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 >
Meat Consumption and It's Effect On Carbon Footprint
In general I was surprised to see my calculations. It was still below the average, as I had 8,682kgs compared to 9,727kgs. But I would have thought I would've been lower. Especially surprising was how much of it came from food, I had 3,917 kgs with the average being 2,223 kgs. I was a bit shocked because my family makes an effort to recycle and compost as much as we can, and generally home cook most of our meals. In general this made me realize how much greenhouse gasses comes from food. Namely meat is supposed to be the most damaging, quote from the Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan "Meat products have larger carbon footprints per calorie than grain or vegetable products because of the inefficient conversion of plant to animal energy and due to CH4 released from manure management and enteric fermentation in ruminants." This is most likely why the number for food was a lot higher for me. Given that my family eats a lot of meat, and generally doesn't cook a meal without some sort of poultry, meat, or fish. Now I would look to cutting back on meat consumption and focusing on eating more vegetable based meals, as it could greatly lower my carbon footprint. Quote from the Center For Sustainability Systems, University of Michigan, "shifting to a vegetarian meal one day a week could save the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles." Overall I would encourage all people to focus on cooking more vegetarian geared meals.