Ready to Save The Planet?
Emissions Reducers
DURATION
Less than 30 MinutesWHERE
From the safety and comfort of your home!
WHEN
Throughout the yearWHOSE HELP IS REQUIRED
AdultHOW IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Youth-led initiatives help make changes that are long-term and sustainable. You have the power to make a difference!
DESCRIPTION
Learn about how greenhouse gas emissions negatively affect our planet.
ITEMS NEEDED
- Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator
- internet access
- notebook/paper
- writing utensils
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Interest in Saving the Planet!
NEXT STEPS
Discover how much emissions daily activities produce and develop strategies to reduce daily emissions.
WEBSITE
Sending or dropping off items to a nonprofit? Don't forget to tell them you found them through PGK! Download and print a packing slip here.
- Use the chart in the 'Investigate' section of the lesson pdf to log all activities you did during the day that required electricity in the first column.
- Research online how many watts (W) of energy it took to power that activity and list it in the second column.
- Here is a list of common household appliances and how many Watts they each use (you still may need to do your own research).
- Convert the watts you found into kilowatt-hours of electricity (KWh) by dividing by 1,000 first, then multiplying it by the amount of time you spent using the appliance (round to the nearest 15 minutes). Log this data in the third column.
- If you use your phone for 15 minutes, multiply by 0.25, for 30 minutes, multiply by 0.5, etc. This is because 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour (0.25hrs) and 30 minutes is a half of an hour (0.5hrs)
- Enter your KW/h data into the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator to determine how many metric tons of carbon dioxide that activity emitted. Log this in the fourth column.
- Finally, in the last column, think of an alternative you could have done in place of that activity to reduce your emissions!
- Repeat steps 1-5 with all the activities you completed throughout the day.