It has been increasingly important for everyone to look at how they can reduce their personal carbon footprint. We are running the risk of further global warming and even though we will never be able to fully stop it we can try and reduce our footprint. There are so many ways in which we build up our carbon footprint and this is the scenario:

People will eat a variety of meat and dairy a week, this meat and dairy needs to come from somewhere and often our local supermarkets are unable to source the produce locally themselves for the quantities they require, so there is Lorries on the road bringing the meat and dairy to our doorstep. One way we can help reduce this is buying from local farmers it will cut the carbon footprint for this by more than half. The meat and dairy also have to be stored and sold and therefore the cost of land and electricity to run a supermarket is something that would not be needed if the items were sourced locally.

During the average week many people drive to work this could be often 10-15 miles away from their home and often they are travelling alone too, ways this could be reduced is car sharing, going by bus or even cycling. Your carbon footprint also take into account the amount of people in your house, the size of this house as this is all land that is being taken up.

The countries have become more aware on how people can help and in the UK now everyone is asked to recycle their packaging of glass, metal, plastic, cardboard and paper. Some have even started recycling their recycled item. Some companies have taken this idea to make jewellery for women out of recycled cans or whatever else they can get their hands on. This is a great idea aluminium gives a similar impression as sterling silver jewellery, however unlike silver jewellery which often does not react when a person is wearing it.People who are sensitive to items other than silver may need to be aware about recycled jewellery for this reason.

Reducing our carbon footprint has certainly been a challenge and it has brought out some great ideas such as inspiring new jewellery. Companies are also incorporating where they can to reduce their carbon footprint by having lights that are sensitive to movement and will not come on otherwise. Recycling the companies paper waste, looking at where people live and organising a car share rota, so that they have not got four people individually coming from the same place in their cars. We can’t stop the damage that has already been done but we can all certainly try and prevent any further damage and all it takes is a little thought as to how we can make a difference.