Personal Eco-Footprint Calculation Summary Report

781 Words2 Pages

A personal ecological footprint, also known as an eco-footprint, is the demand that an individual person puts on the Earth’s natural resources; such as land, ocean, and the waste that the individual produces. A person’s consumption of the Earth’s resources and how that individual impacts the earth help to create a personal eco-footprint calculation. At http://myfootprint.org/, I calculated my personal ecological footprint and discovered my impact on the Earth’s resources and its ecosystem. The ecological footprint quiz results were that if everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle we would need 3.86 Earth’s to sustain the world’s population.
The personal ecological footprint calculation quiz results are divided into four consumption categories, carbon, food, housing, and goods and services. The results are also broken down into four ecosystem types, cropland, pastureland, forestland, and marine fisheries. The calculation results take all of these categories into account to come to a final result. The ecological footprint is expressed in global acres. The personal ecological footprint quiz results compared my footprint to the country average.
The country’s average for carbon footprint is 91.43 global acres. My personal carbon footprint is 42.71 global acres. The country’s average carbon footprint is nearly double of mine. My carbon footprint is smaller than I expected. The country’s average for food footprint is 65.74 global acres. My personal food footprint is 52.59 global acres. I have a garden, as well as compost, which may have contributed to my lower number. The country’s average for housing footprint is 31.58 global acres. My personal housing footprint is 28.18 global acres. I live with three other people, which contrib...

... middle of paper ...

...gin to use, or reuse, more items in my home. The numerous reusable shopping bags I own are sadly forgotten at home when I do the grocery shopping. Making an effort to remember to utilize the reusable shopping bags I can cut down on my household’s consumption of petroleum byproducts.
In conclusion, the impact I personally have on the planet has surprised me. My personal ecological footprint is much larger than I expected. However, there are measures I can take to drop my current consumption rate, such as altering my recycling choices, making better purchasing decisions, and adopting the reduce, reuse, and recycle concept throughout my household. By altering my habits and consumption rate, I can affect my local community tremendously in a positive way for the planet Earth.

Works Cited http://www.answers.yahoo.com http://www.myfootprint.org

Show More
Related

  • Human Footprint, by National Geographic

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human Footprint was a documentary about how much average Americans will consume throughout their lives. It covered everything from the diapers a child will wear to the amount of houses and cars a person will own in their lifetime. It gave the average amount consumed by each American in their lifetime, meaning some will use more of one thing, while others will use less. Certain items such as the amount of appliances and the types of food we eat were a great example of something that people probably did not realize had a huge effect on the world. While this gave great information about how much Americans really consume, it did little to address these problems. In fact, it seemed at times that they were not problems at all. The documentarian assumed that people watching would think consumption was a problem, but I am not sure that is the case with a majority of people. Another problem was the amount of time they wasted panning over the inflated amount of items consumed. Finally, they failed to challenge the viewer to change their lifestyle in even the most generically simple ways, such as using less when the opportunity comes.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Why Bother By Michael Pollan

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article “Why Bother” written by Michael Pollan explains how the climate change and the carbon footprint effects the world. He states that there are many ways that we can do better to handle climate change and how to slow the process down. He thinks that it will take laws and a lot of money to stop this climate change because it’s going to take more than one person to solve this phenomenon. He proclaims that people are all waiting around on each other to make the first move but no one is moving. He says politicians want us to change our light bulbs to more efficient light bulbs s that use less energy. He understands how bad the world had gotten and people have to start going green by driving hybrid cars and buying “greener products” that will be better on the environment. This cannot be fixed by just one person he thinks that people have to influence each other and he hopes it will cause a chain reaction. He concludes that having your own garden or even a community garden will help reduce the carbon footprint.

    Read More

  • The Dumpster Project Essay

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each and everyday people look for a way to help the community and environment around them. It could either be picking up trash around the local park, or cleaning up destructed areas, it could even be simply turning off the lights after you exit a room. How much does one really need? How might this affect the environment? One professor at Huston-Tillotson University, Jeff Wilson, took it a step further to answer that question. Wilson constructed an experiment called ‘The Dumpster Project’. Wilson moved from a large home into a dumpster. When journalist James Hamblin heard about this project he wanted to share it with the world. Hamblin uses the technique of in depth examination and expression to show the environmental impact and inspiring

    Read More

  • Impacts of the Human Ecological Footprint

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is no hesitation when it comes to whether humans impact the global environment. However, it is questioned in whether human’s ecological footprint is either negatively or positively impacting. In clear perspective, humans share from both sides and their ecological footprint is noted towards whether it will benefit or harm the environment around them. Topics such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation are all human impacted and can harm the environment, but some include benefits into helping the world around us with solutions to their problems.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Carbon Footprint

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Carbon footprint can be defined as the amount of greenhouse gases an individual produces at a time through diverse activities. A person’s carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which were induced by an individual’s daily activities for a given time frame. CO2 is one of the many greenhouse gases that are responsible for causing global warming which we are currently experiencing today. Carbon footprint is an extremely powerful tool which we can utilize to understand the impact that our personal activities have on global warming.

