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 >
Science and the Environment
After seeing my calculator results, I noticed that though my footprint overall was about average, my transportation and home footprints were a lot larger than I thought they would be. I think this was because I don't usually think about how the everyday things I do can affect the environment. Things like driving most places, leaving my devices on chargers, and even leaving the lights on in a room are things I just got used to doing. After seeing these results, I am a lot more aware of how the things I do affect my carbon footprint. All in all, we should be all be aware of the small things we do that could hurt the environment.
Recently I read an article by Georgetown University about things we can do to save energy. In the article I found out that even when turned off, our devices continue to use power; which is why unplugging electronics when fully charged is an easy way to lower your carbon footprint.