Many students using our footprint calculator said that they could not pledge to reduce their home footprints because they were not making the decisions for the household. Here is your chance to design your own sustainable virtual household!
If you had your own home, what would you do to make it more energy efficient? Where would you get your electricity from? Where would your house be? Would you live near to your school or work or local transit options? Where would you get your food from?
MY Family Footprint >
Transportation!
The majority of my carbon footprint comes from transportation, I live in an area that is pretty far away from any major shopping areas, restaurants, salons, etc, so my family is always driving pretty long distances to get wherever we need to go. I think there are two major changes that I would make in terms of the way my family lives. One thing we could do is simply move to an area that is closer to the places that we end up traveling to a lot, that way we wouldn't have to constantly be driving extremely far distances to get to the places we need to go. Another thing we could do instead of moving is to invest in electric cars. While they are extremely expensive, we would be using them extensively and reducing the negative impact we have on the planet!
I have the same issue. I have a lot of activities outside of school that require a lot of driving. Also, I am unable to drive myself yet, so my parents are making even more trips just to get me to and from places. Once I can drive myself, I will be able to reduce the mileage. Additionally, I hope to move somewhere that has more public transportation options and less distance between everything as an adult.