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 >
Reducing my carbon footprint
I realized from the carbon footprint calculator that there are a lot of things I can do to help reduce the footprint I am leaving and take better care of our environment. One thing I really noticed is that using plastics is something that is really bad for the earth and I have a habit of grabbing plastic bottles of water or sports drinks when going to soccer. I can do better by taking my reusable bottles with me and refilling them instead of using the plastic bottles.
Another thing I can do is be more mindful of the foods I eat and eating lower on the food chain more often. I am already good about not eating dairy but I do eat meat. I learned in reading something that if I cut one day of eating meat that I can help reduce my footprint by 8 lbs that day. Even if I do not do this every day I can do some days to help reduce my footprint. Also by eating local grown organic foods I will help to reduce my footprint too. This will mean no need to have food transported and this saves on the footprint also. I think we can all do a little bit every day to help contribute.