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 >
What can we do to get a lower score ?
I have a low score on the topic of purchases (55kgs of CO²) compared to some people, for the reason that when I buy something I wonder if I really need it, if I will use it, if it's useful and other numerous questions.
And if I answer « no » to at least one of these questions, I don't buy it.
Then, I also buy, for instance, a new phone or a computer ONLY if I can no longer use my old one. We have to consume with more responsibility.
I also noticed that the score on the topic of transportation is quickly high.
So as to emit as little CO² as possible, we must favour ecological means of transport such as walking, cycling, car-pooling etc...
Then, a good solution to lower our score on the topic of food is to eat two or three vegetarian meals a week. The reason is that staple foods, such as meat, fish, egg, cheese etc... are polluting and product a lot of CO² which is a greenhouse gas. On top of that we should eat more local and seasonal foods in order to avoid transport from the place of production to our plate.
Afterwards, to be able to take actions we need to learn more about the subject of ecology and if we can, make our voices heard, propose some ideas to protect the environment at different scales. We need to raise awareness among the people around us, our comrades, our friends, our family.
Feel free to share your solutions!