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 >
Xavier M. Carbon Footprint (Mooresville, North Carolina, USA)
I am Xavier a 12th grade student at Mooresville High School which is located in Mooresville, NC, USA. I'm 18 years old and constantly going place to place. After I had completed putting in my data for the carbon footprint test, my total footprint was 32,150 This was compared to the total footprint of people in North Carolina and their average was 15,918 per year. My footprint was a whole lot higher than the average. This came from my transportation footprint that I leave in the atmosphere. I get driven every single day somewhere, and most of the time more than one place. My family takes trips a lot and that I also calculated because we will drive there and back ranging 750 kilometers each trip.
My Totals:
Transportation: 26,170kgs
Home: 1,997 kgs
Food: 3,353 kgs
Purchases: 630 kgs
Reaction:
When I saw my results, I was not that shocked that I had a larger footprint than the average person in North Carolina. I knew that by me getting driven, my families driving, would probably put me in the higher averages. It did surprise me in the fact of how much higher my transporta tion was compared to the average. My carbon levels for transportation were almost five and a half times greater than the average. This made me learn that I need to appreciate being able to driven like I do because most people are not open to that luxury. I also learned that I maybe need to cut down on how much I go places because of the amount I am contributing to the carbon in the environment.
Xavier I really enjoyed your post, well maybe you should start walking more. I totally agree with your great decision.