This post is about my Ecological Footprint Assignment.

THE PLAN

Calculation of my footprint

After using the Ecological Footprint Calculator (adapted from Sea to Sky), I found that my Ecological Footprint is 9.15 hectares.

My Ecological Footprint is 9.15 hectares.

Anita

Comparison of my footprint to those of others

1. One of my peers had an ecological footprint of 8.59
2. Another had 11.05
3. Another had 7.45
4. Finally, another had 5.96.

The mean or average of these four footprints is 8.26.

As my footprint is 9.15, the size of my ecological footprint is about 1 hectare larger than the average footprint according to this analysis.

Identify a minimum of ten actions that currently increase the size of your footprint.

1. My shower is usually more than 10 minutes
2. I flush the toilet every time I use it
3. I do not avoid/I use disposable items
4. I usually spend some time travelling just with my family in our car
5. I don’t usually eat organic food
6. I eat non-organic beef, pork, and chicken
7. I eat farmed fish
8. I eat non-free range eggs
9. I eat dairy products
10. I usually spend an hour or more on the computer every day

Identify a minimum of five actions from those ten that you will try changing to reduce the size of your footprint and explain why you chose these.

1. My shower is usually more than 10 minutes
   • I chose this action because apart from increasing my ecological footprint, showering over ten minutes is also a bad habit since it keeps my other family members waiting for me to be done and I could be using this time for something else more important or meaningful if I made my shower shorter.
2. I usually spend an hour or more on the computer every day
   • I chose this action because spending a lot of time on a screen is also bad for my health, with the blue light from the screen going into my eyes worsening my nearsightedness and such. I would like to decrease my time on devices for the benefit of my eyesight and this is a perfect opportunity to do so!
3. I flush the toilet every time I use it
   • I want to try changing this because once I saw on a toilet the words “1.6 gallons/flush” and it has been bothering me since! So I would like to try out yellow-mellowing for the benefit of my conscience and to reduce my ecological footprint in terms of water use.
4. I do not avoid/I use disposable items
   • I want to change this because I know that using disposable items impacts the environment greatly as they can only be used once, and then they get dumped in landfills. So, I would like to use only re-usable items such as a water bottle, or a cloth instead of tissues for one of my actions.
5. I eat farmed fish
   • I chose this action because eating farmed fish is increasing my ecological footprint by 100 points, which is more than any other action in the food section. Additionally, fish is not mandatory in my diet which makes it easier to omit it.

Describe specifically how you will try changing these five actions to work to reduce your footprint.

1. My shower is usually more than 10 minutes -> I will try to keep every shower I take under 10 minutes. I will do this by setting a 10-minute timer every time I start, then by the time that timer rings, I’ll have to be out of the shower. However, I will still try to clean myself to the best of my ability within this time limit!
2. I usually spend an hour or more on the computer every day -> I will try to spend less than an hour on my computer every day. I will start a timer for 1 hour when I sit down (and pause it when I take breaks or get up) and when it rings, that’ll be all my computer time for the day! Maybe as an extra cautious step I’ll shut down my computer right after, so I won’t accidently start using it again.
3. I flush the toilet every time I use it -> I will use the “Yellow Mellow” method of toilet-flushing. Whenever I use the toilet (at home), before I flush I will repeat the following phrase to myself: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
4. I do not avoid/I use disposable items -> I will try to avoid/I will try not to use disposable items. I will do this by only using reusable eating utensils (no plastic forks or paper plates etc.), using cloths instead of paper towels when I’m at home, and just try to reuse as much as possible. If I absolutely must use a disposable item, I will try to reuse that somehow too before throwing it out.
5. I eat farmed fish -> I will not eat any farmed fish. I will simply omit this from my diet. Even if the rest of my family still eats it, I don’t have to, I can eat something else.

THE REFLECTION

Note: I only tried my five actions for 1 week, while I was supposed to do 2 weeks. This happened because I did not know that I had to start on my own; I thought we would be doing it together and such. My apologies!

Describe some of the changes that were easy for you to make and why.

• It was much easier for me to start showering under 10 minutes than I thought it would be. I think this may be because in my initial calculation of my footprint I put that “my shower is usually more than 10 minutes” when it is actually already less than/around 10 minutes. Nevertheless, this action has still helped me to reduce my shower time + ecological footprint considerably (I can shower in 3 minutes now).
• It was easy to Yellow Mellow because all I had to do was see if it was yellow or if it was brown and I don’t think I had no problems with that.

This experience, albeit a short one, has certainly made me more aware of my everyday actions which affect my ecological footprint. Now that my 1-week action-trial is over, it is time to think about steps I will take in the future.

I plan to resume eating farmed fish once again, but now with the awareness that I am doing so. Regarding the use of disposable items, I’m also going back to normal.

However, I do plan on taking up Yellow-Mellowing from now on. I am also going to continue with the 1-hour limit for computer time, or try to do so as much as I can, at least!

I will continue working on Reducing My Ecological Footprint!