Reflections on the “Carbon Footprint”.

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Presentation

The present writing has the healthy and good will to try to reflect on a problem that affects us now and that in the near future may affect us much more if we do not become personally aware of it:

“CLIMATE CHANGE”

The whole set is of great complexity, due to its volume, quantity of concepts and diverse data that must be handled worldwide, therefore we are going to try to explain some basic ideas that are simple to understand, if we achieve it, our objective has been fulfilled.

Dr. Ing. Ramiro Gonzalez. President of the Carbon Footprint Association.

Reflections on the “Carbon Footprint”.

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Introduction

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On coastal beaches, where you can contemplate the natural cycle of the tide, when in the early morning coincides the low tide phase, it is a pleasure very relaxing to walk along the seashore when the water recedes leaving the surface of the beach completely clean ,

If we look back we see that on the sand we are leaving the traces of our passage marked.
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The same happens to us when skiing on virgin snow, we can also see the footprint of the skis that we have left in our path.

Whether on our walk along the seashore or in the snow, we leave our footprints, also in our passage through life, in each of our daily actions we leave our carbon footprint (pollution).

It is only fair that we also try to leave another (clean) compensation footprint at least equal to the value of the polluted one.

All of us in this life pollute some more than others.

At the Carbon Footprint Association, we will help you calculate your Footprint, how to reduce it or compensate it, generating your (clean) footprint and collaborating in global climate change.

Climate Change

The fight against climate change is a priority for the European Parliament. Limit the increase in global warming to a maximum of 2°C. Global temperature

Global temperature has increased

For this reason, the international community agrees that global warming should be kept below a 2°C increase.

Under the Paris Agreement, the EU committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

In 2021, the EU increased its target to reach a minimum reduction of 55% by 2030, as well as climate neutrality by 2050.

The European Green Pact: achieving net-zero emissions by 2050

Moreover, the EU is working to achieve a circular economy by 2050, create a sustainable food system and protect biodiversity and pollinators (animals that carry pollen, which is very important for fertilization).

Contamination

In the world we live in we all know what is POLLUTION what many do not know is that we all pollute in more or less quantity with our current way of living.

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TO POLLUTE: Is to introduce a disturbing element, derived from a personal or industrial activity, in the ecosystems natural and/or artificial (water, land or air), causing harmful disturbances to the systems: physical, living, people, fauna, flora….

Within the chapter of Contaminations the Association works in the reduction of the Atmospheric Contamination, helping to the reduction total of the Environmental Contamination : That is the presence of elements of all type, that damages the environment where we inhabit the living beings of all the species.

There is no doubt that we are facing a time in our lives when we live with the Carbon Footprint and that the near future will a continue to introduce in this phenomenon that has come to stay, so we must know and understand what it is and how it affects our daily life, because whether we like it or not, it will stay.

Therefore since we cannot get rid of pollution in its entirety, we will try to know it better in order to collaborate in its reduction, within our possibilities, which are many and possibly diverse, try to make them fun and practical.

Global Warming

Global warming results from the increase in the greenhouse effect, a process in which thermal radiation emitted by the Earth is trapped in the atmosphere due to Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Their presence is natural and necessary to maintain the planet’s temperature at habitable levels.

Greenhouse effect

Our planet earth is habitable, among other things, because there exists a mass of gases that envelop it, protecting the entire planet, just like the vegetable greenhouses, which are closed in a plastic bag, to protect and maintain the interior environment at a more or less constant temperature, avoiding and controlling temperature differences. without the plastic that would have has placed the greenhouse.

This mass of gases that protects us allows us to have an average temperature of approximately +15ºC, and without the protective gases we would be at -18ºC. on average.

