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 >
My Carbon Footprint
I am 16 years old. I live in Oakland, California (USA).
When I got my results back from my carbon footprint I was surprised by my results. My footprint is 8,129 kgs of CO2 per year, which is lower then the California average of 9,727 kgs of CO2 per year. The highest usage of CO2 in my footprint is in transportation, which is what surprised me. Now that I have my license and a car I drive almost everywhere. However, due to California law, I am not allowed to drive people under 20 for my first year, so I can almost never carpool, which brings up my carbon footprint. I guess for know I should try and use public transportation more often, but having my own car is so nice.
I was really surprised by the world average of 3791 kg of CO2 per year. I thought the average would be way higher because of all the densely populated areas of the globe where the CO2 emission would be extremely high, but I forgot that there are also lots of areas where emissions are extremely low and bring down the average. This really made me look at my lifestyle and realize how much excess I h ave in my life. I am surrounded with people who have somewhat similar lifestyles, and I thought that I would have a lower footprint. However, when I look at it from a global scale it really puts things into perspective.
I agree with you! I thought that my carbon footprint was low because it was low compared to my region. But now when I look at your carbon footprint, it is even lower! It is so interesting how different regions of the same country can have such different carbon footprints, and even how the world can have such a different average as well. You are right about how when you look at things on a global scale it puts them into perspective! We live in a very fortunate country, and we should remember not to take our lifestyles for granted!
Your carbon footprint is fairly good. If you are trying to reduce your footprint, using public transportation is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but I also understand that it is so much more convenient to drive your own car. There are many economically under developed countries in the world, which heavily influences the world average footprint. Somewhere around 70% of the world's population live in these economically under developed countries. That is a large majority of people. It is very easy to overlook the people who are not as fortunate as us because we are surrounded by preferable conditions. Good job on maintaining a footprint below average for your area.