ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS-Calculate your ecological footprint(1) Assignment

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS-Calculate your ecological footprint(1) Manipulate your ecological footprint(2)Reflecting on your ecologica - Assignment Example The footprint calculator will be determined by the daily choices we make as individuals and communities, for example choosing to recycle, or cycling to school instead of driving. Since everything we do has consequences to our planet, we must aim to ensuring that we reduce our ecological footprint. I used the global footprint network to calculate my ecological footprint. The main steps used to calculate my ecological are broken down into four categories; carbon footprint which includes home and transport energy, food footprint, housing footprint and goods and services footprint ( Tinsley, 2006). Ecological footprint is calculated in global hectares/ acres. The quiz provides an estimation of the ocean and land that can support waste produced from consumption in the workplace, household, food, goods and services, housing and energy used in transportation. After taking the quiz, if every person lived the same lifestyle like I do, we would need 4.88 earths to live in. It is apparent that the lifestyle I live, in a small household of two, is very unsustainable, and I should do more towards ensuring sustainability of planet earth for current and future generations to be able to enjoy ecosystem goods and services like I do. ... Part two According to estimations, in order for all organisms to survive in this planet we each need an ecological footprint of 0.8. An ecological footprint of 4.88 is very unsustainable since we only have one planet. Developed countries have larger carbon footprints compared to less developed countries, which are growing. Promotion of western civilization lifestyles, such as excess shopping, will lead to an increase in the ecological footprint. As discussed earlier, small lifestyle changes can go a long way to ensuring we make a big impact. One of the changes include buying locally produced food and less packaged foods sold in stores and supermarkets, like I currently do, to reduce the footprint. In case it is necessary to buy packaged food, then the packaging should be recyclable and of lesser quality. It is necessary to reduce the waste produced by the household by purchasing only goods needed for short periods of time, mostly a week to reduce wastage. A good example is buying goo ds in bulk which is usually packaged in cans and bottles, which are not degradable, and lead to pollution of the earth. Other steps to reducing my footprint include drinking tap water which is safe to drink instead of bottled water, reducing meat consumption, because the more animals are grazed to meet meat consumption, the more methane gas is released, which is a green house gas. Buying foods that are in season is good because purchasing out of season fruits and vegetables means that they have been flown in from other countries, which increases my carbon footprint. I should change the activities I engage in during my spare time to reduce my carbon footprint such as restaurants and saunas. The housing footprint is a step used in