What Was Your Personal Earth Overshoot Day?
1. What was your personal Earth overshoot day? What does this mean? (1 point)
What personal Earth overshoot day means is that on that date starting from the beginning of year to that date, I would of used that much energy that the Earth can renew in an entire year. My personal Earth overshoot day was april 1st. This means that on april first, I would’ve used as much resources as the earth can provide in one year.
2. If everyone on Earth lived the way you do (according to the basic information you gave), how many Earths would be needed to provide enough resources? (1 point)
According to the information, there would have to be 4 Earths in order to provide enough resources.
3. Click the "See Details" link on the Results page, then use the space below to draw the circle graph that appears. Include the numbers of global hectares (gha) that appear as you roll over each section of the graph, as well as the key and labels. (3 points)[pic 1]
4. Summarize the breakdown of your basic ecological footprint by land type.
a. How many global hectares (gha) of Earth's productive area does it take to support you (your ecological footprint)? (1 point)
It takes 6.8 gha to support my ecological footprint
b. Rank the different categories of productive land types you require from greatest to least. (1 point)
- Carbon emissions
- Cropland
- Forest Products
- Built up land
- Grazing land
- Fishing grounds
c. How many tons of carbon dioxide are produced by your resource consumption? (1 point)
10.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced each year.
d. What percentage of your basic ecological footprint is your "carbon footprint"? (1 point)
52% of my ecological footprint is my carbon footprint.
1. Record the values for your current basic and detailed footprints in the table. (2 points)
Topic | Current basic footprint (values) | Current detailed footprint (values) |
Earth overshoot day | April 1st | April 12th |
Number of Earths | 4 | 3.6 |
Number of global hectares (gha) | 6.8 | 6.1 |
Tons of carbon dioxide | 10.2 | 8.9 |
2. Click the "See Details" link on the Results page, then use the space below to draw the new circle graph that appears. Include the numbers of global hectares (gha) that appear as you roll over each section of the graph, as well as the key and labels. (2 points)
[pic 2]
3. Compare the new ranks of the categories of productive land types you require with the ones you required in your basic ecological footprint. Describe any changes. (1 point)
The overall rankings are the same however Built-up land joins the ranking with grazing land and fishing
4. What percentage of your detailed ecological footprint is your "carbon footprint"? How does this compare with the value from your basic ecological footprint? (1 point)
This time with details, the overall carbon emissions was 50% which was 2% less than the first test.
2. