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 >
Carbon Footprint Assignment
Hi, my name is Bailey. I am from Mooresville, NC in the United States. I am 17 years old and I am a Junior. My carbon footprint was higher than I expected it to be. My total carbon footprint was 11,083 kgs. My third highest carbon footprint was the energy I use in my home. The fourth was the purchases I make. For my region the total carbon footprint was 15,918 kgs. In transportation my region uses 4,184 kgs. In energy they use at home my region used 6,148 kgs. For the food category my region used 3,636 kgs. Finally in purchases they made my region used 1,950 kgs. My carbon footprint was … average. The majority of my carbon footprint came from my transportation. My secondary majority came from food. My reaction was that I didn’t think I drove that much. The only places I drive are to and from school and out with my friends on the weekends. I was surprised about the food because I don’t eat that much during the day. I could understand some of the food because I live with my family of 5. I learned that anything can affect the environment. I also learned that I need to recyc le and reuse things in my home. I think I need to learn how to conserve the gas in my car to help save the environment. In the future I would do better to try to help the environment instead of killing it. I would educate people on the effects of what they are doing to the environment. To decrease my carbon footprint I could also work harder to watch what I buy and try to conserve energy in my home.
My carbon footprint was very similar to yours (mine was 11,126 kgs)! I had a high transportation footprint too, which I think was more from the summer vacation that I took this year than anything, because like you, I don't drive around that much, and I always carpool since I don't have my license. Food was my highest footprint though, which I was also surprised at. I think that it does have something to do with family size (I have a family of 8 because it's not like I eat a ton either. Depending on the types of food you buy, not necessarily the amount, it will increase or decrease your carbon footprint for food. In a big family we tend to buy the cheaper foods, which tend to be more processed and therefore use up more fossil fuels