May 07 2010
What is Carbon Neutral?
When I looked up “carbon neutral,” I got many results. Most definitions said something like, “no extra carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.” Some sites say that becoming “carbon neutral” means neutralizing your use of carbon with your personal and household activities. There are various other carbon neutral definitions and they are all right. This is because carbon neutrality is a broad term. While it may mean not releasing any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it is also possible to emit carbon dioxide and still remain “carbon neutral.” For example, bio-fuels give off carbon dioxide and yet they are still “carbon neutral.” This is possible because it’s a perfect balance. Another definition of carbon neutral would be some type of energy that doesn’t release carbon at all, like solar power and nuclear power. However, pretty much all forms of being “carbon neutral” include actual burning of fossil fuels. For example, crops for bio-fuels are gathered using machinery that works via burning fossil diesel. Some means of producing bio-fuels are being disputed because the fossil fuels that have to be used in the production process. Even solar and wind power include using fossil fuels. Even though these methods are here to make things truly “carbon neutral,” it just isn’t quite possible at this time. Then, some companies go and plant trees to try to compensate for the carbon dioxide released through burning fossil fuels but this is not “carbon neutral.” The fossil carbon is released into the atmosphere but the carbon doesn’t stay in trees for a very long time.
I think becoming Carbon neutral is a really good idea. We start making more things carbon neutral. Everyday we harm our environment by releasing carbon dioxide toxins into the air. This gave me many ideas of how we can start. By burning fossil fuels we emit a lot ao Carbon, and trying to become completely carbon fre is going to be hars to do. However, we should try it. This was really informative, and now I have ideas of how to become more carbon neutral.
I doubt most people will ever live carbon neutral lives within our lifetimes, though I think it would be interesting to hear specific things you’ve done (or could do) to make your day-to-day more carbon neutral.
@Allissa: What things would you do to help make yourself more carbon neutral?
I agree with Mr. W. We will probably never live a carbon neutral life. However, we can still try to reduce our uses of carbon and try to make our lives carbon neutral. Even if this will probably never happen, its worth a try, because everything we do to try and make our lives carbon neutral is just reducing the amount of carbon, and hey, that can’t hurt, right? I think this was interesting, you gave points that were informative, I really liked how you started with all the broad definations of “carbon neutral” and made it into something bigger than just those definitions by the end of your post.