As concerns about climate change intensify, understanding our personal and organizational carbon footprints has never been more crucial. A carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product. By calculating this footprint, we can identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions to reduce our impact on the environment.
We tend to think of agriculture as environmentally neutral; a lot of it grows on trees, after all. But overproduction has a major negative environmental impact, consuming precious resources, such as water and fertilizer, and producing staggering amounts of carbon emissions and poisoned water runoff. Considering these impacts, National Geographic’s report that over a third of all the food produced in the world is lost or wasted is all the more surprising.
Everyone seems to be "going green" these days. Even the United States Postal Services has taken major steps in reducing its carbon footprint. In 2009 the Postal Services voluntarily conducted an inventory of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that resulted in findings that prompted them to make changes in the way they do business.
