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 Limit my Carbon Footprint
My Carbon Footprint is 11,742 kgs, which is 2,015 kgs more than the average carbon total in my region. However, my carbon totals in the home, food, and purchases were all almost 1,000 kg than the average totals. It was not until I entered my responses for the transportation category (precisely the amount of flights I take) that my total shot up. I have 5645 kgs of carbon, more than the average person in the transportation category. The carbon total of my transportation makes up around 70% of my absolute carbon total. Working towards taking fewer flights and using an alternative of public transit or driving, my carbon footprint should drop drastically. UMich says, "Emissions per domestic passenger-mile decreased 45% from 1990-2019, but increased 55% from 2019-2020 due to COVID." (Center for Sustainable Systems, 2021). As there has been a large increase in air travel emissions since COVID, it would be wise for the US to utilize other ways of transportation and avoid domestic air travel.