Carbon Footprint 12/3/17

Summary: 
A carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by a particular person or in this case company. Many of the items we currently use were made out of the continent or at least out of the country. You know that shirt that you love to wear, chances are it was made halfway around the world. Imagine how much carbon would be emitted just to make that shirt. It would have to be transported from one place to another a multitude of times before it reaches you and that is just one thing you own. Worst of all, if it was made out of the continent it was most likely shipped through an airplane which produces the most amount of CO2 compared to trains, trucks and cargo ships. As a company, you can see that buying locally and in bulk will not only help our air quality but can save some money.

S&EP-Using Models:
I developed and used models when I created a map to represent the journey made by fortune cookies. By this, I mean the map showed how different components of the fortune cookies traveled all around the globe through retailers, manufacturers, and warehouses to get to the school for Charity Fair. My map, located above, helped my group and I determine our carbon footprint and was used to calculate how much carbon was emitted through our fortune cookies journey. This model gave us a rough estimate how much CO2 was created through this journey and allowed me to see where and how we could cut down on these emissions. Using this map I will now be able to explain how much CO2 was released by making these fortune cookies, as well as ways to reduce like purchasing locally.

XCC-Cause & Effect:
This map is full of cause and effect relationships that helped me grasp the understanding of the carbon footprint. First of all, the closer the manufacturer is to the retailer the less Carbon is emitted. Although this is self-explanatory, this occurs for two reasons. One is that there is less distance to travel meaning that less carbon is released. Another reason that short distance between manufacturer and retailer will reduce our carbon footprint is that it is unlikely to be shipped by a plane which produces the most CO2. Also, a pattern my group observed together was that the manufacturers of edible items, including flour, salt, and eggs were near the retailers which are the opposite of unedible items which were mostly located in China. All these cause and effect relationships led me to believe that groups who were making non-food items would have a larger carbon footprint because a majority of their materials are out of the country or continent. All in all these cause and effect relationships gave me a better understanding of the carbon footprint and more.

Multiplier: This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a wanderer because I shared whatever information I found that could improve our map.