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 >
Flooding
Flooding is a major concern in our climate changing. By the end of the century, more than a quarter of Vietnam’s residents will be living in areas likely to to be subject to regular floods. And 4% of China’s population live in the same areas. 4% of China is 50 million people. 8 of the 10 large countries most at risk for floods are in Asia. More than 40% of the Netherlands is exposed to this risk. The US ranks 34th on the list of risk of flood exposure, even though we are one of the largest carbon emitters on the planet.
China is another story. They lead in carbon emissions and have the greatest number of people exposed to flood risk. Of course, our future isn’t set in stone. Our climate could always change at a slower pace than expected. But it could also change at a faster pace.Right now, about 146.5 million people in Asia are at risk for flooding. That alone should be worrying our planet. Flooding isn’t a small problem and our planet needs to take big steps and try to prevent it from potentially happening.
Aisch, Gregor, David Leomhardt, and Kevin Quealy. "Flooding R isk From Climate
Change, Country by Country." The New York Times. N.p., 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/upsho … bg=1&_r=0>.