How Big Is Your Footprint? 👣
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Season 2: Episode 21 Description
In today’s episode: 👣 Learn what a carbon footprint is and what do gassy cows have to do with it? 🐮Nature Nerds' Laine Farber shares ways to reduce your footprint. 🌎 Give ten snaps to some cool kids making an impact. 🗞️ In the news: Tornado Alley and a special turtle. 🌪️ And test your carbon footprint knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
Environment | The Sustainable Earth Project (adarshambati.com)
Linens N Love – Love Delivered
Tornado warnings in Midwest as 'multi-vortex' tornado hits Oklahoma (usatoday.com)
Two-headed diamondback terrapin has six legs - The Washington Post
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:03
From the meat we eat to the gas cows pass, all of our actions and lifestyle choices have an impact on the earth. Today we're asking what is a carbon footprint, and we'll find out how to make ours a little bit smaller. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's October 19th. And this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:26
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:34
October 6th was National Walk and Bike to School Day. It's an annual event that encourages kids to, you guessed it, walk, bike, skate, or roll to school in any way other than riding in a car. The day is much about encouraging physical activity as it is about doing something that helps the environment. Because the less we ride in cars, the less air pollution gets released into our atmosphere. It's one way we can reduce what's called our carbon footprint. To help us understand what that means. Let's go to our friend Lane Farber, from the nature nerds podcast.
Laine Farber 1:18
What do you call a mark you leave behind when you walk? Go on, guess. It's a footprint. Yes, that's right. Whether it be footprints, pawprints, or a trail of slime, all living creatures big and small, leave behind signs of their movement. Now, these footprints typically don't last very long. They're trampled, washed away with the rain or swept up by the rising tide. But did you know that there are footprints that are far more permanent marks that last much longer than your footprint on the beach, or even the handprints you left and once wet cement? I'm talking about a very special footprint, your carbon footprint. Scientists describe carbon footprints as the number of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere based on a person's actions. But what does that really mean? Well, greenhouse gases are gases in our atmosphere that trap and reflect solar energy back onto the planet, causing the earth to heat up. It's natural for there to be some greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But high concentrations cause serious issues such as increased global temperatures, rising sea levels, severe weather, and the death of certain species. Over the last 100 years, the percentage of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, fluorinated gases, and methane in our atmosphere has greatly increased. This is because of human activities. Let's take a look at exactly what activities caused greenhouse gas emissions. And what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint this fall Awesome. Let's start with the biggest battery in the bunch: carbon dioxide at 76% carbon dioxide makes up the largest concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. It's produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gases. We burn fossil fuels to create energy that we use to fuel vehicles and the electrical devices in our homes, schools, and places of work. So what can we do to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere? Lots of things. As we creep into October, our houses get colder, and we start to crank up our heaters. by just turning down the thermostat a few degrees, you can cut back on the use of fossil fuels. Speaking of October, you can reduce carbon emissions this spooky season by vanquishing the energy vampires that lurk in your home. Don't worry, these vampires don't drink blood. They drink electricity. Energy Vampires are devices that continue to suck up energy, even when turned off or Naaman uses common energy vampires you may find slinking around in the shadows of your home include phone and computer chargers, TVs, and coffeemakers. Slay these monsters by simply unplugging them when not in use. Now let's talk about methane.
Sound Bit 4:37
That's one bad guy.
Laine Farber 4:38
Methane is a colorless, odorless gas produced when organic materials break down. Methane is produced naturally when plants decay or when animals digest food. Yeah, that's right. You produce methane. It's one of the gases that make up a fart. The problem with methane is that humans are producing too much of it. No, it's not because we're farting. It's because the cows are farting. You see, farming is a major source of methane gas. And the biggest contributor is the beef and dairy industry. cows have special stomachs that allow them to break down food that other animals can't digest, such as grass. But this unique diet is difficult to decay. And the process produces lots of methane in the cow's gut, which comes out as farts and burps. Current demands for beef and dairy are high. So we have to raise lots of cattle. We can all do our part to help reduce methane emissions by cutting back on beef and dairy. Just a little bit. Try a meatless Monday or maybe even a dairy-free Friday.
