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 >
The Importance of Plants
We see trees, flowers, and all sorts of plants all around us in our everyday lives. But, with civilization comes the end of some of the plants' lives. People are cutting down trees and making cities and factories all over the world, and we have to realize that by making these factories we might not be helping advance, but we are going backward. Trees are decreasing and at the rate that humans are cutting them down, they will soon be extinct. Trees and plants are an important factor when decreasing the carbon footprint of all people. Carbon Dioxide has definitely been rising throughout the years and if we start planting more trees, and stop cutting them down we could all make a difference in the world and start to decrease our carbon footprint.
I agree with you, our environment is very important and we need to play our part in protecting it. To add on, pollution also harms and sometimes even kills plants. As humans we produce plenty of gasses and harmful waste that pollutes the Earth. For example, through transportation and factories. We should look out for alternative options for what we do that does not harm the environment. For instance, in terms of transportation, rather than driving you car to somewhere especially if your location is near by, try riding a bike or use any other mode of transportation that does not produce harmful gasses. By doing this we can help save our environment and reduce our own carbon footprint.
Photosynthesis is the process of carbon being transferred and reorganized to become oxygen, which then released back into the atmosphere. Plants were always the organisms to filter the air and the atmosphere to prevent climate change, but ever since the rise of human population, the plants have not been able to keep up with the amount of carbon in the air. Automobiles and electronics increase the carbon level that causes the seasons to change and fires to occur. As climate change worsens, the trees begin to die, which decreases the number of sinks and increases the amounts of sources. Sinks are the types of things that reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere, and the resources are what produce and release carbon back into the atmosphere.