Ecological Footprint (FINAL)

Final Ecological Footprint Quiz

Well I was still a little disappointed by these results but I think I'm being overly hard on myself. Decreasing from 4.3 to 3.6 to a final 3.2 shows that I am improving my way of life but there are still things I can do to decrease this number even more.

I think what made the biggest difference is the fact that I am eating much less meat and dairy. I've gone out of my way to also not purchase packaged products and spend more money on fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately there were things I noticed while taking the quiz that I cannot change. I live in a house of nine people (including myself) which are rented out like apartments. My rent includes utilities so I was never able to get ahold of the electricity bill so in the quiz I assumed it went down. I was much more consciuos of turning lights off and unplugging cords and turning off power strips so I'm sure it made a difference. Our landlord is in control of how much green power we have and I honestly could not get ahold of her to find out this information. If it was up to me, I would make an effort to get more greenpower.

I noticed a few changes with people in my house though. Instead of fans, people were opening windows and have been turning lights off more frequently. My house is pretty environmentally conscious which is nice to be around.


There are still things I can improve on. Although I cut down my consumption a LOT (My recycling bin hasn't been full for nearly a month now and I've had to take out the garbage once for three weeks, a HUGE improvement) I still could drive less. I got a job recently and haven't had a chance to go home so I guess that has been good for decreasing the amount of miles I drive, but I'm still pretty bad about taking the bus to the grocery store. I have made up for that with other steps such as cutting down my consumption, not traveling home, and bringing my water bottle to class instead of buying a disposable one.

I'm pleased with the changes I have made but I would like to see my number of planets continue to decrease. Especially when the weather is nice I need to put on my tennishoes and walk everywhere!

I'm glad to have taken this class because it is keeping me aware of the things I need to improve.