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 Reduction
My name is Debora and I live in the US. We were recently given an assignment in our Environmental Science class to calculate our ecological footprints. Based on my information, my carbon footprint is 10,829 kg of CO₂ per year compared the average of 13,115 kg for Florida USA (that is 2,286 kg of CO2 less than average). Though my Carbon footprint is less than average I noticed that our household’s average is 9,169 kg which is 4,104 kg more than the norm. This assignment helped me realize how much my household is still wasting. Around eight years ago my husband and I became aware that we were wasting in a few areas of our home, the main one being our electricity; our waste was shown on the electric bill. We decided to become more environmentally friendly and started by replacing all of our light bulbs to CFL bulbs. We immediately saw a savings in our electric bill of over $80; I was shocked because I did not expect the savings to be so much. Once we saw the change in our electric bill we began doing things such as washing our cloths with cold water, unplugging all unused e lectronics or appliances (cell phone, kitchen appliances, etc.), we buy refillable five gallon jugs of water instead of water bottles, for some time my husband even rode his bike to work. At our business, auto repair shop, we recycle anything that is recyclable like fluids oil and antifreeze, filters, recyclable parts (some parts are repaired and resold), bolts or screws. By doing this we’ve saved hundreds at home and work. I’m hoping after this assignment we may be able to implement more ways to save as well as to become more environmentally friendly. If people continue to live a wasteful life everything on the planet will be affected; plants, animals, and humans alike. During my research I found a few websites with great suggestions on how to reduce carbon footprints. Some suggestions are to change your light bulbs to CFL bulbs, avoid buying water bottles, adjust the thermostat at a moderate temperature, buy locally grown food when possible, unplug your gadgets, use a laptop over a desktop computer, or plant a tree (best idea in my opinion).
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/minimisecfp.html
http://cotap.org/reduce-carbon-footprint/
http://list25.com/25-ways-to-reduce-you … /?view=all http://mashable.com/2013/10/22/reduce-carbon-footprint/.