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 carbon footprint and how it affects climate change
Over the last couple of classes I have leaned about my carbon footprint and how it effects climate change. My main impact on climate change is transportation. When driving a car, it releases many greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere. How this happens you might ask? According to state of the planet, "As CO2 soaks up this infrared energy, it vibrates and re-emits the infrared energy back in all directions. About half of that energy goes into space, and half returns to earth as heat, contributing to the greenhouse effect." This is how the greenhouse gases that cars drive contribute to heating up our earth.