On a recent flight home from California, the flight attendant came by with the drink carts. I got a napkin along with my water which said, “We are making history by making our carbon history.” I found that intriguing so I decided to do some digging.
What I found in my research, from the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), was that the transportation industry alone contributes 27% of the carbon emissions worldwide. This includes cars, planes, and trains, which are the biggest emission contributors.
In the past two years, cars have released an average of 3.1 billion metric tons of CO2. In 2020 3.2 billion metric tons of CO2 were released, but the COVID 19 pandemic resulted in a 6% decrease leading to 3 billion metric tons in 2021. These numbers are very concerning as they directly impact our environment and climate change.
Some of the options to help mitigate this large carbon footprint created by cars, is the introduction of electric or hybrid technologies. These technologies have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by at least half.
Similarly, planes give off tons of carbon emissions as well. One of the biggest airlines in the world is United, and its goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050. This bold step is also been taken by other major airlines as well.
United plans on doing this by finding a better, more sustainable fuel. A second measure they are taking is to install carbon capture facilities, which take CO2 out of the air, chemically purify it, and pump it into the ground. United is working with a company with Carbon Engineering (more on their technology later).
A natural way of capturing carbon is through trees. However, there is so much CO2 in the air, that it would be enough to offset the carbon emissions. One of these carbon capture facilities would do the job of 40 million trees and successfully capture 1 million metric tons of CO2 into the ground.
In conclusion, as many transportation companies are becoming more aware of the carbon footprint they leave behind, we also must do our part by utilizing their efforts; being conscious of our own carbon footprint.
SOURCES:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107970/carbon-dioxide-emissions-passenger-transport/
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#transportation
https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/company/global-citizenship/environment/100-percent-green.html
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Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.