What's Your Nitrogen Footprint?

Since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth popularized the concept of one’s carbon footprint, people all over the world have been using web tools to calculate how much carbon they are emitting in their daily lives and to find ways to reduce their carbon waste. James Galloway, an environmental sciences professor at the University of Virginia recently authored an article in the journal Science about the real threat that reactive nitrogen pollution poses to our planet, particularly its bodies of water. While pure nitrogen alone is harmless, reactive nitrogen, found in chemical fertilizers and generated through the burning of some fossil fuels, and in larger quantities, can be harmful.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation(CBF), based in Annapolis, MD, has developed a Nitrogen Footprint Calculator to help us identify the effects many of our regular day-to-day activities have on our environment. The calculator asks questions about your home sewerage, electricity use, lawn care, and your transportation methods to deduct what impact you are having on reactive nitrogen pollution. It then generates suggestions for how you can reduce your footprint.

So figure out what your nitrogen footprint is and make some changes to protect our waters!

Here’s the link! http://www.cbf.org/yourbayfootprint/index.html