The Six Benefits of a Carbon Footprint Calculator
First and foremost, it’s important to understand why tracking is useful? & what exactly is the benefit for a person curious about making that change?
In ‘The Motivational Impact of Wearable Healthy Lifestyle Technologies: A Self-determination Perspective on Fitbits With Adolescents’ by Charlotte Kerner part of their quantitative findings suggested significant reductions in need satisfaction and autonomous motivation and significant increases in motivation after eight weeks. This shows how much empowerment trackers can provide an individual with.
How about the data? Why is linking your bank account(s) so important?
Well, we can look at ‘Self-tracking behaviour in physical activity: a systematic review of drivers and outcomes of fitness tracking’ by Daoyan Jin, who found that users abandon fitness trackers because of the poor data accuracy and reliability (e.g. Coorevits and Coenen 2016; Epstein et al. 2016; Harrison et al. 2015; Shih et al. 2015). The quality of data offered by fitness trackers (e.g. Fitbit) matters because users want to ensure that the collected data effectively and precisely represent their personal and health-related concerns (Jarrahi, Gafinowitz, and Shin 2018). Preusse et al. (2017) also have found that inaccurate data decreases the perceived usefulness of fitness trackers, and this is one of the main barriers to the use of fitness trackers.
There is so much more that can be explored around trackers and why they can help shift people’s approaches and help reevaluate their behaviour.
Here is the breakdown of the five benefits of using a carbon footprint calculator:
You can quantify your footprint:
What is greater than raw facts? Nothing? With apps like Yayzy, you are presented with numbers that relate to you. If you like to be led by actual data, then this gives you that chance to look at everything related to your expenditure in one place. It isn’t complicated, and equivalents help the user understand what their emissions equate to.
It gives you valuable insight:
When you use a carbon footprint calculator, you can understand what your carbon footprint comprises. This will provide you with the first step to real change; awareness — you’re able to understand what exactly you need to act on and what things you don’t need to worry about. Education is power!
`You can reduce your impact:
There is nothing better than taking action on what matters. Once you assess the things, you want to address; you can act on them. This could be cutting down on the Deliveroo orders or visiting Zara less frequently. Over time you’re then able to assess how your carbon footprint is changing based on the amendments made; you can see how the more you commit to reductions, the lower your carbon footprint is. This is called progress (no matter how small).
You can shift to feeling positive:
Many people feel helpless about the climate crisis and don’t know how to act or where to begin. A carbon footprint calculator gives you a basis to start on, and from there, you can empower yourself by exploring further means of reduction. This will leave you feeling reinvigorated and positive, in turn helping you to challenge those feelings of anxiety and helplessness.
Find out where you stand against others:
It’s one thing to track for insight, and it’s another thing to get the full picture. It’s great to measure where you stand against your country’s average and community. You’re given data based on the average person’s carbon footprint and then the average carbon footprint of a Yayzer! Incredible right! Remember, a bit of healthy competition is always handy.
Revamp your lifestyle:
The benefits of using a carbon footprint calculator are endless, but one of the great things is it can reshape your whole lifestyle for the better. We want to act against climate change, but it isn’t just about one-off actions, we as people need to rise and change how we approach day to day living. Using an app as a stepping stone and a support system, you can learn to prioritise the planet & in turn, shift your whole lifestyle for the better.
Yayzy is a great carbon footprint calculator and tracker that will support you in your journey to become more sustainable. We are one download away from helping you become more planet proud!