Ecological Footprint Assignment

The Plan

Calculation of footprint

Subject Points
Water Use 110
Clothing 95
Stuff 65
Shelter 60
Transportation 220
Fun 140
Food 285
Total 975

975/100 = 9.75
My ecological footprint is 9.75 hectares.

Comparison of footprint to others

Person Ecological Footprint Score
Me 9.75
Bana 8.70

 

Ben 7.90

 

Draedon 6.80

 

Justin Q 7.45

 

Kavyan 7.45

 

Colin 11.30

 

Dylan 12.00

 

Kalayla 8.59

 

Ronan 8.65

 

Clara 7.20
Average 8.71

*Credit to Talons 9 discord server

I believe this table looks pretty realistic. The highest score recorded was almost twice as much as the lowest score, and I think this could be due to different people marking themselves more strictly or leisurely. My score was slightly above average, and I’ll try to improve in places I can.

 

10 Actions that increase the size of my footprint

  1. My showers usually last about 10 minutes, but I think decreasing this time is doable.
  2. All my clothes are bought brand new.
  3. My family composts and recycles, but we aren’t too mindful of our garbage.
  4. I don’t spend a lot of time in the car, but I think I can take a walk home more instead of getting picked up.
  5. I spend a lot of time on the screen, a lot of which isn’t necessary.
  6. My family and I eat meat, especially chicken and fish.
  7. I flush the toilet every time I use it.
  8. Especially in the summer, my family uses a sprinkler weekly to water the garden.
  9. My family uses heating in the winter.
  10. My family and I use lots of lights in the house and don’t always turn them off when they’re not needed.

 

5 Actions to reduce the size of my footprint, why, and how I’ll be changing them

 

  1. Decreasing shower time and avoiding unnecessary showers – Showers use up a lot of water. By shortening my showers, I can save several litres of water every time. I will also try to not shower if I didn’t sweat during the day. It’s recommended that you only shower every other day. My goal is to shower less than 4 times for the week and limit each to 7 minutes, which is a little below an average person’s shower length.

 

  1. Walking home from school more – Vehicles are one of the biggest factors contributing to global warming. By walking home from school each day, I can save around 15 minutes of a car being driven per day, and therefore almost 2 hours saved for the week. I don’t walk to school, as I take over half an hour to get to school and would need to wake up far too early. My goal is to walk home from school for the entire week unless it’s raining.

 

  1. Minimizing screen time – Currently, I spend way over 2 hours of screen time each day, which is the recommended amount. On weekends sometimes, I can spend more than 5 hours on screen. If I cut my screen time to only be used on mandatory things like homework and communication, then I would probably be able to get below 2 hours, but that would be extremely difficult as I entertain myself watching YouTube, socializing with friends, or gaming. Limiting my screen time is good for both the environment and myself. My goal is to spend less than 2 hours of screen time each day on “fun” things.

 

  1. Reducing meat (especially non-organic) intake – Production of industrial meat leaves a huge ecological footprint. It also isn’t healthy to eat too much of it. I’m a big meat-lover, and I’m sure I could cut down on how much I’m eating. I don’t have an exact goal, but I’ll try to be more aware of how much meat I’m taking and try to balance other foods as well.

 

  1. Saving electricity by turning off lights when I’m not using them and flushing the toilet less often – I think that these were both easy changes to make, so I decided to try both. To save more electricity, I plan to make sure all the lights on the middle and top floor are off every night before I sleep (my dad usually is still working on the bottom floor when I go to bed). I basically have my own bathroom on the top floor, so I’ll be able to choose when to flush the toilet. I plan to flush it every two times I pee, but definitely still every time when I poop.

 

Reflection

Results

There wasn’t a clear place for this in the rubric, this is just a quick report on whether I achieved my goals or not. Side note, I started a late, on October 5th to start taking action and recording, so I only got 1 week to record progress.

  1. Decreasing shower time and avoiding unnecessary showers – I completed the goals of less than 4 times each week of showers, and 7 minutes or less per shower. I limited myself to only 3 showers that week, as the weather was pretty cold, and I didn’t have a number of reasons to take showers. I was also able to limit myself to a 7-minute shower every single time as well.

 

  1. Walking home from school more – I also completed this goal. During the week, it only rained once on Friday, and I walked home from school for the other four days.

 

  1. Minimizing screen time – I didn’t reach this goal every day of the week. I didn’t get solid recordings of my screen time not spent on homework, but I believe I averaged around just below 3 hours per day. On the weekends, I definitely spent way more than I should have on the screen.

 

  1. Reducing meat (especially non-organic) intake – This goal was easier than I thought it would be. I found that as long as I paid attention to how much meat I was eating at the table, and trying to eat more vegetables, I think I reduced my meat intake to around ¾ of what I used to eat. The Thanksgiving turkey was a big outlier that I didn’t count.
  2. Saving electricity by turning off lights when I’m not using them and flushing the toilet less often – Making sure the lights were off before I went to bed was a success. I’m pretty sure I secured this for every day. As for flushing the toilet less often, I did my “flush it every two times I use it” goal for a few days, but I forgot about this action and went back to flushing it regularly for the rest of the week.

 

Changes that were easy to make

  • Decreasing my shower amounts and time wasn’t difficult. In fact, I didn’t enjoy showering too much before I started this goal anyway. Getting out of the shower each time before 7 minutes was a little harder, but I managed it.

 

  • As mentioned, eating less meat was an easy one as well. I’m not a picky eater, and although I enjoyed meat, it felt nice to know that I was helping the environment and myself by eating less of it. I think this might be something that I’ll continue doing after this assignment.

 

  • Saving electricity by turning off unneeded lights was easy to remember every night, as it was the same time of the day and I got into a habit of doing. For flushing my toilet less, I think it was just carelessness and habit that led to me not completing it entirely. If I kept it in my head, I could definitely do better.

 

Changes that were difficult to make

  • Walking home from school almost every day was only a bit challenging physically. To get home from school, I need to walk up the entire Coquitlam Crunch which takes over half an hour, and uphill the entire way. I’m glad I chose to take this action because I definitely feel like it gave me some good exercise every day, to make up for my excess screen time.

 

  • Managing screen time was probably my biggest struggle. It’s was difficult to limit my screen time when I’m having fun playing games. Usually, I only realize I’m spending too much time on my laptop after 1-2 hours already spent. I feel like reducing screen time is more of a long-term goal due to how hard it is to control.

 

Obstacles I encountered

  • My late start (my fault) was a little obstacle, as I didn’t get as much time to make my changes.
  • It rained on one of the days of that week, so I wasn’t able to walk home that day.
  • The Thanksgiving turkey was a huge drawback in my minimal meat intake goal. In my opinion, though, it’s completely fine to have a big feast every once in a while.

 

Plans for the future

  • Being cautious of my shower amount/time.
  • Continue walking home from school more regularly.
  • A tough one, but I’ll keep trying to ever so slightly lower my screen time.
  • Be aware of what I’m eating, keep a more balanced diet.
  • Keep turning off lights before I sleep, and after leaving a room as well.

In conclusion, I thought it was nice to know how my actions affected my ecological footprint. I won’t keep track of each of these plans, but I definitely think I can continue being aware of each and loosely following them. I think it would be amazing if more people knew how changing tiny habits can make a big positive impact on the environment!