Final Footprint Evaluation
As the school quarter is nearing the end, to see if my ecological footprint has improved, I went back and retook all four ecological calculators to see my progress.
Recalculated Footprint
Carbon Footprint
My new carbon total footprint was 15 tons co2/year for the entire household. The first time I took this calculator, my carbon footprint was 16 tons, not a big improvement, but it feels good to see change. I believe what improved was that we are shopping less for goods as a family and rarely traveling with the pandemic and busyness with college.
Water
My personal and household water footprint has improved from the first time I took the calculator. I believe it has improved because my first goal was to take showers for less than 10 minutes. As the quarter progressed, my showers became less than 8 minutes, and I also switched to military-style showers. I also got my family to participate, and you can see significant improvement.
Slavery
The amount of slaves I have working for me has gone down. I achieved this by donating almost all of my clothes to charity and not purchasing more. I also did not purchase any beauty products and personal products over the course of this quarter. Overall I am delighted with this result.
Ecological
My ecological footprint has decreased. When I just took the calculator, my personal overshoot day was July 24, but now it's August 9. Before, if everyone lived like me, we would need 1.8 earths, but now it's 1.6. I believe what helped me achieve these results is through my goal of purchasing foods with less packaging, which resulted in less trash. Also, traveling less.
Old Footprints
Carbon
Water
Slavery
Ecological
Moving Forward
With the three footprint reduction goals that I have set, I achieved all, and I'm quite proud of myself. I can now shower for less than 10 minutes, and I have implemented military-style showers to use less water. I have not purchased a single makeup product or personal product since the start of the quarter, and each week I purchase less than 10 packaged food items.
I will defiantly keep continuing these practices. While working to achieve these goals, not only did they make me feel good about helping the earth, but I was also able to save money, which is awesome for a college student that doesn't make much. In my first footprint blog, I wrote, "starting with small steps is a great way to start lowering your own footprint," and I still stand with this. Small steps will make great impacts!