Understanding the Carbon Footprint - Worksheet Fill in the blanks using the words from the word bank.
This activity helps you understand what a carbon footprint is and how we can reduce it.
Word bank: - atmosphere – action – calculators – car – difference – energy – footprint – fossil – homes - hotter – live – meat – money – offsets – place – planet – reduce – warmer – year
Every person leaves a mark on our planet - not with their feet, but with the way they ___ (1). This mark is called a “carbon ___”. It shows how much “carbon dioxide (CO₂)” we send into the ___ through our daily activities, for example when we drive a car, use electricity, or eat food that comes from far away. Most CO₂ comes from burning ___ fuels like coal, oil, and gas. These fuels create “greenhouse gases”, which make the Earth’s temperature ___.
Scientists say our planet is now getting ___ than it has been for hundreds of thousands of years. That’s why we need to ___ our carbon footprint.
We can calculate our footprint using online ___. They ask questions like: ‒ How do you heat your home?
‒ How often do you fly or drive?
‒ What kind of food do you eat?
The calculator shows how many “tons of CO₂” we produce every ___ To reduce our footprint, we can:
✔ Use renewable ___ like solar power.
✔ Walk or bike instead of driving a ___.
✔ Eat less ___, especially beef.
✔ Live in smaller, well-insulated ___.
✔ Be careful where we invest our ___, because banks often support fossil fuel companies.
Some people also use “carbon ___”. That means paying money to projects that plant trees or build wind farms.
But the best solution is to stop producing so much CO₂ in the first ___. In the end, the video says that we can all make a ___ by taking ___ and voting for leaders who protect our ___.
Answer Key
(1) live (2) footprint (3) atmosphere (4) fossil (5) warmer (6) hotter (7) reduce (8) calculators (9) year (10) energy (11) car (12) meat (13) homes (14) money (15) offsets (16) place (17) difference (18) action (19) planet
- Further information: Development of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU since 1990
In 2021, the EU defined the goal of climate neutrality as legally binding. This means that net-zero emissions must be achieved in the EU by 2050. A 55 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 was set as an interim target. Emissions fell continuously from 1990 to 2023. According to estimates, EU emissions in 2023 were 37 per cent lower than in 1990, following a significant decrease of eight per cent compared to 2022. (source: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/de/article/20180703STO07123/klimawand el-in-europa-zahlen-und-fakten)
- Further information to the concept of handprint see here:
https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/default/files/the_handprint_concept_changin
- For further information to the ecological footprint:
An ecological footprint measures the total amount of nature's resources used and waste produced by a person, activity, or entity, expressed in biologically productive land and water area, while a carbon footprint is a component of this, specifically quantifying the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted, usually in tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. In short, your carbon footprint is part of your ecological footprint, but the ecological footprint also includes resource consumption like land and water.
Good calculator for ecological footprint with solutions and earth overshoot information: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/
- Further information to earth overshoot day (including quiz): https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/quiz/