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
Compared to the carbon footprint that the average person makes being around 3,500kgs a year, my own footprint is about 9 times more than the marker, and my total carbon footprint number is about 3 times more of the average California citizen. My transportation amount was the highest of my carbon with a total of 16,033 kgs (which is a lot) and is then followed by home carbon at 5,786 kgs. I'm not totally sure if I entered the right information for transportation because I don't drive myself. My lowest carbon total was Purchases with 1,337 kgs. Third on the list was food being 5,412 kgs. I can fix the number of food by buying food locally at a farmers market to reduce the transportation that is required when buying food from a grocery store. RFOr my home energy, we use solar panels for our house, covering a significant amount of energy we use in the house. However, there are things we can do to reduce our energy use, like turning of the TV when leaving the house and turning off lights even if its we are leaving the house for a short trip. There are lots of good and reliable sources on global warming and the steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint. Two that I found useful are from "Sustainability at Northwestern University" on stopping climate change and "AustinTexas.gov" on reducing your carbon footprint.
For my home energy**