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Villagomez urges all to ‘Take the Right Route’
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Posted on Apr 10 2008
In an effort to promote carbon reduction, Lt. Gov. Timothy Villagomez is urging government employees to participate in today’s “Take the Right Route” by walking, running, or carpooling to work or school.
“As a community, we should take action now to reduce our carbon footprint, and do our part to protect the CNMI’s natural resources,” Villagomez said.
The carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service.
Normally, a carbon footprint is expressed as a CO2 equivalent, which is usually in kilograms or tons. It accounts for the same global warming effects of different greenhouse gases.
Carbon footprints can be calculated using a Life Cycle Assessment method, or can be restricted to the immediately attributable emissions from energy use of fossil fuels.
Today’s “Take the Right Route” event is in conjunction with the Coastal Resources Management, Division of Environmental Quality, Division of Fish & Wildlife, and the Marianas Islands Nature Alliance to promote carbon reduction by means of walking, running, biking, or carpooling.
“Governor Fitial and I wish to remind each resident of the need to raise personal awareness about the cumulative impacts of CO2 emissions on climate change,” Villagomez said.
He explains that climate change, or global warming, is the result of a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly CO2.
When the concentration of the gases trapped in the sun’s heat gets too high, “the Earth’s equilibrium gets out of balance and temperature rise can result in severe weather conditions and storms, sea level rise, shoreline loss, and an increase in the ocean’s temperatures resulting in coral bleaching and coral death.”
So today, “Take the first step and reduce your carbon footprint. ‘Take the Right Route’,” said Villagomez.
