The document discusses how human habits and behaviors impact CO2 emissions. It estimates that the average person generates around 0.85 kg of CO2 per day through metabolism alone. With a global population of over 7 billion, total human metabolic CO2 emissions account for over 6 million tons per day. Adopting more conscious habits like meditation, relaxation, and empathic social interaction can help lower metabolic rates and associated CO2 output. The document recommends cultivating habits that promote well-being and community to achieve more sustainable lifestyles and cities with reduced carbon footprints.

1. TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITIES THROUGH A DECREASE IN
CO2 EMISSIONS BASED ON CREATING CONSCIOUSNESS
ON HUMAN HABITS AND ITS RELATIONS TO BODY CO2
EMISSIONS AND ASSOCIATED IMPACTS
Enrique Posada R.
Valencia G. Gabriela, Robledo V. David
INDISA S.A.
Medellín, Colombia

2. AGENDA
1. Introduction
i. Colombian Context
ii. World context
iii. Metabolism and CO2
2. Impact
i. Global impact of metabolic CO2
3. Background
i. Good habits and consciousness
4. What to do
i. Relaxed and empathic states
ii. Awareness
5. Conclusion
2

3. 3
Colombian Context
INTRODUCTION
Total planet CO2 emissions:
33.535milion tonCO2eq
Colombia contributes the 0,37% of these
emissions, occupying the 51 position in the World

4. Colombian Context
INTRODUCTION
4
-5
15
35
55
75
95
115
135
Energy Industrial Processes
and product use Agriculture, forestry
and other land uses
Waste
GHGEmissions(MtonCO2eq)
Productive Sector
Historical evolution of GHG by sector
1990
1994
2000
2004
2010
2012
Taken and adapted from the National Inventory of Global Greenhouse Gases (INGEI) 2012

5. Metabolism and CO2
Human respiration: Insertion
of 500 – 4000mL air into the
lungs
O2 Consumption and CO2
release:
• Air movement between inside and
outside of the lungs
• Gases exchange with pulmonary
blood
• Diffusion across cell membranes
The estimated CO2 generated
flow is 0,84kg/day
Oxygen usage is 0,96 kg/day ,
quite similar to CO2
generation
INTRODUCTION
5

6. Metabolism and CO2
Parameter units Inspired air Expulsed air
O2 % vol 20,93 15,26
CO2 % vol 0,04 3,42
N2 % vol 78,53 75,13
H2O % vol 0,50 6,19
Breathing rate times/min 15,0 15,0
Temperature °C 21,0 36,0
Gas density at 1 atm kg/m3 1,193 1,125
Volume in each breathing m3 0,00060 0,00066
Mass flow kg/hr 0,644 0,667
O2 flow kg/hr 0,15 0,11
CO2 flow kg/hr 0,00039 0,03519
N2 flow kg/hr 0,49 0,49
H2O flow kg/hr 0,0020 0,0261
Gas Exchanges in the breathing system
INTRODUCTION
6

7. Metabolism and CO2
In a particular study of 15
various physical activities
of 275 subjects, it was
founded that energy
expenditures do not
correlate well with the
intensity of motional
activity
There are more complex
physiological and mental
influences at work besides
observed motion
Seliger V., Energy metabolism in selected physical exercises. Internationale Zeitschrift für angewandte Physiologie einschließlich
Arbeitsphysiologie, Volume 25, Issue 2 , pp 104-120
INTRODUCTION
7
Activity
Energy,
kcal/h
Associated
food, kg/day
CO2, kg/day
BMR, Basal metabolic rate, woman,
30 years age, 160 cm height, 60 kg
weight
54 0,24 0,4
BMR, Basal metabolic rate, man, 30
years age, 170 cm height, 70 kg
weight
67 0,3 0,49
Sleeping 67 0,3 0,49
Eating 101 0,44 0,74
Sitting work 101 0,44 0,74
Walking on level at 4.8 km per hour 200 0,88 1,48
Jogging at 9 km per hour 570 2,51 4,21
Cycling on level at 9 km per hour 804 3,54 5,93
Exercise , 5 min. and more, low
values
336 1,48 2,48
Exercise , 5 min. and more, high
values
1092 4,81 8,06
Exercise, 1-3 min, low values 462 2,03 3,41
Exercise , 1-3 min, high values 1890 8,32 13,95
Exercise , 1-30 sec, low values 2856 12,58 21,07
Exercise , 1-30 sec, high values 7350 32,36 54,24

8. Global impact of metabolic CO2
FACTOR UNIT VALUE
Estimated world
population (2015)
persons 7.311.390.000
Average CO2 generation by
metabolism
Kg/day-person 0,85
Total CO2 generation by
metabolism
Ton/day 6.231.414
Approximate CO2
generated in coal
combustion
kg/kg coal 2,20
Equivalent coal combustion
to generate CO2 associated
with average metabolism
Ton/day 2.832.461
Coal use in the world Ton/day 21.430.137
According to these numbers,
human metabolism is in fact
representative of the CO2
emissions (and more important
to global warming) confronting
it with the emissions from coal
(and other fossil fuels)
combustion.
Thus, any lowering of the CO2
human metabolic emissions will
have a significant impact on
global warming gases control.
IMPACT
8

