Carbon Footprint: Life Sciences Essay

Carbon Footprint
Name
Institution / Affiliation
Introduction
Today, there is a growing need for businesses, individuals, and authorities to minimize carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. Over the years, global carbon emissions have substantially increased, with releases from industrial and transportation contributing to about 78% of the total emissions (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2020). In reality, human and industrial emissions are the primary driver of global climate change – and one of the world’s greatest challenges. Therefore, to minimize the adverse effects of climate change, human beings should urgently reduce emissions (Zhu & Gao, 2019). This study seeks to analyze my carbon footprint and its impacts on the environment as well as propose positive solutions that will minimize these emissions in my area of specialization.
Personal footprint
The carbon footprint calculator plays a vital role in calculating carbon emissions since emissions fluctuate in different social classes. That is, people who live in high-end life, own big cars, live in big mansions, and are frequent travelers, emits higher carbon emissions than individuals living in small apartments, who do not have cars and rarely travel. Thus said, the carbon footprint calculator I used required me to answer multiple questions relating to my consumption habits based on household, transportation, and travel categories. In the household category, I was required to answer questions about my diet choices, wastes, size of my house, the number of people who live with me, sources of energy to name a few. In the transportation group, I was required to answer questions on means of transport I use such as personal transport, public means, distance covered every week, and type of car I use. Further, I answered questions regarding how often I travel by flight every year.
Based on the answers provided, the footprint calculator showed the impact of my lifestyle on the planet. The results showed that if everyone lived like me, we would require 6.7 Earths – a value higher than the United States 5.0 Earths. My annual carbon emission was 22.8 tons, and my lifestyle would require 11.4 ha of productive world’s area to provide everything that I consume. My carbon footprint is 69% of my ecological footprint. My ecological footprint is constituted by 42% on mobility, 18% on services I consume, 17% on shelter, 15% on food, and 9% on goods I consume. In reality, I feel surprised as I did not expect my lifestyle would have as much carbon emissions as depicted from the result. To reduce my carbon emissions, I can embrace renewable energy, adopt other means of transport such as riding than driving, become a smarter shopper to reduce wastes and embrace renewable sources of energy like solar energy at household levels.
Industry of choice
In the current competitive business world, the role of marketing cannot be overlooked. Marketing helps an organization to build a competitive edge by creating a positive relationship between customers and the business. Typically, marketing entails all the activities such as branding, publicizing, advertising, and customer interaction activities of an organization. Since I was young, I have always admired to become a marketer. My love for cars and other automobiles and how they are made have kept calling, thus explaining my desire to work in the automobile industry as a marketer.
The automobile industry involves the production and selling of vehicles such as trucks, passage cars, commercial vehicles, and farm equipment. The automobile has played a vital role in the growth and development of many countries (Zhu & Gao, 2019). By allowing people to travel long distances for shopping, work, and entertainment, the industry has allowed the development of cities and suburbs, extensive road systems, and growth of auxiliary industries such as the oil and travel business (Wang et al., 2017). In reality, the automobile industry has transformed the world for the better, and I would like to be part of this noble course.
Over the years, marketers have worked very hard to sell many products including automobiles which in turn have polluted the planet. The global automobile industry has recorded growth in sales over the years. In 2019, for example, over 62 million automobile units were sold across the world (Ritchie & Roser, 2020). Thus said, a normal passenger car emits nearly 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide every – supposing a normal gasoline car on the road has a fuel economy of 22 miles per gallon, and the car drives about 11500 per year (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2020). This means that as marketers push for increased sales of automobiles, more carbon dioxide emissions will be produced. Similarly, the automobile depends on other industries such as the oil industry, therefore an increase in sales of the automobile will require more p...