Blogs
United States: 1b Interactive Simulations
Ecological Footprint Calculator -Link
What part of your ecological footprint most surprised you?
I was surprised that half of my ecological footprint came from the services I use, such as electricity. I expected most of my footprint to come from the food section, as about half of my family’s food comes from processed sources. I also eat eggs and dairy products often. However, food only took up 26 percent of my total footprint, while mobility took 50 percent.
How did your footprint compare to your city’s average and your country’s average?
The United States of America’s average footprint is a little over 16 global acres, while San Francisco’s average footprint was slightly over 17 global acres. My footprint was almost exactly the same as my city’s average footprint. It was larger than the average American citizen’s footprint, though.
Find a location with a smaller carbon footprint from yours, within your own country if possible. What is different about this community from your own? What can you learn from this?
Honolulu has a smaller carbon footprint per capita than San Francisco. This may be because of Honolulu’s high numbers of pedestrians and cyclists- the city has a high percentage of bikers. Also, 14.4% of the city carpools to work and an additional 6.4% uses public transport. The traditional Hawaiian diet also includes very little packaged food, as in the early days of the island, there was no means of getting off-shore food. San Franciscans can learn to reduce the amount of imported food they eat and start eating fresh, local food.
Read this article about large companies, individual actions, and climate change: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/just-90-companies-are-blame-most-climate-change-carbon-accountant-says. What do you think are the limits and possibilities in affecting climate change by the reduction of individual footprints?
I feel the possibilities for affecting climate change by the reduction of individual footprints are great. If each person does their part to change their carbon footprint, it will make a big difference. However, the limit to individual change is that if not enough people pledge to make a difference, nothing will happen. With big companies, if one corporation reduces their carbon footprint, it will make a much larger difference than if one person changes their footprint. Big companies can also be a role model for both individual and other businesses.
What parts of your footprint do you feel is possible to reduce? What parts don’t?
I feel that reducing my electricity usage is one step I can take to shrinking my ecological footprint. Since most of my footprint came from my service usage, using less electricity will have a considerable shrinking effect on my ecological footprint. One part of my footprint that would be hard to change is my housing situation. Since our house was just built, my family would be opposed to moving again.
Water Footprint Calculator -Link (Global North Schools), Link (Global South Schools)
Were you surprised by how much water you consumed?
I was initially shocked by how much water I consumed, as 1455 gallons a day seemed like such a waste. However, once the number began to sink in, I didn’t feel so bad as this takes into account the water used to make your clothes, wash the car, and water the lawn. In addition, my home has six people, whereas the average American home consists of less than three people.
How did your footprint compare to your country’s and the world's average? (You will need to research this.)
My footprint, at 1455 gallons a day, is much less than the United States’ average of 2025 gallons a day. I feel like my biggest advantage over other Americans is my vegetarian diet. It takes an enormous amount of water to produce animal products because livestock and poultry eat water-intensive feed, so I don’t contribute to this part of water consumption. The global average water footprint is 986 gallons per day. My footprint is almost 1.5 time this, which tells me that I use more water than most people. This also shows that the citizens of the United States use much more water than other countries.
What parts of your footprint do you feel is possible to reduce? What parts don’t?
One part of my footprint I feel is simple to reduce is the amount of time my home’s sinks spend turned on. The kitchen sink is on for about half an hour per day, often at full power. Most of the time, it is unnecessary for the faucet to be at such a high power, as it is often used to fill up a cup for water and other small things. In addition, we have many, many plants both in front and behind our house. While these plants are native to California and do not need to be watered as much as nonnative plants, they still need to be watered daily. Reducing the amount of plants in my home in unreasonable because it would require a full remodeling and the native plants already require little water.
Do some research on a water-based conflict in your country. Which communities have access to water, which ones don’t, and who controls the resource use?
One major water-based conflict in the United States is lead poisoning. Three years ago Flint, Michigan’s water was found to be seriously contaminated when the city’s water source was changed to save money. Both iron and lead were in the community’s water supply, resulting in serious lead poisoning cases among the residents. Our country’s lead-contaminated water doesn’t end in Flint, though. Research shows that almost 5,300 cities across America are facing similar problems to the one in Flint. The problem stems from the United States’ law that small utilities don’t have to test their water for lead contamination until lead has been found. This results in many people being supplied with potentially lethal water as their water hasn’t been tested for chemicals. Overall, our country’s most serious water problem is contamination.
Resource use in the United States is controlled by the state and federal government. Most of our water goes towards irrigation (31.67%) and thermoelectric power (44.31%). The rest is divided for industrial, self-supplied domestic, and public supply usage.
