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 >
Conserving Energy
There are many things we can do everyday to help conserve energy and lower our carbon footprint. One of the simplest things you can do is make sure that you turn the lights off when you leave a room. Lights on sensors/timers are also very useful to ensure that the lights are being turned off. Another easy solution is turning off the heater/a.c in places that nobody is in. These appliances can be huge energy spenders and when they are not being actively used, they should not be running. Washing machines use a lot of energy, one thing we can do to conserve some of that energy is to use cold water instead of hot. Finally, solar panels are a great way to conserve a lot of energy. In my house we have solar panels that regulate all of the energy in our house, lowering our carbon footprint by a lot. Although this is not an easy solution and maybe not a cheap one, solar panels are one of the best and most effective ways to save energy. All of these things are getting us one step closer to being the most energy conservative we could possibly be, slowly saving our planet.