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 >
Planes and their effect on CO2 emissions into the atmosphere
Planes are a huge contribution to carbon emissions. For me personally and my carbon footprint, my transportation segment was up to 13,626kg which is very high considering the average in my region is 2,557kg. I was below average in all the other categories but transportation is what seemed to trip me up. According to sierraclub.org, just 2 people in a fairly efficient (30 mpg) car generates lower emissions per person than the average plane. To put this into perspective, one gallon of gas produces 19.37 pounds of carbon dioxide, and one gallon of jet fuel produces 21.50 pounds. Although plane rides are sometimes inevitable and we cannot completely avoid them, it is important to sometimes think about alternative options to flying and really run through how much CO2 the plane you're onis emitting into the atmosphere.