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 >
Turning off all lights and fans before I leave the house
I agree wth you. I believe that this small things can make big changes. I also always turn off all the lights and fans before I leave the house or even when i leave a room. Another small way we can help our environment is by turning off the tap water when we brush our teeth!
This is a big issue for me because I just leave the room and forget to turn off the lights. This is essential because like mpk159 said, little things can make big changes. Also another good advice is unplugging the charging devices you arent using because that consumes alot of energy that is wasted.
Personally I don't share this problem because most of the time I do remember to turn off the lights when I leave a room and I become annoyed if my brother or sister don't have this habit. I agree with you both because the little changes do make big differences, if everyone did the simple task of turning off the light when they are not using them, then there would be a major decrease to the energy usage.
I am from Guatemala and I believe that leaving the lights turned on when we are not using them increases a lot of our carbon footprint levels. I personally turn the lights every time I leave a room and when my family members leave them on, and I I also turn them off for them to reduce the consumption. Even though we believe that it doesn't create a huge impact it does. If we set our small efforts in our lives, it can be very beneficial as a hole.
That's a really great idea that cristinatoledo pointed out- we should try to unplug electrical equipment when not in use. I'm SUPER guilty of not following this; I always forget to unplug my chargers! However, because of this, I'm starting to learn that it's the little things that add up to a big carbon footprint; I'm now trying to unplug everything when it's not in use, especially my phone and computer chargers!