    Read More

  • Calculating Your Carbon Footprint

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    To reduce ones carbon footprint is to simply reduce the consumption of energy of each individual. Do your part by being aware of your actions and find out the factors that contribute to global warming and then proceed to help in protecting the environment.

    Read More

  • Sharon Kelly's Trim Your Waste

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    How much plastic do you think our world uses each year? In “Trim Your Waste”, the author, Sharon Kelly, provides more than sufficient details, amazing language skills, and just the right structure to put it all together to convey the ever so clear central idea. Kelly shows us in her text that she believes that through just a few minor changes in our daily life, we can save our planet, one step at a time.She uses the three significant devices, structure, language, and details to convey to the reader exactly what she means by all of this madness.

    Read More

  • Ecological Footprint Essay

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    The way I live compared to a few classmates of mine, I have the most impact on the earth. As well as compared to my whole class I would say that I change the environment more than an average person would. For example my total footprint according to the ecological footprint quiz I took is about 28 acres. With the results that it had given me I suspect that my actions of using a lot of services and the way I use my transportation, are the most impactful way I affect the earth. The reason my mobility on the quiz is one of the highest percentages from the categories is because I drive a good amount, and on top of that I have truck that does not get good gas mileage which in results give off more emissions to pollute the air. I was not surprised with my ecological footprint because I knew I impacted my environment greatly, but did not know the exact or estimated amount. In comparison to my classmates I also was not surprised that we all affected the earth greater than an average person because I knew that I did, so it led me to think that there were people who in similar amount affect the

    Read More

  • Ecological Footprint Analysis

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    A human’s every day life consists of using and consuming resources that produce waste. Seeing an increase in population, means seeing an increase in waste. In order for future generations to be living in as little pollution as possible, it is important for current generations to under stand the impact they are having on the environment. An ecological footprint is a good tool to calculate this; it measures supply and demand. It measures the area of biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the waste generated in one year. In simpler terms, it is the amount of environment necessary to cancel out the production of goods and services necessary to support the lifestyle you live. I believe that

    Read More

  • Human Impact on the Environment

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human Impact on the Environment Introduction = == == == ==

    Read More

  • Ecological Footprint Research Paper

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    My food portion was 20% which meant that I ate more meat, veggie, fish products, and some packaged foods. My food portion effected my services portion, because with the packaged food, comes trash. With there being trash, that upped the percentage in services because waste management systems were being used. Since these things are being used, I think it would have more of a negative impact than a positive one. These two things had more of an impact than my living situation. The living situation according to my lifestyle would have less of an effect on the environment. I don’t think I would be using as much products for shelter. The shelter portion on my pie chart was 10%. I think that would have less of an effect on the environment compared to the rest of my pie chart because I wouldn’t be taking as much space. Food and services would definitely have bigger effects on the environment because, I am consuming animal meat, which are a part of the environment and nature. As I mentioned above, I would also be using services and would be using fossil fuels, for cars and public transportation, to get to the places I need to

    Read More

  • We Must Live A More Sustainable Life

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is no doubt that human activity is having a significant impact on our environment. These environmental impacts include depleting our natural resources, air and water pollution, climate change, destruction of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. Because of these growing concerns, we need to learn how to live sustainably. Living sustainably will allow us to conserve our limited resources more wisely so they will be available for future generations (Withgott & Brennan, 2011, Chapter 1).

    Read More

  • Recycling to Preserve Our Environment

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    Recycling is important in the effort to preserve our environment for future generations. We are running out of locations to put landfills. Recycling is a simple and effective way to reduce the amount of waste stored in landfills, yet many people do not know how easy it can be. For example, whenever I go to Shoprite® and I b...

    Read More

  • Recycling: Save Planet Earth

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, recycling can protect natural resources, preserve energy and lessen pollution. If people want to save planet Earth for generations to come, then recycling is necessary. On Debate.org, the question “Should there be mandatory recycling?” was asked and 84 percent said yes, while only 16 percent said no (“Should There Be Mandatory Recycling”). Recycling is very important to the planet and can make a huge difference in so many ways. Recycling is a way of life and once a person has made the choice to follow through with the steps, recycling can become second nature. Every small contribution adds up to how the society shapes the Earth’s future. How will someone make a difference?

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Carbon Footprint

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Compared to national averages, my current carbon footprint is quite large. In fact, based on the data from 2014, it is 15.8 metric tons more than the national average(Europa). When the scope is widened to include the whole world, my current emissions seem even worse. The world average is 4.936, which is significantly less than my 32.30 metric tons of emissions (Europa). However, if I adjust my habits and lifestyle as I hope to in the next five years, my emissions will be below the national average and only slightly above the world

    Read More

More about Personal Eco-Footprint Calculation Summary Report

Open Document