Costa Rica - My Ecological Footprint

Environment   Sep 1, 2017 by Juan Carbone

Ecological Footprint

1. What part of your ecological footprint most surprised you?

From my ecological footprint the part that said that I was living by 6.5 gha. I realized that I used 0.2 more on just food than what the world is able to offer per person (1.7 gha). I’ve never thought that my lifestyle was so counter-productive to the planet; that if everyone lived the way I do we would need 3.8 planet Earths.

2. How did your footprint compare to your city’s average (if available) and your country’s average?

My own ecological footprint is about 6.5 gha. While the country I live in (Costa Rica) average is 2.84 gha per person. Although Costa Rica can only manage to support about 1.53 gha per person.

3. 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?

Panama has an ecological footprint of 2.8 gha per person. This country can support about 3 gha per person. I believe that what most affects Costa Rica’s community is the transport system. Meanwhile Panama has an organized public transport and well-made roads, Costa Rica is constantly increasing in vehicles and so in traffic jams.

4. What parts of your footprint do you feel is possible to reduce? What parts don’t?

In my footprint I proposed myself I would reduce the food portion by having a vegan meal once every week will reduce my 1.9 gha for the food area ONLY. I also propose to carpool more with my neighbors to reduce the CO₂ emissions.

Climate Challenge

1. What strategy did you take in Climate Challenge? Was it effective in reducing emissions?

I was very effective in reducing emissions even though the I didn’t have enough cheap or liked by the community options. I ended up being hated by everyone so I could reduce emissions and gain the money to be able to buy water and food.

2. What did you think of how the strategy cards represented resources? Do you think some of the strategies/policies would have different impacts than the ones shown in the game?

I believe that some of the ecofriendly cards should’ve reduced in price with the time, because now a day the prices for those projects are decreasing because of the new technology developed each year. Also I didn’t understand why people didn’t like the public transport idea. It’s the only thing I want in my city.

3. How did you approach international negotiations? Was it better to lead by example, or attempt to encourage other nations by investing in their green economies?

At the beginning I tried to finance some green economies but it was too expensive for what I had. Then I started to set goals for my zone and so other nations. By the end of the game I was cleaning the air instead of polluting it. Also all the nations were fighting against climate change and all of them supported 100%

Task

1. How do these simulations relate to your community? Do any of them feel irrelevant to your context?

In my community I feel that everyone is trying their best to support the wellbeing of our planet by trying to recycle, reuse and waste as least as possible. Enter any shop here in Costa Rica and you’ll see any type of ecofriendly move. The Climate Change simulation feels irrelevant to the situation that our country is being through because we already know how to help the environment and everyone is trying to. I believe that this simulator can help other countries that aren’t that assertive or interactive while dealing with climate change and global warming.

2. How do these simulations help you (or not help you) find your place in combatting climate change?

During the simulations I could understand the limits of our planet. I agree that this programs helped me realize how to contribute to the ecology of the planet. I do understand that we have limited recourses and me and my family will start to reduce our wastes and then we’ll extend our knowledge to the rest of our community. Based on the research of the Ecological Footprint I now know what to do to reduce my ecological impact to the world. I first have to regulate the way I eat and how do I transport myself.

3. Have these simulations changed how you think climate change should be tackled?

Now I know that the way to start to reduce global warming and stop climate change is analyzing our own way of life. If everyone did something as simple as turning the lights off when not needed, multiply that by 7 billion. Imagine the impact that would have to our planet. Or even better, participate in earth hour which is turning every electronic in the house for just 1 hour. According to a WWF report in 2015 ONLY in Hong Kong electricity consumption dropped an approximate of 4% which equivalents to a reduction of CO₂ emissions by 138 TONS! This took only in Hong Kong, imagine if everyone does it.

There are many ways to reduce the consumption and tackle climate change. Just remember every contribution counts.

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