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 >
Local or international trade?
I am thinking about if trade is actually good for our environment. If we think about it, trading goods especially food internationally effects our air quality and impact on the environment greatly due to the equipment being used. The large cargo ships, trains, and planes that transport these materials are releasing harmful toxins in the air or spilling large sums of oil that pollute the Earth. We should a least think about reducing international trade and increase local trade that uses less of these toxic chemicals. So next time your in the store look at the label, is it local or not?