My Carbon Footprint:
Report:
I like to tell myself that I live a relatively low waste lifestyle; I actively us public transportation, I recycle, I reuse, and I don’t go through that much food, especially meat. I was eager to find out my carbon footprint in order to see if my good habits were paying off. What I found was that while I had a much smaller footprint than the average American, it was still a concerningly high number. My annual carbon footprint for my current living situation is 9.60 Tons of CO2. On average, a single tree absorbs .07 Tons of CO2 per year, so It would take 137 trees per year in order to offset my footprint.
My housing footprint was more than three times smaller than the national average and my transportation was 72 times smaller. There are a lot of factors that help decrease my footprint. One, I live in a tiny dorm that I share with 3 other roommates, making my household a relatively low waste environment. Two, I walk or use public transportation 100% of the time, making my transportation emissions very low. Three, I make a conscious effort to use less energy and produce less waste by leaving my lights off when I don’t use them, recycling, hanging my laundry out to dry when I can, shopping at consignment and thrift stores, and sticking to a simple healthy diet. But there are lots of thing I could do in order to decrease my Carbon footprint. I could use reusable bags at the grocery store, take shorter showers, eat less meat, bike/walk instead of taking the subway, and many many more.
The first company that I researched was URBN, which includes the clothing brands Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie. I was very curious to see how transparent they were about their sustainability goals because their branding message is very wholesome and liberal, catering to the type of person who might be very invested in sustainability. However, because this is a huge company at the forefront of trendy clothing supply and many of their products are mass produced overseas, I was skeptical of the ways in which they embraced their branding message as a company. What I found was that while they had a bit of information about their dedication to sustainability on their website, there was nowhere for me to find any type of sustainability report or any real numbers about the energy they were using and the waste they were producing. Their two main sustainability pitches on their website were minimal as well: giving customers reusable bags in their retail stores and revamping existing spaces into retail and warehouses spaces instead of building new facilities.
The second company I researched was Burt’s Bees, a natural cosmetics brand. They actively incorporate sustainability into their branding message, making their products with all natural ingredients and low waste packaging. I was able to find a sustainability report, or a summary of one, right on their website. They detailed several policies and goals that they implement in their business in order to stay committed to sustainability. They have a zero waste to landfill policy which they enforced by having volunteers diligently check and sort all recycling, compost, and waste to energy bins monthly to ensure nothing ends up in a landfill.
They have outfitted all facilities with energy efficient lighting, resource management software, and efficient production equipment. The brand uses a impressive reverse osmosis system that has allowed Burt’s Bees to reuse over 700,000 gallons of water at their manufacturing plant since 2010. They also make a large portion of their packaging with post-consumer recycled content and 89% or their packaging is made of recyclable materials. Most importantly though, is the fact that while Burt’s bees has grown a considerable amount as a company, they have continued to reduce their use of energy and therefore their carbon footprint.
Sources:
“Operational Footprint.” Burt’s Bees | Operational Footprint, www.bee2bee.com/sustain-opfootprint.html.
Sustainability .” URBN, www.urbn.com/global-community-initiatives/sustainability/alternative-energy.
