Many students using our footprint calculator said that they could not pledge to reduce their home footprints because they were not making the decisions for the household. Here is your chance to design your own sustainable virtual household!
If you had your own home, what would you do to make it more energy efficient? Where would you get your electricity from? Where would your house be? Would you live near to your school or work or local transit options? Where would you get your food from?
MY Family Footprint >
What can I do about my own footprint when living with my family?
I'm a high schooler, so, I obviously still live with my parents. I calculated my carbon footprint and saw that the majority of the weight condenses onto 2 different areas: household and travel. I want to try to do different things to reduce my own carbon output, but, I'm kind of in a rough spot. My family does not intend to move any time soon. We use a lot of energy through home appliances and heating. We have begun to address this issue with solar panels, but my footprint is still soaring through the roof. In addition, it is necessary for my family to travel, every year, back to China to meet the family. Currently, housing and traveling are two areas that carry the most weight in my carbon footprint and are also the hardest for me to find a solution to. I want to help the efforts to reduce carbon and climate change, but I am not sure how right now.
yeah i can relate to this. i also had the most in household and travel and they're kind of hard issues to resolve, but it is possible; even making the smallest improvements helps a bit.
You may try replacing lightbulbs, or looking at other ways to visit your family. Don’t feel so bad about it though, sometimes you can’t help it.