Bethany Van Delft 5:47
Thanks Laine. Ten'ers, we want to hear your ideas for how to reduce your carbon footprint. Send us an email at hello@thetennews.com and tell us one thing you can do to help reduce emissions. Just like Laine said, we can all do our small part to help the planet. But some kids out there are going big. Each year since 2001, a non-profit organization called The Young Heroes Project has awarded its Gloria Barron prize for young heroes to 25 outstanding leaders between the ages of eight and eighteen who are making a positive impact on people, communities, and the environment. This year's winners included kids like 16-year-old Adarsh Ambati, who was frustrated by his neighbor's water use during California's drought developed a smart sprinkler system that conserves water by using weather patterns and temperature to run it. That is so cool. Ten snaps for Adarsh. And, 18-year-old Vivian Wang, who founded a nonprofit that collects gently used hotel linens and donates them to various shelters, keeping 1,000's of linens out of landfills while bringing comfort to those in need. How cool is that? Ten snaps for Vivian! And, then there's nine-year-old Miles Featherston-Resch. His love of sharks inspired him to create a nonprofit that's raised over $80,000 for ocean, beach, and marine conservation, and to educate kids about protecting our oceans. You've got to start while you're young. Ten snaps for Miles. And ten times ten snaps to all the young leaders who receive this year's Gloria Barron prize, as well as the everyday heroes out there doing their best to care for the earth and each other.
Bethany Van Delft 8:04
Halloween is coming and The Ten News wants to know how you're celebrating. Tell us about your Halloween plans. What's your favorite spooky movie to watch? And most importantly, we want to know your feelings about candy corn. Love it or leave it? Thumbs up. Thumbs down. Send us your audio at hello@thetennews.com or leave us a voicemail at 877-TEN-NEW, that's 877 T E N N E W S by October 25th. And you could be part of our Halloween show. That was supposed to be spooky. Now let's see what else is happening.
Bethany Van Delft 8:58
In more young inventor news, a 14-year-old girl named Vinisha Umashankar is a finalist for this year's Earth's Shot Prize, which recognizes innovations that help the environment. Vinisha lives in India where some folks make money by ironing other people's clothing. The cards use charcoal to heat the irons so Vinisha invented a cart that runs on clean solar energy instead. The nation's Heartland had some severe weather recently, multiple tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma and Kansas last week, forcing people to seek shelter and leaving 1,000's without electricity. Both Oklahoma and Kansas are part of a region of the country known as Tornado Alley, where these storms are most common. And, in animal news, a two-headed baby turtle is receiving care at the Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center in Massachusetts. The turtle has six legs for walking and swimming and its two heads can breathe and digest food separately. The turtles are eating and growing, which is great news, because sadly two-headed turtles don't usually survive very long. Keep on keeping on little turtles.
Sound Bit 10:14
Am I not turtle-y enough for the turtle club?
Bethany Van Delft 10:18
Up next, it's time for...
Various Voices 10:21
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 10:24
Trivia on The Ten. What's one way that Google, as in the company behind probably most of your internet searches, is showing us, users, how they can reduce their carbon footprint? Is it a) Google Maps will show you the most fuel-efficient route you can take to help reduce vehicle emissions? b) Google Home will yell at you for leaving the lights on in empty rooms to help reduce energy consumption? or c) Google search will only show meatless recipes on Mondays to help reduce the farting cow population. Did you guess it? The answer is A. In addition to showing the fastest way to get where you're going, Google Maps will also show the most fuel-efficient way to go. Google's also been off-setting its own emissions, and the company has been considered carbon-neutral since 2007. Meaning its carbon footprint is zero.
Bethany Van Delft 11:33
What a tiny, little, baby foot? Zero. Snaps to you Google. Time's up! But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursday's and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is unplugging everything and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Laine Farber contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten news. Imagine Google yelling at you for keeping your lights on. What is Google, my mom? Don't forget to turn the lights out.
