CALCULATING ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

Ecological Footprint

As a way to understand our individual roles in affecting the environment, it is important to reflect on our daily life practices and material usages, known as your ecological footprint.

Please visit the following site and take the quiz to calculate your personal footprint: https://www.footprintnetwork.org/resources/footprint-calculator/

There is an option to add details to improve your answer accuracy. I suggest answering them to have a clearer picture. It is okay to make a guess or estimate but try to answer the questions as accurately as possible.

When you take the quiz note down your answers, or if you have thoughts about any particular questions.

After you finish the quiz, you are given a variety of options to decrease your footprint. Please follow one or more scenarios and also record those figures.

After completing the quiz, please write a 1 page essay* (350-400 words) that addresses the following:

• What was your overall footprint (i.e. how many worlds) for your original calculation? Did this surprise you? Why or why not?
• What was the top economic sector impacting your footprint (i.e. the graph to the right of the world number)? What was the bottom (the least)? From the figures given in these graphs, reflect on one or two habits/practices of yours that had the greatest impact on your footprint?
• Which scenario did you follow to lessening your footprint and how much did it decrease your impact? Did this figure surprise you? Do you think you may adopt this practice in your daily life? If so, how would this transform your daily routine? If not, why and what are some factors that limit your adoption of this practice.
• After completing the quiz, reflect on your environmental impact. How does it feel to have this information presented to you in this way?