9. Good habits and consciousness
Henry David
Thoreau
Rachel Carson Ansel Adams
9
“Henry David Thoreau was thought by many in his own time, and many in our own, to be an eccentric
who escaped from the mainstream of real life in order to dream. He was the opposite of that. He
understood intuitively what we now know in more concrete and objective terms, that humanity is a
biological species and thus exquisitely adapted to the natural world that cradled us. Thoreau was the
scientific observer and lyrical expositor who hit upon the power of this conjunction between science and
the humanities”.
Edward Wilson
BACKGROUND

10. Good habits and consciousness
10
Gregory Bateson
Ecology of Mind
HUMANISTIC SCHOOL
There are important mechanisms of positive feedback, which allow for
harmonious habits in people.
The desirable change should not only refer to our actions, but most of all, to
our thoughts  Object Experimentation applied to ideas.
BACKGROUND

11. Relaxed and empathic states
Farrel, D.J., The reduction in metabolic rate and heart rate on man during meditation, Energy Metabolism: Proceedings of the Eighth Symposium
on Energy Metabolism, 1979
Ding-E Young, J., Taylor, E., Meditation as a Voluntary Hypometabolic State of Biological Estivation, Am.Physiol. Soc. News Physiol. Sci. Volume 13.
June 1998
Wallace, R. K., and H. Benson. A wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state. Am. J. Physiol. 221: 795–799, 1971
WHAT TO DO
11
Relaxed State
Catecholamine levels drop
Galvanic skin resistance increases
Respiration rate and volume flow
decrease
Decreased vascular resistance
Lowered O2 and CO2 consumption
Empathic State
The person acts as an observer,
able to experiment and feel the
situation that is being
experimented by another object,
being, animal, idea…
Respiration pattern becomes
slower, abdominal, controlled by
the diaphragm and deeper.
Lower O2 consumption rates 
lower metabolic energies and CO2
generation

12. Awareness
It would be very
educative that human
beings have, as much
as possible, awareness
of themselves as direct
and representative
sources of CO2
12
WHAT TO DO

13. While practicing empathic states, we reduce CO2
emissions, not only because the lower metabolism
state, but also because of the activities promoted
under these states
We present the following habits for lower
metabolic CO2 emissions, either because they are
closer to the basal metabolic rates or because they
include empathic or relaxation practices
13
CONCLUSION

14. 14
CONCLUSION
Listening to others with
empathic attention
• Changing the usual defensive and
offensive responses for: Recognition
and appreciation no matter the other
context
• The defensive response demand exited
metabolic funtioning and excess of CO2
generation
Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions

15. Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions
15
CONCLUSION
Meditation and relaxation
practices
• When practiced in group have
larger impacts
• This practices should be taught and
encouraged in the educational
system and institutions and
companies

16. Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions
16
CONCLUSION
Conversation and sharing
• Friendship, family life, small
communities, communal activities,
enriched by empathic attitudes
• The opposite to this: WAR 
associated with major environmental
disasters and violence: excitec
metabolic states and CO2 emissions
• Sustainable cities must be pleasant
and peaceful

17. Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions
17
CONCLUSION
Conscious writing, representing,
art work and reading
• This will create self-esteem, self-
reference, leadership and a sense of
compromise
• Creation of city narratives and memories
 enchance healthy pride
• Stimulation of good cultural habits that
all sustainable citizens can enjoy and
practice

18. Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions
18
CONCLUSION
Improving food consumption
habits
• According to Schwarsera, eating beef
has the highest GHG generation, with
22,6 kg CO2-eq/kg. Including different
protein sources in the diet would
reduce the CO2 emission in digestion
• Minimizing food waste, by purchasing,
cooking and eating only the necessary.
• Eating slowly and in a conscious way

19. Habits for lower metabolic CO2 emissions
19
CONCLUSION
Additional habits
• Diminish, separate, recycle and reuse waste.
• Seek rational use of water and energy in
every human daily activity
• Seek changes in the smoking of tobacco (and
marihuana), or entirely avoid them, as these
are bad habits generate huge amounts of CO2
• Understanding activities in term of their
impact on CO2 generation and having them in
the collective and individual mind as
indicators of commitment with sustainability

20. 20
CONCLUSION
Activity CO2 generator indicator Sustainable actions
Transportation and
driving
CO2 generated according to driving
practices, number of occupants and
type of vehicle
Conscious driving
Ride sharing
Use of mass transport
Establish city indicators of total daily
CO2 generated by transportation
Using electricity CO2 generated according to origin of
used electricity and type of urban
practices
Electricity saving
Communal and individual projects to
generate electricity with renewable
sources
Solid waste
generating and
disposal
CO2 and CH4 generated according to
waste disposal methods being used
and scale of recycling and reuse
Recycling
Less generation of waste
Individual and communal projects to
recycle and reuse
Industrial and
commercial
emissions
Regional and urban indicators of
specific emissions according to major
processes and activities
Companies calculate their
contribution to the indicators and
establish goal to improve
Citizens know this and contribute to
improvements trough vigilance and
participation
Example of areas that can be object of establishing CO2 indicators

21. THANKS
21
Contact Info:
Enrique Posada, Special Projects Advisor
INDISA S.A.
Medellín, Colombia
Phone: (+574)446166 cel 57 3122978618
enrique.posada@indisa.com
eposadar@yahoo.com