You have probably heard a lot about greenhouse gasses. These gasses trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. Like a greenhouse, these gasses allow sunlight in, but the heat produced by the sun cannot escape. Some greenhouse gasses are good because without them our planet would be too cold for life to exist.

But, the concern today is that we are releasing too many greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere, like carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gas emissions occur when we burn fossil fuels, like oil, coal, and natural gas. This is the cause of global warming and changing climate patterns.

So how can you reduce greenhouse gas emissions? WALK! It’s good for you and it’s good for the planet.* Many schools across the country have walk-to-school days. Can you make more days walk-to-school days? If you investigate and find a safe route to school, the miles add up. Let’s say you and a friend pledge to walk to school one day a week for the whole school year. If you live a mile from school, and there are 36 weeks in the school year, you’ve saved 72 miles of driving (because you save a mile going to school and returning home). What happens if you walk two days a week? Five? Now calculate how many car miles would be saved if you convinced 3 other friends to join you. A lot of what we do in our daily lives is about creating habits. Consider whether you can commit to walking regularly because it’s #YourPlanetToo.

*Every gallon of gas burned by the average passenger car releases more than 20 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.