Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is concerned not only with the current state of wildlife and habitat in Maine, but also with its future.  Therefore, Maine Conservation Corps AmeriCorps members Liz Schwegler and Elizabeth Wolff were tasked with determining the carbon footprint for Rachel Carson NWR.  We know that global climate change is occurring and with the predicted rise in temperature scientists worry about an increase in extreme weather, like hurricanes, droughts, floods, and all the dangers that come with extreme weather like fires, disease, and famine.  Land managers are also concerned with an increase in the spread of disease, species extinction by animals who cannot adapt quickly enough, and a rise in ocean level. 

Global warming is caused by an increase of greenhouse gases. During the past century, humans have added more than normal amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.  These added gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane, are enhancing the natural greenhouse effect and are contributing to an increase in global temperature and other related climate changes. 

A carbon footprint is defined as the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).  Determining this for a span of time, like a year, provides a baseline from which CO2 usage can be decreased.  Our objective was to determine Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge's carbon footprint, in hopes to start decreasing its carbon output by at least 2% each year.

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge's total carbon output (71.71 tons) was determined based on 2007 numbers (gas use, oil usage, water usage, etc.).  It was put into a carbon report that outlined the reasoning behind determining RCNWR's carbon footprint and the calculations used to derive it.  A template was also created in MS Excel so that it would be easy to calculate RCNWR's carbon footprint in the future to ascertain whether or not a decrease of 2% CO₂ in usage occurred.  This is a tool that can be used to help Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge continue to reduce carbon dioxide in the future and contribute to making a difference in a world of changing climate.