The average Canadian emits 9.1 tonnes of CO₂ annually. If everyone worked to reduce their personal ecological footprint, the need for carbon capture and storage would be greatly reduced.

The smaller the footprint, the greener the individual
 “It all comes down to measurement,” said Deborah Kaplan, executive director of Zerofootprint. “We want to give everybody a measure so you know where you stand in the climate crisis.” At www.zerofootprint.net, individuals can calculate their carbon footprint, compare their lifestyles with other Canadians and learn how to make more green decisions. “After people go to an Al Gore movie, for example, they feel disempowered,” says Kaplan. “This (website) empowers people and allows them to see what everyone else is doing.” Seeing how easy and effective changes can be encourages people, she adds.

How do kids stack up?
Zerofootprint also offers a calculator designed for children. It focuses on food they eat, bus rides to school and what they throw away. Their footprint is measured in carbon dioxide, water, trees and land — to make it easier, the questions are simple multiple choice and yes or no answers.

Changing Footprints
Zerofootprint considers a variety of ways in which individuals release greenhouse gases. Prepackaged food, gas mileage, meat intake, clothes and food from afar all affect footprint size. Making simple decisions, such as replacing one 19 kilometre car ride a week with a bike ride for a year, cuts approximately a half tonne of greenhouse gas emissions. There are many ways to change your footprint:

• Fly less
• Avoid idling your car
• Use public transportation or walk
• Buy hybrid vehicles
• Keep car tires properly inflated

Buy your guilt away?
Zerofootprint is partnering with Air Canada and Roots Canada to help balance carbon emissions through carbon offsets. By equating the monetary cost of repairing the environmental damage from carbon emissions, money received from offset purchases are put towards Zerofootprint’s environmental programs, such as reforestation. Air Canada's website offers an air flight calculator which calculates the greenhouse gases emitted during a flight and offers the option to buy offsets from Zerofootprint to balance the excess carbon. Anyone who purchases Roots products online can also offset the carbon emissions used in the transportation of their purchase.