Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ posts, responding to at least two classmates over the course of the week, comparing your footprints to theirs and offering additional suggestions for ways they might lower their footprints, along with possible obstacles to doing so and ways of overcoming those obstacles.
madelyn’s post:
Footprint TableWeek 1ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTHectares: 5.7# Earths: 3.3Top 3 Consumption Categories: Food 2.2Mobility 1.7Services 0.9CARBON FOOTPRINTCarbon Emissions (lbs): 52,809WATER FOOTPRINTGallons per day: 5,555(1.852 personal)Top 3 Contributors: Diet: 1,283Shopping:291Kitchen Sink: 110
Some ways to reduce my environmental footprint would be to reduce the amount of driving I do every week, replace household appliances with energy-saving versions, and reduce the water usage in my household. Some examples to think about would be reducing the amount of water I use for washing dishes, doing laundry, or showering. My son enjoys long showers so that might be a challenge for him. My laundry could be reduced to twice a week, rather than every other day. I could work on the amount of water usage for dishes I am efficient at the task, but my son is a bit slower than me, if he can work on that then it is possible to reduce the water usage. The let it mellow rule is something I could never do because I would want my home to always be clean and I do believe that would be unsanitary.One of the biggest footprints I leave come from our diets. It is surprising because this is something that I never thought about it before takes resources to care for animals and produce meat and products from them. I know this is something I could never reduce because this is how our lifestyle is set up.Another plan I mentioned about reducing the carbon footprint would be to drive less. Examples of this would be to reduce how frequently I drive. Instead of driving to the supermarket or the bank, I could walk. However, it is a bit of a challenge because the weather is getting warmer and I would feel more comfortable in an air-conditioned car than walking and sweating under the sun.
scott’s post:
Footprint TableWeek 1ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTHectares: 6.1# Earths: 3.6Top 3 Consumption Categories: FoodMobilityServicesCARBON FOOTPRINTCarbon Emissions (lbs): 45,046WATER FOOTPRINTGallons per day: 3,032Top 3 Contributors: Diet: 2,171Shopping: 583Bathroom Sink: 100
Part A: Ecological Footprint Mine is 3.6 earths.
My ecological footprint, in global hectares: 6.1 global hectares
My top three consumption categories: Food, Mobility, and Services
One way that I intend to reduce my ecological footprint is to reduce my negligence pertaining to food production. When it comes to food the calories from animals is extremely more intensive to produce than calories from plants. By reducing the eat consumption in my household my household ecological footprint can be reduced. Also, another way that my household ecological footprint can be reduced through food is by reducing the amount of food waste that we create (Earth Overshoot Day, 2019). I can reduce the amount of food waste in my household by not cooking a lot of food at once, which can potentially lead to the food going bad and being thrown away.
Part B: Household Carbon Emissions Footprint
My carbon emissions footprint in pounds: 45,046. The total carbon emissions footprint in pounds for the average U.S. household is 55,350. Therefore, the total carbon emissions footprint in pounds for my household is lower than the average U.S. household.
My household uses a lot of paper waste that consist of things such as paper plates & cups, napkins, paper towels, tissue, boxes, etc. Starting next week, I plan to start recycling paper waste. According to the EPA, in 2015 there was a total generation of paper and paperboard products that consisted of 68.1 million tons of the municipal solid waste in America back in 2015 (United Stated Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).
Part C: Water Footprint
Make a note of your gallons per day water footprint: 3,032 gallons
Record the top three contributors to it.
Diet: 2,171 gallons/day
Shopping Habits: 583 gallons/day
Bathroom Sink: 100 gallons/day
Tips to reduce water footprint: Spend less time in the shower, do not let water run unnecessarily, recycle everything that I possibly can, and buy quality reusable products.
To be totally honest about All three of the footprints for my household, I must say that I never would have thought that I was being so overly wasteful with nearly everything. I did realize that I was a bit wasteful at times, but I guess I never was conscious of the fact that I was this wasteful with resources, and so harmful to the environment. On another note. I must say that I am proud of my household for our carbon emission in pounds being under the average U.S. household, with the average household carbon emission in pounds being 55,350 pounds and my household being at 45,046 pounds. I thought that we would have been well above the average household, but my household is under the average by 10,304 pounds. Overall, I have learned that I have a lot of work to do in order to improve the consumption habits of my household.
