Category: Weekly Assignments (Page 1 of 2)

Using the ecological footprint calculator, I generated 2.9 earths. I was shocked to see the results. I think it was so high because I travel a lot. I take at least one major plane trip per year, as I have family all over the world. I also eat a lot of meat and that may have also affected the results. After I tried to reduce some of the stuff that I could live without, my number of earths changed to 2.5. It didn’t go down by much or even how much I hoped. I think it did sort of open my eyes to my style of living. As for the carbon consumption I got 22 tons. As for this number I am not sure it is very accurate as I did not know the answers to many of the questions being asked. Because of that, I just put the average number for each. Overall, I think I can improve my lifestyle to create less waste. This test was really interesting and I do think it is important to think about our effect on the planet.

According to ecological footprint test, I would need 4.6 Earths to sustain my bad living habits. This includes my extensive usage of electricity, miles of commuting, and my high consumption of meat. In my second attempt, I cut down a very small amount of meat and reduced the amount of electricity I used, which led to a result of about 3.5 Earths. I believe this data may not be 100% accurate due to any overestimations I gave and because I took into account my entire family’s electricity usage and such. Meanwhile, I spend most of my time at school or on public transportation. However, on nature.org’s test, I had a total footprint of 38 tons of CO2/year, which is 30% better than average. This means that I’m more ecologically friendly than others on average, but I could also work on reducing my carbon footprint.

For round 1 of the first test, the website said that if everyone lived like me, we would need about 2.5 earths. Compared to others’ results, this was a small amount. Perhaps the relatively small number was because I consumed less meat compared to others, and also I commuted using public transportation (about 55 mi/wk) as opposed to cars. Furthermore, I rarely consume dairy products (I don’t drink milk at all or eat ice cream). Lastly, I don’t fly very often, so that also had an effect on my results. For round 2 of the same test, I got 1.2 earths, mainly because I am willing to completely give up meat and dairy products. But I won’t be able to reduce my commuting hours, obviously.

For round 1 of the second test, I got 37 tons of CO2 per year, which was 50 percent better than average. I thought this test was much more nuanced, so the results were more accurate. As mentioned earlier, I don’t consume a lot of meat or dairy products. Lastly, I am someone who doesn’t like shopping, so I think that also played a role in my relatively small number. For round 2 of this test, I got the same results, surprisingly. Perhaps the changes I was willing to make weren’t significant enough to reduce the amount of CO2 produced.

When I first took the footprint calculator evaluation, it was determined that if everyone lived like me, we would need 4 Earths. Obviously, that was not very reassuring. I needed to evaluate some of the sacrifices I could make to lower my carbon footprint. The quickest thing I could think of would be to give up red meat, as animal and animal product consumption accounts for a significant portion of environmental issues. I also thought that I could make an effort to carpool more and use public transportation, as my Mercury Mountaineer has terrible mileage and greatly contributes to my emission rate. Additionally, I could limit my shower time to under ten minutes. After adjusting my information for these changes, my new result indicated that we would need 2.5 Earths to sustain people like me. A somewhat more reassuring estimate, but the result I obtained from the Nature Conservancy was even more so. According to my data input, My CO2 emission rate is 29% better than average for the area I live in. Although that is not much, at least my emission rate is not worse.

Looking at my score in the footprint calculator shocked me. According to the website I would need 3.1 Earths in order for continue living the way I do. When I put the same answers into the other website it told me my score was better than 42% of others. Having done these test really made me think about how I live. I thought I did everything in moderation, be it the type of house I live in or the amount of time I travel but if everyone lived like me our Earth would fail to even exists. This is what concerns me the most, if I live better than 42% of the people out there and I alone need 3.1 Earths to continue living the way I do how much do other people use? It would seem, according to these results, we are killing the Earth. The good news is we can reverse this process. I know personally I would use gas less and travel less by car and more by foot. Also we have to look at the way we eat. Although I only occasionally eat meat,  meat is ruining our Earth. if we all ate less meat we would be able to help reverse the damage we are inflicting. We need to be more aware of the way we live because if we aren’t Earth will fail to exist. With cutting somethings down like electricity and travel I would be able to lower my Earths to 2.3.

The first time I took the survey evaluating my ecological footprint, I got that it would take 3.9 earths to sustain the type of life I live.  I think the results of this was inaccurate because I overestimated how much I travel, when I live 2 miles away from the school and only travel to go back and forth to class.  I also didn’t know the answers to much of the  survey questions in both tests, so I put the average for questions I didn’t know the answers to when I most likely consume less than average.  I use about 19 tons of CO2 a year.  The second time I took the test I got 3.2 earths and19 tons of CO2 again.  I could do less with eating carbohydrates and driving  when I’m in Long Island.

Using the calculator tools provided, I found that if everyone lived like me, we would need 2.3 Earths. I also found that I contribute 19 tons of carbon dioxide each year. This is largely due to the fact that I eat meat every day, I travel about forty miles each day by train, I make a lot of clothing purchases each month and I travel using airplanes each year. I would be willing to eat more plant based meals and not eat meat every day. Also, I do not think that it is necessary to purchase new clothing items each month. However, being that I commute to school each day, I would not be able to travel less daily. I found that if I were to give these things up, I would need 1.5 Earths and would contribute 14 tons of CO2 each year.

The first time I took the quiz, I got 2.2 Earths and the food bar was high, but I had not input the exact amounts of my meat consumption. The second time I still got 2.2 Earths, but the food I ate was more detailed, showing I do not eat too much meat. However, the miles I traveled also became more detailed.