Karina Schut

Climate change is an urgent issue that requires immediate action. Life as we know it is not sustainable at the current rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHGs are released into the atmosphere by human activities, such as transportation, farming, use of electronics. Climate scientists have produced significant research demonstrating the risks of rising emissions and concerned citizens are doing their best to encourage action. Now, it is up to us to make a difference. We must reduce our personal emissions and press the government to ensure that larger emitters do the same!

Identifying specific Canadian GHG emission sources and what they contribute to Canada’s GHG footprint helps us understand the need for climate action across sectors. And knowing which of your daily choices produce GHG emissions is the first step in making climate-friendly habit changes (see What is a tonne of greenhouse gas emissions?). Once you have this information, the question becomes, how can you use it to reduce the impact and help drive Canada towards ambitious emissions reductions?

Here are some suggestions for how you can contribute to the reduction of Canada’s GHG footprint in nine key emitting areas.

Understanding GHG emissions can be challenging. We cannot actually see them accumulate. And they come from a variety of sources. It doesn’t help either that we usually talk about these emissions in big units which are hard to wrap our heads around. One megaton is a million tonnes.

So, to make it easier to understand we can ask: what Canadian sources are equivalent to one tonne of GHGs? How does it translate to the real world, and how do these sources contribute to overall emissions?