I read about the ecological footprint and decided to do an activity that related to what I read about. I took the Earth Day Footprint quiz and found the results rather interesting. When I was answering a few of the questions, I didn't even realize that some of the stuff they were asking about related so directly to the "footprint" that I am leaving, for example the question relating to how much meat I consumed. My results showed that with a lifestyle like mine, I use around 4.2 planets! That is definitely more then I would have assumed if I never would have done this exercise. It said that 47% of my "footprint" was consumed in services, so this is really something I need to focus on and something I need to work on to continue to improve. I also may want to consider other small things that I can do that will all add up to the "big picture." Some of these may include, carpooling when I really need to drive, or else trying to take the bus most of the time. I can watch my intake on meat products and try and eat more food that is grown in Duluth. There are so many things I can do to make my footprint decrease, so these are things that I am going to start paying more attention to now that I am more aware.
Here is the website from where the picture comes from and I got it off of Google!
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/carpooling/carpooling.html
Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI agree all the small things we do add up. Like you said car pooling is a good idea to reduce emissions. Its hard in the times of today with how busy people are now to coordinate schedules to make things like carpooling happen. I know for me I drive to school and most days I go straight to work after school, so carpooling isn't really an option. The bus is a good idea also, except for the people who live too far away for busing or aren't on a direct bus route. These are some of the small problems that exist that restrict us from being green. I didn't really realize how my lifestyle affected the earth until doing this quiz. It was a good eye opener to make me realize what I need to change.
I also got 4.2 planets! I also did not know eating meat affected the planet so much! I always grew up eating some sort of a meat for every meal because that is how my parents made dinner. So I guess this will have to be generations of change to get this to work!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to start carpooling more. It is so silly when most college students have roommates that they do not carpool to the grocery store or up to the mall. After I did this quiz I decided carpooling would be one aspect I would try to work on too.
ReplyDeleteI know how surprised you feel, I took the quiz as well and was surprised to see how many earths it would take to fulfill my lifestyle. When it comes to transportation rides to school - which is generally the only place I go - I either walk or take the bus. Though even with that in mind it would still take over 4 Earths to sustain my living style. That, in itself like you mentioned, is how you know that even though the decisions seem small, they all add up in the end to leave one large footprint.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from this quiz as well. I couldn't believe that consuming meat had such a big impact on the earth.
ReplyDelete