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How does your footprint reflect the economy of your country, including its colonial relations?
My ecological footprint is much higher than what Costa Rica can offer. The average gHa in Costa Rica per person is about 2.5 gHa while the country can only manage 1.5 gHa per person. Although I know that I am someone that controls the amount of natural resources that me and my family use, I still can’t manage to get to a world recommended average 1.7 gHa per person.
Personally I do carpool with my neighbors and friends, but not all the time. One of the most causes of air pollution in Costa Rica are the cars. There are too many cars for what the streets can handle. There are almost no sidewalks which means driving a bike or walking is not an option. And there are traffic jams every day at any time. I believe that if most people did carpool or the government implemented a well-connected and organize type of public transport, the CO2 emissions per person would decrease. Most of the cars in the streets are driven and used by 1 person only, generally to go to work.
How are the effects of climate change related with power imbalances among countries or within countries?
Recently hurricane Irma destroyed a lot of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of the broadcasts in the news showed the islands completely wrecked. Most of them had solar energy and their main power. I understand that hurricanes are form natural causes, but Irma was a category 5 while there were 2 other hurricanes in the area at the same time. Those are no natural causes. Climate change had an impact on the creation of these 3 hurricanes. Many islands don’t have access to electric energy right now because of it.
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Hello Juan,
Great to see you are making personal efforts to reduce your ecological footprint, that is really impressive. But there is still more you can do which includes; skipping bottled water, buying a coffee tumbler, taking your own grocery bags to the store, lowering the thermostat in your home, unplugging appliances when they are not in use, ditching the paper towels and many other little things that count in the long run. You can also become an advocate by telling others about the benefits of reducing our ecological footprints. You can even go further by advocating for side walks in your community. Every effort counts! You are equal to the challenge....:)
The recent hurricane events are really unfortunate. Our prayers are with those affected by these horrible events. But this should really challenge us to reduce our ecological foot prints because even though, climate change and hurricanes may not be directly related (at least from what we know presently) but weather experts believe that the warming of the climate has increased sea levels and the probabilities of heavy rains that made the hurricanes a lot more dangerous.
Great efforts, great write up Juan...)
Thanks for the advice and ideas. I will put the in practice not only at home, but also i will share the ideas to the community. At the end every drop counts.
Sandra Ukaigwe
Sep 24, 2017