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 >
Taylor C. My Carbon Footprint (North Carolina)
My name is Taylor, I am 17, and I am a junior at Mooresville High School, in Mooresville, NC. For my Honors Environmental Earth Science Class we were assigned a project were we had to determine our carbon footprints, and compare it to the rest of you guys. Below are my results:
Transportation: 11,207 kgs
Home: 13,847 kgs
Food: 3,405 kgs
Purchases: 330 kgs
Total: 28,789 kgs
It seems as though my carbon footprint, which disproves my hypothesis, was much higher than the average (15,918 kgs). Majority of my carbon footprint comes from my home, which I didn’t find surprising. My family is very sensitive when it come to the temperature, so throughout the year, my thermostat is never below 71°F which is not very energy efficient.
Though this experiment, I learned that I waste a lot of energy in most of the different section, and not as much in others. As far as finding ways to decrease my footprint, I might want to consider wasting less gas, or possibly finding other modes of transportation, whether it’s by carpooling or whatever. Also, I take 20 minute showers, which isn’t eco-friendly. Maybe in the future, I could turn those 20 minute showers into 12 minute showers, which isn’t as good as most would like, but it’s a start.
You and I have very similar footprints, other than Home. Our Transportation, Food, and Purchases are very similar, as I would have expected from people in a similar area.