Download An Ecological Footprint

An Ecological Footprint
An Activity for Students and Parents
Part 1: What is Your Ecological Footprint?
Purpose: For students and parents to see how their choices in life affect the world
environment.
Materials: Access to the internet, textbook, and this handout.
Special Note: The handout is in two parts. You have the first part now; when you have
completed the first part, show your instructor and receive a copy of the second part.
Procedure:
1) Complete the attached survey. It will take some time to complete and you may
have to do a little digging to get your answers. There are 20 questions.
2) Take one of the Ecological Footprints on the websites listed below.
a. Calculate Your Ecological Footprint
i. http://www.lead.org/leadnet/footprint/intro.htm
b. Best Foot Forward
i. http://www.bestfootforward.com/footprintlife.htm
c. Redefining Progress: My Footprint
i. http://www.myfootprint.org/
ii. click on the United States to begin this “quiz”
3) Try to print the final page if possible.
a. If you can’t print the last page, make sure you record how many hectares
you use and how many planet Earths would be used if everyone was like
you.
4) You can take more than one survey if you would like. This is a good way to
compare your answers.
5) Complete the result section. Then complete the conclusion section.
6) Finally, show the completed Part 1 and obtain a copy of Part 2.
Results:
1) Which website do you complete the “quiz” on?
2) How many hectares did you use?
3) How many planet Earths would we need if everyone on earth is like you?
Conclusion:
1) What is a hectare?
2) Should you worry about how your footprint influences the Earth? Explain your
answer.
3) What are some of the things you and your family can do to reduce your
Ecological Footprint? Look at survey Part 1 and make a list of changes you can
make.
An Ecological Footprint Survey
Part 1
Please complete the survey as a family before getting online to take one of the three
online quizzes regarding how much of earth’s area you and your family use. The amount
of land that you use is based on a mathematical model that is only as accurate as the
information you provide. There are other factors that may change your actual amount
used but is not taken into consideration in these surveys. Not all questions will be used
for all three websites.
Diet Habits
1) How often does your diet include meat?
a. Never
b. Infrequently (a few times per week)
c. Occasionally (once a day)
d. Frequently (at least traces in every meal)
e. A large part of every meal.
2) How many kilo-calories (kcal) do you consume everyday? A 2800 kcal diet is
approximately equivalent to: * eating cereal, toast, juice, and coffee for breakfast,
* a sandwich, yogurt, fruit, and a beverage for lunch, * an afternoon snack, and *
a dinner with main course, side, and beverage, and a snack or dessert in the
evening.
a. Much less than average (2400 or less kcal per day)
b. Somewhat less than average (2400 to 2800 kcal per day)
c. Average (2800 – 3200 kcal per day)
d. Somewhat more than average (3200 – 3600 kcal per day)
e. Much more than average (3600 or more kcal per day)
3) How much of your purchased food is thrown out rather than eaten? We all of
have good intentions of saving left-over food for eating later, but how much of
this do we throw away?
a. None
b. About 5 percent is wasted
c. About 10 percent is wasted
d. About 1/4 (25 percent) is wasted
e. About 1/3 (33 percent) is wasted
f. About 1/2 (50 percent) is wasted
4) How much of the food that you buy is locally grown, unprocessed, and in-season?
Processed food includes canned, jarred and frozen sauces, vegetables, meets.
Locally is considered within 200 miles. In Los Angeles, we have a number of
fruits, vegetables, and dairy and meat products grown locally.
a. None
b. About a 1/4
c. About 1/2
d. About 3/4
e. Most food purchases are locally grown, unprocessed, and in-season
Transportation
5) How much do you drive each year, on average?
a. 15,000 miles or more/year
b. 12,000 – 15,000 miles/year
c. 9,000 – 12,000 miles/year
d. 8,000 – 9,000 miles/year
e. 5,000 – 8,000 miles/year
f. 2,000 – 5,000 miles/year
g. 2,000 or less miles/year
6) On average, how often do you drive with someone else (either in your car or
theirs)?
a. Almost never
b. About 10% of the time
c. About 25% of the time
d. About 50% of the time
e. About 75% of the time
f. Almost all of the time
7) How many miles per gallon does your car get?
a. More than 50 miles per gallon
b. 35 – 50 miles per gallon
c. 25 – 35 miles per gallon
d. 15 – 25 miles per gallon
e. fewer than 15 miles per gallon
8) On average, how many miles do you travel on public transportation (bus, rail,
subway) each week?
a. More than 200 miles per week
b. 100 – 200 miles per week
c. 25 – 100 miles per week
d. 15 – 25 miles per week
e. fewer than 15 miles per week
Travel
9) On holidays do you usually travel
a. Close to home or stay at home
b. A short distance away
c. A long flight away
10) How many hours/trips do you fly on an airplane in a year? Hint: one coast-tocoast roundtrip is approximately 10 hours; a flight from Chicago to either coast
roundtrip is approximately 5 hours.
a. 400 hours/year
b. 100 hours/year
c. 50 hours/year
d. 25 hours/year
e. 10 hours/year
f. 5 hours/year
g. 2 hours/year
h. fewer than 2 hours/year
i. never fly
Housing
11) How many people live in your house? ____
12) How many square feet does your house have? ____
a. Square Feet: measure the approximate width and length of the inside of
the house and multiple the two numbers. If you have two floors, double
the amount.
13) What type of house do you live in?
a. Apartment
b. Free standing house, no adjoining walls.
c. Row house (2+ units with adjoining walls)
d. Green-design house
14) Does your house use “green” electricity? You have to choose this option with
your power company and it usually cost more. Yes or No?
15) Do you use energy efficient appliances and light bulbs?
a. Always
b. Most of the time
c. Half of the time
d. Some of the time
e. Never
Household Waste
16) Do you recycle? Yes or No?
17) How much waste do you generate? In other words, how much trash goes to the
landfill?
a. Less than average
b. Average
c. More than average
Other Questions
18) Age
19) Size of city/town you live in. Los Angeles is over 1,000,000
20) How much productive land should be set aside for saving species? Productive
land would include land used for growing food, housing, and industry.
a. 0%
b. 12%
c. 25%
d. 40%
Some additional information:
1) Riding a bicycle or walking rather than using fossil fuel-powered transport can
significantly reduce your footprint. In this calculation, the impact of self-propelled
transportation is captured by measuring caloric intake.