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 >
Braelyn, Mooresville, NC, USA
I am a 16 year old high school student from Mooresville, NC. My total ecological footprint was 13176 kg. This was below average for my region. The majority of my footprint comes from the Home category. I was definitely surprised that that was the highest category, because I typically don't think about the amount of resources I'm using every time I turn on a faucet or flip a light switch. Because I'm usually not conscious of the affect I'm having on the environment when I do these things, that category definitely has a chance to balloon out of control. However, I still managed to be below average in my region. The main differences there seem to be in the transportation and purchases category (I guess it's good to have cheapskate parents sometimes). To decrease my carbon footprint in the future, I think the best thing to do would be just to be conscious of how much water and electricity I'm using when I'm at home, and also manage the use of A/C and heating.