1. How does your original footprint compare to the country average (US per capita is 5 planets and 17 acres)?

My original footprint was the one labeled Apartment. I sort of expected the number of earths and acres to 3.3 and 14.9, respectively. I have a low meat diet, I don’t really purchase things often, and I live close enough to the school to walk every day.

2. What changes could you make and what level would it make a difference, it any? Include your bar graph.

For the next two simulations, I changed my mode of living from apartment to house, just to see if that would make a difference in the footprint I leave, and also made myself a voracious eater, which I believe is the standard stereotype of Americans.

Making the switch from apartment to house didn’t have as much of an effect on the environment as I thought, which makes me feel better about when I’m at home. However, now that I think about it, there really isn’t that much of a difference between living in a house vs an apartment. Sure, the apartment may accumulate some extra charges when it comes to heating and lighting the hallways and such, but the house makes up for it with it’s own maintenance fees.

Labeling the third simulation “Voracious Eater” might be a bit confusing, so I’ll explain the boundaries. The changes I made were based on what came to mind when I thought about how the average American (okay, hillbilly) ate: A lot of processed foods, meat in almost every meal, and virtually nothing locally grown. So I made my changes based on those, and boy did the amounts skyrocket! As you can see, I also included the amount of CO2 emission each lifestyle would produce, and the numbers changed dramatically with a heavy meat, processed, non-local food diet.  All three factors contribute a great amount of CO2 in either production or transportation, which certainly adds up.

3. What do you think, overall, we need to do as a society, as a world, to really make a more sustainable society?

Clearly, all the options in the simulation illustrate a decision that would affect the world; I think it’s up to us to take those options, and make the better choice. Being more conscious of our eating and buying habits so that less energy is required to sustain us, would be a start. We can re-evaluate how many material possessions we actually need, and stop ourselves from making impulsive purchases. Walk more, eat less, and buy less things are all a good start, not just for the environment, but for ourselves as well.