Footprints

My ecological footprint is 5.7 global hectares, which is less than the Calgary average and the Canadian average. The amount of land need to maintain the current rate of my consumption is 7 Canadian football fields and if everyone in the world lived like I do, we would need 3.1 earths. Most of my footprint comes from food, shelter and mobility As I currently live at home with my family (we have 6 members in total) in a home that is approximately 20 km away from UBC, it is quite difficult for me to change the mobility portion of my footprint. Although I do bus to school, I do drive to some extent but only to nearby locations and usually with another passanger. To lower the my footprint I can use more energy efficient lights which would reduce my shelter portion and if I were to switch my windows to double-paned windows that would also reduce the amount of natural gas my household uses to heat up our home. These two factors reduce my ecological footprint to 5.3 global hectares. Another scenario that I tested was if I was a vegan but all my living conditions remained the same as they are now. My ‘vegan’ ecological footprint is 5 global hectares from the original 5.7.

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