Blogs
#Decarbonize : Decolonize Project 2017-18
Interactive Simulation
1. Ecological Footprint Calculator -Link
- What part of your ecological footprint most surprised you?
The fact that I use a lot of carbon surprised me the most in my ecological footprint. After taking the quiz, I noticed that my family and I drive over 500 miles a week and we fly around 30 hours a year. With all our uses of transportation, my carbon footprint was quite high in my quiz results.
- How did your footprint compare to your city’s average and your country’s average?
My ecological footprint was around my city and countries amount. According to the quiz I took, my ecological footprint is 8.1 global hectares (gha). San Francisco’s footprint is around 6.75 gha, and the United States’ ecological footprint is 8 gha. Therefore, my ecological footprint is a bit higher than my country and cities average, but is still close enough.
- What parts of your footprint do you feel is possible to reduce? What parts don’t?
I believe we can reduce our footprint and carbon usage by driving less. If we can bike from place to place instead of driving, we would use less fossil fuels, get a good exercise, and still get to the places we wanted to go to. I don’t think my shelter usage is possible to reduce because our home is already energy efficient, and we should focus on the areas where we can improve upon, such as transportation.
2. Water Footprint Calculator -Link (Global North Schools), Link (Global South Schools)
- Were you surprised by how much water you consumed?
Yes, I was quite surprised when I saw how much water I consumed. The water calculator said I use 772 meters cubed of water each year, which is much less than the global average. Before taking the quiz, I thought I used too much water. However, I still need to try and keep my habits of conserving water, even though my water footprint is much less than the global average.
- How did your footprint compare to your country’s and the world's average? (You will need to research this.)
My water footprint was 772 meters cubed each year, the global footprint is 1,243 m cubed, and the United States’ footprint was 2,842 m cubed per year. Therefore, my water footprint is much lower than my country and globes average, meaning that I use less water.
- What parts of your footprint do you feel is possible to reduce? What parts don’t?
I believe it is possible to reduce the time lengths of my showers, and the amount of water we use for the plants and grass. It is not possible to reduce the amounts of water I drink per day because I need to stay hydrated by drinking as much water as possible.
