of processed food and eat more fruit and vegetables!!

Microgrids help rural and low income areas that don't have access to electricity.  These grids use energy sources like wind or solar to provide electricity to these areas.
These solutions to bring electricity to areas who used to live without electricity have helped these populations by improving their local economies and making running a business easier.  This helps people to live better, provide for their families, and changing their lives for the better.

Black carbon can cause a variety of respiratory and heart problems, cancer, and even birth defects and death.
It can pollute the air inside and out and cause visibility issues, harms eco systems, and reduces crop production.
It also affects women and girls the most since they are the ones who usually tend the cook fires and fires to warm their homes.
This is a social justice problem because most people adversely affected by black carbon are the populations of poor, underprivileged people who are unable to get the privileges, wealth, and opportunities from their society.  They suffer more adversely from health problems, their low social status, almost non-existent opportunities to increase their wealth or share in the privileges within their society.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the term “sustainable communities” describes places “where use of resources and emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants are going down, not up; where the air and waterways are accessible and clean; where land is used efficiently and shared parks and public spaces are plentiful and easily visited; where people of different ages, income levels and cultural backgrounds share equally in environmental, social and cultural benefits; where many needs of daily life can be met within a 20-minute walk and all may be met within a 20-minute transit ride; where industry and economic opportunity emphasize healthy, environmentally sound practices.
A model of sustainabe communities would have neighborhoods
 sporting healthy amounts of green space and shared vegetable gardens; mass transit, biking and walking replacing the majority of automobile traffic; and mixed use communities where schools, residences and commercial spaces are near each other and are powered by solar panels, geothermal heat pumps or windmills.
Sustainable communities are economically, environmentally and socially healthy and resilient and meet challenges through integrated solutions rather than through fragmented approaches.  Sustainable communities take a long-term perspective, focusing on both the present and future, well beyond the next budget or election cycle sothat the needs of the current as well as future generations are met with adequate resources. ISC adds The success of a community’s efforts to be sustainable depends on its members’ commitment and involvement as well as leadership that is inspiring, effective and responsive.

I didn't know much about wave and tidal energy before this challenge.   I knew that dams had turbines in them that produced energy from the flow of powerful rivers.    I knew waves had a lot of power from being slammed by strong waves in the ocean and seeing the power of waves in bad storms but that was pretty much it.

I learned that wave and tidal energy  is a very clean source of electricity.  There are no gasses emitted that promote climate warming and no  acid rain produced as in fossil fuel generated electricity.  Wave and tidal energy is one of the most expensive new renewable energy producers but, just like wind energy, the costs are expected to go down.

Both wave and tidal energy are variable on nature.  Wave energy depends on winds blowing across oceans and tidal energy is based on the pull of the moon.  

I was surprised that there are not a lot of countries who used wave or tidal energy.  I found out that South Korea has one of the largest tidal energy  in the world and was established in 2011.   There are also another disadvantage to wave and tidal energy...the emission of Electro Magnetic Emissions or EMFs that could disrupt and have a dire effect on the sea life.

So more research and more money must be spent to make this wave and tidal energy a great source of energy.

Once again, I have learned a lot from this challenge.

I used to throw out food once it was close to the buy or use date.   I get nervous about perishables being spoiled when I go to use them.   Sour milk or moldy cheese is not pleasant to find when you are getting ready to use them!

So I would look on things like bread and pick the freshest by date to buy, same with milk or cheese, etc.  I always have to check at my grocery store because I have bought things that were well past their buy or use by dates.   So I carefully inspect everything I buy, even can goods.

So now that I have a better understanding of all the different dates on my food, I hope to have less food waste and can still be confident that I am making better decisions.
Also, I will lessen my fear of bad milk and moldy cheese!!!

As usual, I wasn't aware of the problem of emissions from cooking fires and cook stoves!  So I learned a lot from researching about this subject.

In places like Asia and Africa, impoverished people use fires fueled by twigs and dung and soot or black carbon is produced from these fires and outdoor cook stoves.  This soot from thousands and thousands of villages in developing countries is a major source of global climate change.

Statistics showed that black carbon is the No. 2 reason for rising global temperatures and estimates of it being responsible for 18% of the earths warming.  Scientists have determined that decreasing black carbon would be a fairly cheap way to reduce global warming.   A way to reduce black carbon in these villages would be to replace primitive cook stoves with new ones that do not produce as much soot.  This would be extremely helpful step since soot only stays in the atmosphere for a few weeks and the soot could be dramatically reduced.

Black carbon also comes from diesel engines and coal plants but cook stoves produce the bulk of it comes from cook stoves.   

I didn't know that soot particles warm the air and melt ice because they absorb the suns heat.  When they land on glaciers they can cause severe melting and one study estimated that black carbon might be responsible for as much as half of the Arctics warming.  Plus, soot can travel in the atmosphere and wind up, say being produced in India can travel and be deposited in other countries, thousand of miles away and also be carried to glaciers and the Arctic.

Finally, black carbon can be very harmful to the health of people in poor countries  and can also corrode surfaces and damage ancient historic places like the Taj Majal.