One of the lifestyle changes that can be done is recycling. Recycling helps to reduce our ecological footprint, as well as helping with the reduction of our water footprint. A second lifestyle change that can be done is utilizing proper water usage and reducing water waste. By doing so this can reduce the water footprint. The third lifestyle change that the household can implement is eat less meat. By doing so my household can reduce our ecological footprint. The fourth lifestyle change that the household can implement is to do less driving (i.e. carpooling, make less trips, walk to short distant locations.) By doing so my household can reduce our carbon emission footprint. The fifth and final lifestyle change that my household can utilize is with changing the lighting in the house by using more LED light bulbs. By doing so my household will be using less electricity than incandescent light bulbs, in return lowering our carbon emission footprint.
References:
Earth Overshoot Day. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.overshootday.org/solutions/food/(Links to an external site.)
United Stated Environmental Protection Agency. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/paper-and-paperboard-material-specific-data
MY POST:
After taking the Ecological footprint calculator, I have realized that if everyone was to live like me, we would need 3.3 earths. My Ecological Footprint is 5.7 gha while my Carbon Footprint is 9.5gha. By percentage my total Ecological Footprint is 57%. My top five consumer categories are goods, mobility, food, services and shelter.
Household Carbon Emissions Footprint
After taking the Carbon Footprint calculator, I have realized that my current household Carbon Footprint is 165,703lbs. This figure is higher than the U.S. but after takin the planned actions to subsidize the amount, the Carbon Footprint comes to 139,013lbs. The planned actions I have undertaken when tallied equals to saving 1361 gallons of gas or planting 310 trees or recycling 8,609 tons of waste.
Water footprint
After taking the water footprint calculator, I have realized that my personal water footprint is 1,057 gallons/day while my household utilized 5,287gallons/day. I use a lot of indoor water amounting to 30gallons/day for showering, 21 gallons/day for bathtub, 20 gallons/day in the bathroom sink. I utilize a lot of virtual water in my shopping habits amounting to 291 gallons/day.
Footprint Table
Week 1
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Hectares:
5.7gha
# Earths:
3.3 earths
Top 3 Consumption Categories:
goods
mobility
food
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Carbon Emissions (lbs.):
165,703 lbs.
WATER FOOTPRINT
Gallons per day:
1057 gallons/day
Top 3 Contributors:
household
shower
bathtub
I have learnt a lot of things which surprise me regarding my consumption habits. Foremost, I did not know that I have such a huge ecological, water and carbon footprint. Secondly, I did not know that my everyday behaviors even the most insignificant to me adds an enormous strain to the earth. I found myself shocked when I discovered that if everyone adopted my everyday behaviors, we would need 3.3 earths to meet my need.
There are several changes I would defiantly make to reduce one or more of the three footprints.
I would adopt energy saving bulbs in my household by replacing the incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR lights.
Rather than drying all my laundry in the dryer I would sundry them on a clothing line.
I would ensure that I perform regular maintenance on my car. I would also recommend my household to do the same.
Whenever possible I will carpool with my friends to reduce the number of miles in drive.
I will spend less time in the shower and reduce the number of time in a week I spend in the bathtub.
Each of the lifestyle changes I have suggested have potential obstacles hinder me from accomplishing them. Nonetheless, I have some suggestions that will enable me to overcoming them.
My household might not be too enthusiastic to learn that I would like to replace the incandescent bulbs, to overcome this challenge I would educate them on the impact of energy saving bulbs.
I might not have enough time to remove my clothes from the washing mashing and taking them to the hanging line. To overcome this, I would plan my laundry days when I am free to sundry clothes.
Since I might forget to take my car for regular maintenance, I will set a reminder on my phone to remind me to check my mileage on a monthly basis.
When it is not possible to carpool with my friends, I will be using public transport such as a bus or train.
It might not be quite possible to always to reduce the amount of time I spend showering; I will install a low-flow showerhead to conserve the amount of water I use while showering.
References
Bensel, T., & Carbone, I. (2020).Sustaining our planet. Retrieved fromhttps://content.ashford.edu(Links to an external site.)
Moovly. (2015, January 8).The ecological footprint explained(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)[Video file]. Retrieved fromThe Ecological Footprint Explained(Links to an external site.)
Global Footprint Network. (n.d.).What is your ecological footprint?(Links to an external site.)Retrieved fromhttp://www.footprintcalculator.org/(Links to an external site.)
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.).Carbon footprint calculator(Links to an external site.). Retrieved fromhttps://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/(Links to an external site.)
Water footprint calculator(Links to an external site.). (https://www.watercalculator.org(Links to an external site.))
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