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My carbon footprint was calculated on average with the rest of the world population. I live in Townsville, Australia which is a first world country and I have access to running water, electricity, housing and food. The fact that I do live in a first world country immeadiately raises my carbon footprint compared to those who live in third world countries. As my access to resources that help the human population but ultimately endanger the enviroment is higher.
As I do live in Townsville, the climate for the year is majoritly hot and humid. This means for almost all of the year, fans and airconditioning is being run. This is to prevent uncomferatbility for myself and my family. In the little winter months we do get, fans are still run but airconditioners are not. My family has 5 people in it, therfore the amount of clothing we wear is more. We do 5-8 loads of laundry a week, but do not own a dryer so all loads are dried by line. We have the basic kitchenary supplies, but no dishwasher. We hand wash all our dishes 2-4 times a day. We do our small part in helping the enviroment buy having at least one vegaterain meal a week and have solar panels on our house.
When taking the test there was certain foods that had a higher carbon footprint. I decduted that this was because when making these foods the amount of carbon realeased from the factories would be more than some that was home grown. My region was very high in food averaging 3696kgs. My score ended up being 2804kgs. Australia is one of the highest countries with obesity so I am not surprised that it is a higher score. I eat on average very heathily and quite little junk. A daily diet would consist of fruit, lots of water, vegetables, some crackers and some form of meat. We eat a lot of carbohydrates, which would have increased the carbon emission as most are made in factories.
I walk to school once a week with one of my friends. Every other day the most common form of transport is by car. We drive a lot as, to get to school and sports as well as any time to see friends/family. Car transportation is obviously not good for the enviroment and emits a high level of carbon into the air. I will look into more sustainable ways of travel so I can lower my carbon footprint in the best possible way.
-Lilly Penney
