1) My carbon  footprint was 5.1 earths and 22.8 acres, which means that if everyone lived my lifestyle, it would require 5.1 earths to provide enough resources. This is .1 earths above the national average of 5 earths, and a very concerning 5.8 acres above the national average of 17 acres.

2) I chose to maximize diet, shelter and transportation. Maximizing my diet increased my total earths to 7.2, maximizing my shelter increased my total earths to 8.4 and finally, the largest increase, maximizing transportation increased my total earths to 18. I was not surprised that maximizing transportation led to the largest increase. When you are constantly contributing to the emission of the type of pollution that cars, bikes, buses and planes release, it is bound to drastically increase your footprint. Because of how drastically transportation affects one’s carbon footprint, I think this would be the best area to make a change in.  The easiest and most practical way to decrease my footprint would be to cut down the amount of times I use cars, buses, and trains and instead use a different form of transportation such as riding a bike or walking. By doing this and increasing the amount of carpooling I do, I was able to decrease my carbon footprint to 4.5 earths. It makes you wonder how many other simple changes in our lifestyle would not only benefit us in regards to our health, but also drastically reduce our carbon footprint on the Earth. It is definitely something worth looking into.

3) As a society there are a number of things we can do to create a more sustainable world. For one thing, we should do more to support natural food that is grown locally. Also, like I already mentioned, reducing the amount of time we spend in cars and increasing walking and bike riding would do wonders for our sustainability. In regards to our electricity and other utilities we should pursue a lifestyle that is not wasteful. We should not leave lights on when not in use, we should not keep the water running and, in general, we should avoid using our resources in excess. Furthermore, more responsible and economical usage of our resources would go a long way. Creating more centralized communities would reduce commuting. Centralized housing would also make it easier to  provide heat and electricity to a number of units at once. Making even a  few of these changes would greatly improve the sustainability of our Earth.