Carbon handprint
I have been wondering for a long time while doing research for ON theater upcoming play how to make my own carbon footprint smaller. With the knowledge where we have pushed this planet and humanity I have to say despair found quite comfortable seat in my brain. But luckily hope has pushed it asaid, as there are things I, and we all can still do. What if my carbon handprint would be bigger than my carbon footprint?
Yesterday evening I took part in an event Kino Arvid, theme was environment. They showed beautiful Finnish film Järven tarina (Tale of a Lake). For me it would have been better without the narrator unfolding the Finnish Kalevala mythology, but nevertheless the film was stunning. The venue was also great behind Operahouse at amphittheater facing the Töölönlahti bay. From the film, me and my 2 dear friends, found out that ice weights less than water and many other things that we didn´t know that we don´t know.
After the film there was panel discussion with Leo Stranius and Satu Lähteenoja. They are both environment specialists.
From the discussion it came clear that biodiversity is at danger more than ever before. At this very moment because of human actions species go extinct 1000 times more than ever. Average Finns (common westerner) carbon footprint is 9000 tons per person. That is one of the biggest there is in the world. Leo Stranius has about 3000 tons, he is vegan, he bicycles all year round, doesn´t own a car and has small apartment for his family and it uses sustainable electricity, he works for the cause etc. But even that is not enough to keep the climate change reasonable. For that we all should have footprint only 1000 tons. But to reducing it to 3000 still helps a lot!
How we live, how we eat and how we move from one place to another are the 3 elements of our lives, that we encounter daily and these 3 elements have the biggest impact on our carbon footprint. We should really think about them. We should have houses/apartments that are not bigger than we need and use sustainable energy sources in these homes. Eat locally produced food. Eat less meat, consider vegetarian or vegan diet. Use our legs, bikes or public transport for moving around. Consider that maybe you could own 1 car together with your friends. Or tools. Recycle, buy things from flea markets. Buy less. Use things that you buy, for longer period of time. Repair your things. If possible consider what kind of company you work for. Does it share your sustainable values?
Doesn´t it sound similar to how we were raised by our grandparents?
Living close to nature doesn´t mean automatically that it is more environmentally friendly. In Finland carbon footprint for a person who lives in the countryside and for someone who lives in the city, are the same. They create it differently, but the amount is the same.
You might get quite depressed finding out all these negative things that you do to the planet. You can find yourself staring that enormous carbon footprint of yours and do nothing. Or live your life like you use to, as it seems there is not long time left for it anyway. But actually what we should do is to make our carbon handprint bigger. Carbon handprint means all the things you do that lower your carbon footprint. And the goal is making your handprint bigger than your footprint.
Is there still enough time? That we will find out anyway. We can´t control time, but our own actions we can.