Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

Ok...so I just took the Earth Day Footprint Quiz, and if everyone lived the way I did, we would need 4.2 Earths. I am really shocked that I am making such an impact on this earth. I really thought that I lived a pretty green lifestyle. I ride the bus to school, I always recycle, I try my best to turn off the lights when I am not using them, and I try to conserve water. So in doing all of this I am really bummed that I still have such a high impact. The quiz made a pie chart for how my ecological footprint breaks down and I got a better idea of why my footprint may be so high. Food makes up more than 1/4 of my ecological footprint. The first question of this quiz was how often do you eat meat, and my response was every day. I think that that made a huge impact on my footprint. The second question was how much of the food that I buy is locally grown and fresh, and I had to say probably only half. I learned in Community Health that Duluth hardly makes any food locally, so I knew that a lot of my food that I purchase isn't local. I know that that also made a HUGE impact on my footprint. The other part of my pie graph that really stood out to me was that almost 1/2 of my footprint was made up of the services I use. I think that represented my house, electricity, trash, and bus usage. What I learned form this is that I really need to start walking more and begin to eat less meat.

The next quiz I took was the Air Polution Indicator Quiz. This quiz asked for my zip code, and then evaluated the air polution in my county (St. Louis). Apparently, as of 2002, St. Louis County had 20% of the worst/dirtiest air released carcinogens due to emissions from factories and power plants. Also, 6% of St. Louis County houses are at high risk for Lead Hazards. In 1999, Smog caused St. Louis County to have 10% of the worst/dirtiest air comparred to other counties, and that it had 20% of the worst noncancerous air emissions. These results really make me nervous about the air that I am breathing.

The last quiz that I took was the Travel Calculator. This one asked all sorts of different questions about how far you travel to do different activities, how many people you travel with, and what your mode of transportation is. This quiz made me feel better about myself. While I am at school I don't have a car, and I don't travel home too often, so I can understand why my results said I am better than average in my travel impact on the world. The only time I drive a lot is when I finally get to go home. I drive all the way back to south of the cities, which is about a 150 miles one way. Then I drive around to see my friends. I think that I can cut back on my driving when I go home and walk to some of my friends' places, or at least make sure that I carpool.

Overall I learned a lot from this activity. I learned that everyone really needs to be careful of the amount of resources that they use and REALLY try to minimize their impact on the world. I think that more people need to learn about their ecological footprint, becuase I bet that many people may feel the same way as me, and think that they are already doing enough. I learned from this activity that I am not.

Have a Great Day!!!