Christmas is just around the corner, and by now, people are cramming to travel back home to celebrate the holidays. One of the most famous myths during this time is Santa Claus traveling around the world to deliver each kid their present on Christmas eve. But as talks of climate change get serious, many wonder how much carbon footprint Father Christmas produces every year.
MailOnline reported that scientists had calculated Santa's carbon footprint if he takes on the shortest route possible to spread the Christmas cheer. Research has shown that elves heat Santa's cabin and his sleigh to up to 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (tCO2e), which is equivalent to 0.5% of the worst estimates that the FIFA World Cup 2022 produced.
How Much is Santa's Carbon Footprint on His Journey Around the World? Here's What Scientists Say
Santa's Carbon Footprint
Although Santa Claus may only be a fictional character, experts have also tried calculating his carbon footprint during Christmas. They measured how much carbon emissions he would produce n his travel, heating, and manufacturing of this once-a-year event.
As MailOnline reported, Santa heads out to the world to travel about 99 million miles (160 million kilometers) around the world. Scientists at Purdue University noted that Father Christmas has to visit 2 billion children worldwide to deliver Christmas presents. Assuming that each household has 2.5 kids, then this means he has to visit 800 million homes.
If he is riding on a plane, that would equate to 18,400 tCo2e. Scientists estimate that it would take him at least 34 hours to deliver presents, operating at a slightly different space-time continuum.
In terms of heating, Santa lives in the chilly North Pole with temperatures as low as -2.38F (-19.1C). To try to keep his house warm, he would need to use renewable energy sources that could only accumulate 10 tCo2e.
Furthermore, Santa has to make sure that manufacturing the millions of gifts he delivers worldwide is eco-conscious. Elves should be using recyclable materials whenever possible not to add waste. Santa would also have to deliver the right gifts to each child to ensure that they are played with for some time before being passed down to siblings.
Recycling and sharing toys is also an eco-friendly solution that will address the issue of waste on the planet. Considering all this, scientists believe that Santa could only use around 20,000 tCo2e when traveling around the world, which is about 10 grams of carbon for every child.
What is Carbon Footprint?
According to Conservation, the carbon footprint is a way to express one's impact on the environment. Its size depends on multiple factors, such as the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the Earth's atmosphere by a certain activity.
Humans, products, and entire industries produce carbon footprints. A person's daily commute, the food they eat, the clothes they buy, and everything that is thrown away are considered a personal footprint. The larger they are, the heavier the strain the environment has to endure.
Measurements of carbon footprint account for a number of different world-warming gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases, wherein results are expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalency.
The US has one of the highest rates of carbon footprint per person in the world, with an average carbon emission of 15 tons, as per The Nature Conservancy. Drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions is needed not only from industries or countries but also from each person to reduce their carbon footprint vastly.
To avoid an increase of 2 degrees Celsius in global temperatures, environmental experts said that the average global carbon footprint per year must decrease to under 2 tons by 2050. By making small changes in every action, such as eating less meat and taking fewer connecting flights, and line-drying clothes, then perhaps the world could make a big difference.
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