My Ecological Footprint Results

ANSWER KEY Name:_________________________________________ Date:_____________________ My Ecological Footprint Results Directions: Complete the quiz at http://www.footprintcalculator.org Answer the questions honestly to get the best results. If “add details to improve accuracy” appears underneath a question, click on it and answer the additional questions. This will help to improve the accuracy of your results. Once you have received your results, make sure to click “see details”. Answer the following questions. 1. What is an ecological footprint? An ecological footprint measures a person’s or population’s impact on the environment. It takes into account how much land is required for them to sustain their use of natural resources. For more information about ecological footprints, visit https://www.footprintnetwork.org/ourwork/ecological-footprint/. This is the same company that the quiz is from and has a lot of good resources. 2. What is a carbon footprint? A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon compounds, like carbon dioxide (CO2), that are emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels. A person or population can have a carbon footprint. 3. What is the concept of Earth Overshoot Day? Earth Overshoot Day is the day that the entire earth has used all of the natural resources that the earth can renew within 1 year. 4. What is your personal Earth Overshoot Day? This number will vary between students. 5. If everyone lived like you, how many Earths would we need? This number will vary between students. 6. Rank your land type use from most used to least used. This answer will vary; however, each student should have all 6 land types (built-up land, forest products, cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, and carbon footprint). 7. Does the amount of land you use surprise you? Why or why not? This answer will vary between students. 8. Rank your consumption category use from most used to least used. This answer will vary; however, each student should have all 5 consumption categories (food, shelter, mobility, goods, and services). 9. Explain your results for your most and least used categories. For example, your mobility category may be high if you use air travel frequently. This answer will vary between students; however, their answer should match the categories that they are talking about. 10. Did you expect for your consumption categories to be ranked like this? Was your highest consumption category what you thought it would be? This answer will vary between students. 11. What is your ecological footprint in global hectares? This number will vary between students. 12. What is your carbon footprint in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in tonnes/year? This number will vary between students. 13. How much of your total ecological footprint comes from your carbon footprint? This number will vary between students. It should be listed as a percentage. 14. Where you surprised by any of these results? Why or why not? What surprised you the most? This answer will vary between students. Click on “explore solutions”. Choose at least one of the categories to explore (City, Energy, Food or Population”. Click “learn more” to explore each category. Write a paragraph about the solution you chose to explore. Make sure to include how many days forward we could move the overshoot day if your solution was implemented. 15. Answers will vary. Included below are important concepts that should be included in the student’s answer depending on which solution they chose.  City: Earth Overshoot Day can be moved ahead 12 days if we reduce driving globally by 50% and replace 1/3 of car miles with public transportation, walking, biking, etc. o For more information, visit: https://www.overshootday.org/take-action/cities/  Energy: Earth Overshoot Day can be moved ahead 93 days if we reduce everyone’s carbon footprint by 50%. o For more information, visit: https://www.overshootday.org/take-action/energy/  Food: Earth Overshoot Day can be moved ahead 5 days if we reduce global meat consumption by 50%. o For more information, visit: https://www.overshootday.org/take-action/food/  Population: Earth Overshoot Day can be moved ahead 30 days if every family had one less child. o For more information, visit: https://www.overshootday.org/takeaction/population/