Carbon footprint factsheet

A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product.

GREENHOUSE GASES FROM AVERAGE FOOD CONSUMPTION

POUNDS OF CO2E PER SERVING

TRANSPORTATION GREENHOUSE GASES, 2016

SOME ASTONISHING FACTS

• Fossil fuels and coal make up 67% of generated electricity. Besides electricity generation, transportation is the next big CO2 producer.
• US carbon footprint is 16.5 tons per person, per year whereas EU’s per capita carbon footprint is 6.8 tons per year. The per capita average for the world as a whole is even lower at 5 tons of CO2e per year. India’s emissions are still very low – at only 1.8 tonnes of CO2 per capita.
• One tonne of CO2 is produced upon combustion of 300 litres of petrol. This is enough to drive a car 4000 kilometres.
• Your water has a high carbon footprint. You may think that your water comes from local lakes, rivers etc, the efforts to maintain and purify water takes up energy.
• Similar to water, the use of paper contributes to carbon emissions, deforestation. Deforestation is responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the world’s cars, trucks, planes, and ships put together. The trees release the carbon they are storing into the atmosphere when they’re felled. 
• Food production accounts for 83% of carbon emissions. Businesses that produce food contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide etc and the methane released by their livestock like sheep, cattle, and goats. Transporting food accounts for 11% of carbon emissions.
• An estimated one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world (~1.3 billion tonnes) is either lost or wasted each year. This food wastage represents not only a devastating misuse of natural resources, but also a bigger carbon footprint. 
• Landfills are incredible sources of greenhouse gases and pollution. Every pound of organic materials in landfills you throw away, you’ll create one pound of greenhouse gases. As organic materials in landfills decays, it releases carbon dioxide and methane.
• By driving two miles, 0.88 kilograms of CO2 is released into the air, but walking the same distance only releases 0.039 kilograms and riding a bicycle just 0.017 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
• China accounted for 23 percent of greenhouse gas emissions associated with information technology. Increased emissions from this area are also experienced in Brazil, India, and Indonesia. These will increase 9 percent annually through 2020. 
• A vegetarian typically has a smaller carbon footprint than a meat eater but the plant-based diet isn’t practical everywhere, especially for those who live in dry or cold places that cannot support the growth of most vegetable crops.
• Approximately 1,800 gallons of water is needed per pound to raise a cow, the amount of water needed in order to successfully farm in desert-like climates can be huge and is unsustainable. 2000 - 3000 litres of water required to produced 1kg of rice.

WAYS TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT

• Conserve water, especially at places with high carbon foot print.
• Eat local, vegetarian, or organic foods.
• Organic food requires 30-50% less energy during production but requires one-third more hours of human labor compared to typical farming practices, making it more expensive.
• Walk, bike, carpool, use mass transit, or drive a best-in-class vehicle. Avoid unnecessary travel.
• Avoid flying when possible, fly less frequently, and fly economy class. Prince William flies economy class and leads by example. Don’t fly on private jets.
• Avoid taking vacations at far away places, and take more frequent and driveable staycations closer to home.
• Increase your use of video-conferencing tools and reduce your work related air travel.
• Smaller homes & apartments use less energy. 
• Use a low-flow shower head. Setting the temperature to 50°C helps improve a hot water heater’s efficiency.
• Turn off your TV, computer, and other electronics when not in use. Unplug unused electronics.
• Choose energy-efficient lighting.
• Recycle household waste.
• Buy products with minimal packaging to reduce waste.
• While shopping, purchase items with lower carbon footprint.

Everything we buy has a carbon footprint.

Everything we use has a carbon footprint. It is impossible to reduce the carbon emissions to zero, no matter how hard we try. There is a way to balance your emissions by purchasing carbon offsets. This is a practical and affordable way to do something about those remaining emissions and support the renewable energy projects that help our planet. 

Agriculture in distress in India

• More than 50% of workforce is employed in agriculture in India, most of them underemployed.
• Agriculture constitutes 17% of GDP.
• Country will develop only when large part of its workforce is gainfully employed in other sectors.
• Many schemes have been launched to improve appalling inefficiency of agriculture, but is an herculean task.
• Agriculture growth is 2% per annum where as GDP growth was around 7%.
• In 1960's agriculture has done commendable job [Green Revolution] of feeding country's large populace.
• Little has changed in the past 50 years of agriculture, since 1960's.
• Every variable of agriculture namely land holding, soil, water, farming technology, and markets is in crisis, today.
• An estimated 3.18 lakh farmers committed suicide between 1995-2015.
• 55% of agriculture is monsoon dependent. Only 45% of cultivable land is irrigated.
• Droughts often leads to small farmer suicides.
• 60% of irrigated land is ground water dependent and its water efficiency abysmal. Shift from flood irrigation to micro irrigation systems will be helpful for conserving water and saving on irrigation costs.
• With free irrigation and electricity, maintenance of these systems deteriorated effecting farming. Maintenance fee should be revived for making these irrigation systems sustainable. Solar powered pump sets will be helpful.
• Average land holding have halved from 2.5 hectares in 1970 to 1.2 hectares today. Majority of the holdings are less than one acre. Almost 70% of farmers hold 30% of cultivable land. Small holdings make them good only for subsistence agriculture.
• Half of the land holdings are ravaged by erosion and alkalinity. Excessive usage of urea and pesticides has compromised soil fertility. Organic farming should be promoted for soil conservation.
• Labor component is 40% of total cost of inputs. Farm mechanization will reduce this expense and dependence on manual labour.
• Meager cold storage facilities in case of excess produced.
• While input prices are steadily increasing, output prices are falling, making farming risky and unviable proposition in India.
• Agriculture loan waivers by states makes them compete with each other  and pull down national economy. About Rs.3 lakh crores is needed if all farmer loans are to be waived in the entire country.
• Modi has promised for doubling of farmer income by 2022. Nothing much has been done in the past three years. To achieve this, an investment of Rs.3 lakh crores is needed. Reduce costs by farm mechanization and reduce dependence on manual labour. 
• Food processing industry is at its nascent stage.
• The country desperately needs another revolution in agriculture for the farmer to breakout of his vicious cycle of misery and for us to become a modern economy.

What ever can go wrong, has gone wrong with rural India

My View:
On one hand centre and RBI warns states to be cautious of their own finances before announcing populist measures, it is Modi who announced farm loan waiver for UP farmers during election campaign, few days before start of polling, without which BJP wouldn't have won UP elections 2017. Modi opened Pandora's box and farmers in all states are pressurizing state governments to waive their loans and till then they are reluctant or refusing to pay up outstanding loans. Only left parties argued that if banks can have NPA's and black money continues to be stashed abroad, why can't farmer loans waived. Unless land reforms are implemented to pool lands to holdings of viable size of 20-50 acres with easy lease enforcement, agriculture may not become viable. Quality inputs, easy credit, warehousing & cold storage and effective marketing must be organized for higher farm productivity and income enhancement. If government is serious about well being of farmers, correction of policy distortions, promotion of organic farming for sustainable agriculture etc. the vicious cycle of farmer indebtedness and suicides will never end.