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 >
Plane Travel
I got high footprints because of plane travel. I think it is not accurate because planes will fly regardless or my attenndance.
As you saw in your footprint, flying produces an incredibly large amount of greenhouse gases. One way to help with that is to try to fly less, and when flying, fly non-stop. However, since planes are more fuel efficient at cruising, it is best to fly when long distance over driving. The next thing to help would be buying carbon offsets. Buying carbon offsets is a way to help take care of the emissions released during flights, and is offered by airlines such as Delta,United, and JetBlue. Another way to help would be flying coach. Since more people are transported, it is a more efficient use of space and fuel. As reported by The New York Times, a company called AltAir Fuels created a biofuel that is said to cut 60 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions of regular jet fuel. I do agree that flights will still happen regardless of whether or not one person is there, however if we take action as a whole things may change.
we can reduce that by traveling less and flying with no stops. and not having them running when not needed