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 >
Meat Consumption
I was experimenting and found that if I switch my survey answers for the food section to vegetarian, my footprint is reduced dramatically. It was about 2/3 of my original total. My total for that question was 1801 kg. When I took out the meats, my new total was in the negatives. The meat that affected my carbon total the most was beef.
Do you think that eating entirely vegetarian will reduce the populations carbon footprint or do you think that there is a more sustainable option so people can still eat meat?
Well in my health class we researched the effects of meat on the human body. Meat has more negative effects on our body than positive. Have you ever thought about the way meat is produced? Cows have huge carbon emissions, and just think about how many cows it takes to stock stores around the world with beef. If meat isn't really beneficial for us, and it's production has a negative effect on the environment, then why should we continue to eat it?
I think we should just stop eating processed meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc.). If we did, just think of how much we could reduce carbon emissions. Even just stopping the production of beef would have a significant impact.
However, if people still want to eat meat, they can obtain that meat by hunting or fishing. I know that it costs money in my country, and honestly it shouldn't. I think people should be more responsible and only hunt and fish for food, not for sport.
Taking meat out of your diet is a huge benefit to the environment. It's not approachable for all people, however, taking the small steps to reduce meat in your diet makes impacts no matter how little. There are ideas to limit red meat, eat locally grown meat, and to test out plant proteins. The small steps to reduce meat and animal products will help your carbon footprint exponentially. I went vegan almost 4 years ago and over that time I have learned so much more about my body as well as what goes into proper nutrition. Exposing yourself to the realities of animal agriculture will reveal a lot about the carbon and methane emissions just from the animals alone but as well from the transport and feed used for the animals.