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 >
My family's footprint
I think that my family's footprint is averege. We could use the car less, turn off the lights if we are not in the room, we could use less water when we shower... In the winter we mostly use the car, now that it's spring we use our bike's more wich we should do all year. long. We do compost almost all of our food but I think that we can buy more eco-friendly products.
To reduce your footprint, you can also use LED bulbs. I think they are a very good option for those times when you also need artificial light, and the consumption is quite low, the bulbs resisting quite a long time.
My family's footprint is above the average. I think we should use our car less and ride a bike, walk or use public transport instead. Also, we could use more LED light bulbs and turn the lights off when we are not using them.
My family's carbon footprint is very similar to this, my family also drives around a lot, even though we could definitely drive less. Other things that help to reduce carbon footprint is to recycle at least half of household waste, avoid products with excessive packaging and use less hot water, to name a few. I found out about these things from a very interesting article from mass.gov. (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/reduce-your-carbon-footprint-at-home#:~:text=Recycle%20at%20least%20half%20of%20your%20household%20waste.&text=Set%20thermostats%202%C2%B0F,of%20all%20home%20energy%20use.&text=Wrap%20an%20insulation%20blanket%20around,higher%20than%20120%C2%B0F.) Some of these simple things can do wonders for the planet if they're more of a regular practice in more homes. Hope this helps!
Some other useful tips is to use cold water when doing laundry and reusing items to give a second life. You could also combine errands together in one trip to drive less and use reusable bags.
I agree with you. My carbon footprint is pretty close. We could also walk more or use bikes and maybe recycle more than we are currently doing. A really good thing we do though is use a lot of metal drinking cups instead of water bottles.
Hi, I agree! Using the car less would be a great step in lessening my footprint as well. Unfortunately where I live we are unable to bike to and from work or school. I do like that you buy eco-friendly products!
Hello, I think it is fantastic how you ride your bike as the weather is right. Instead of riding your bike in the cold as you said why not try public transportation as it may be better and less cold. I think it's cool how you compost your food as me and my family do not do; maybe we should start trying.