Carbon footprint means greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing carbon footprint is essential as it mitigates the negative effects of climate change, boosts the global economy, and leads to innovative and more environment-friendly solutions. Eric Phillips, a former US Army bomb technician, studies the far-reaching environmental and health effects of greenhouse gas emissions and has created a solution, CragLev, to tackle the increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Due to greenhouse gases, Earth’s atmosphere has warmed 1.5°C since 1880. This may not seem like a lot, but these degrees create regional and seasonal temperature extremes, reduce sea ice, intensify rainfall and drought severity, and change habitat ranges for plants and animals. CragLev is made to store the pollution created by greenhouse gases.
Secondly, the Global sea levels have increased approximately 8–9 inches since 1880, displacing people living along coastlines and destroying coastal habitats. Roads, bridges, subways, water supplies, oil and gas wells, power plants, sewage treatment plants, and landfills remain at risk if sea level rise goes unchecked.
Extreme weather conditions are becoming more common and more intense. Storm-affected areas will experience increased precipitation and flooding, whereas areas further from storm tracks will experience decreased precipitation and droughts. Due to these adverse effects, Eric came up with the groundbreaking athletic chalk, CragLev. It fights global warming by utilizing captured greenhouse gasses for athletes through the carbonized process with the sole aim of recycling a harmful greenhouse gas.
Eric also believes, in conjunction with improving public health, the global economy will benefit from a cleaner environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other than this, magnesite produced from the carbonized process to produce CragLev also proves to be beneficial for athletes as it helps with grip enhancement. This will disrupt the magnesium carbonate market dominated by China and allot the primary source of magnesite production to the US.
Through CragLev, Eric aims to reduce the most impactful aspect of greenhouse gas emission reduction; climate change, which is the leading cause of increased droughts, sea-level rise, extreme weather events, such as forest fires, and all the subsequent devastating effects of these events on humanity and people’s development in every sense.
Eric cares about reducing the planet’s carbon footprint because the future depends on it. Reducing the carbon footprint is important because it mitigates the effects of global climate change, improves public health, boosts the global economy, and maintains biodiversity. When we cut carbon emissions, we help ensure cleaner air, water, and food for generations to come.