The main gases that cause the greenhouse effect are:

  • Water vapor (H2O)
  • Carbon dioxide (CO2)
  • Methane(CH4)
  • Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)
  • Ozone(O3)
  • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
  • Nitrous oxide (N2O)
  • Hydrofluorocarbons (CxHxFx)
  • Hydrofluoroethers (C4F9OCxHx)
  • Perfluorocarbons (CxFx)
  • Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
  • Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3)

There are a few more minor ones

We also have in the atmosphere some other gases such as nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2) and argon (Ar), …. What by its molecular composition, it does not are gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect

Gases that make up the greenhouse effect most of them are natural and it is there since the origin of the world, but in the middle of the 19th century with the Industrial Revolution, due to the crazy use of fossil fuels used for energy production and transportation have been been accumulating emissions of carbon dioxides (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Deforestation in all the world’s forests reduces the photosynthesis effect. what trees do during its growth, which consists of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air or water, sequestering carbon to grow and release the excess oxygen into the atmosphere, this process is performed during the useful life of the tree.

Through photosynthesis, trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere, one part is used for their own growth and life and the other part is stored as a natural sink for the planet, releasing the resulting oxygen into the atmosphere.

Indicators

The indicators are units of measurement, which must be very well defined, clear and concrete without any doubt of what is to be measured, so that we can comparatively assess the progress or setbacks of a project as it is being developed.

For example to evaluate an earthquake we have the Richter scale where a number indicates the magnitude of the earthquake and therefore we can make a comparative list of earthquakes around the world.

The systems of measurement, surface, weight, etc allow us to know, value or weight if one is superior to the other, their magnitude or size can be compared between them and control their size or volume in the course of time.

Equivalent indicators are also available , where a valued concept with a meter can be compared to another rated with another different meter, for example is the case of money if the wealth of countries or individuals is calculated in dollar equivalents, instead of the local currency, at the end we can compare all of them and make a list of the richest countries or people in the world.

The equivalence values are very useful and simplify the final comparative analysis , which would otherwise be a “potpourri” of incongruent data.

Every project has an indicator that evaluates the situation at any time during the project.

Environmental indicator

The environmental indicator is the one used to know the quality of the gases that make up the atmosphere surrounding the earth and the Carbon Footprint is the unit of measurement used to assess the pollution environment.

The greenhouse effect is produced by the sum of pollution from each and every one of the gases that exist, where each gas is produced by the sum of the gases that exist. pollute according to their polluting power, which is different from one another, some pollute more than others and also according to the proportion they have. within the set.

Taking into account we can not add them directly, because they are different pollutants and different amounts of each one, therefore, we must use an indicator to obtain the equivalent value of each of the gases, with respect to the reference gas which is carbon dioxide (CO2), in this way we know that a given volume of a gas is equivalent in the concept of pollution to another different volume of CO2 in this way, once converted all the gases to the equivalent value of pollution in CO2. can be added up and the percentage of contamination that each gas has within the set can be calculated and the contaminant damage that each gas contributes to the set can be known.

In this way, measures can be taken to reduce the most polluting pollutants and to if the calculation is made at a specific date and every year on the same date we recalculate using the same measurement parameters, with time will be known whether we reduce or increase the total pollution caused by the total mass of gases.

The common gas to which each of the gases should be referred is CO2.

The value of each item to the whole is calculated as follows in Tons CO2 equivalent (TCO2 equi), and in this way we know the % that each type of gas contributes to the greenhouse effect, so that actions can be taken in the most pollutants, with the aim of reducing the total greenhouse effect layer.

The production of greenhouse gases can be produced directly or indirectly by private individuals or communities, companies, organizations, institutions, products, events, geographic regions etc etc etc .

The Carbon Footprint is the environmental meter that represents the set of gases that make up the greenhouse effect (GHG).

Once the size and footprint are known, public or private reduction or compensation strategies can be established.

Carbon Footprint

The carbon footprint is a measure used to quantify and generate an indicator of the impact that an activity has on climate change,

The carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases (pollutants) that we contribute to the planet earth during our lifetime.

The increase of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere is creating global climate change.

In summary: The carbon footprint is the set of greenhouse gases produced, by people, organizations, products, events …., in terms of CO2 equivalents, and is used as a management tool to measure the variations of pollution that we generate throughout our lives, is the footprint we leave behind. to our heirs.

Bibliography: texts and works cited.