Students from around the world calculated their class mean and standard deviations for their footprints and posted them on our world map.
Do you see differences across the globe? If so, why do you think those differences exist?
Did you use the calculator to try to reduce your footprint down to the average from a citizen of another country? What changes would you have to make to lower your footprint in this way? Are you going to try and take some of these actions in your daily life?
Student Footprints >
How I Can Lessen My Carbon Footprint
After doing the carbon footprint essay in class, I realized that I needed to make some profound changes in my day-to-day habits to lessen my carbon footprint. Even though my carbon footprint is significantly less than the average human, if I can get it even lower, it'll help benefit the ecosystem. Hopefully, a domino effect can arise from this if I influence other people to follow in my ways and habits. To start, if I see the lights on in my house and nobody is in the room, I'll turn them off immediately, and if I want to go somewhere that's close to my house, instead of taking a car there, I'll walk or bike. As a result, this will lessen my family's electricity and gas bills while also saving energy (and keeping me fit). Also, when I go shopping, rather than asking for a plastic bag to put my items in, I'll start bringing more reusable bags. The outcome of this will be positive since I'll be throwing away less plastic. To help me with my journey, I've been looking up ways on the internet to reduce my carbon footprint and stumbled upon a website called news.climate.columbia.edu. It's been assisting me a lot, and I recommend it to people who are unsure about what to do if they want to diminish their carbon footprint.