Carbon Footprints
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 6.4.10
Carbon Footprint
A person's carbon footprint is an indicator of how many greenhouse gases their activities produce. People's activities emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases directly & indirectly.
Direct emissions
- Direct emissions are produced by the person's activity itself.
- For example, a person driving their car to work, a person flying to Malaysia on holiday, or a person using their oven.
Indirect emissions
- Indirect emissions account for supply chains and the broader implications of someone's behaviour.
- For example, a person buying lamb that has been imported from New Zealand instead of from a local producer is likely to have a larger carbon footprint because New Zealand lamb has to be transferred across the world and will have lots of 'food miles'.
- Research by PETA (which is likely to be biased), found that vegans have a carbon footprint that is 42% lower than meat-eaters.
Test yourself on Carbon Footprints
Which of the following is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases produced by an individual's activities?
How much lower are vegan's carbon footprints according to PETA?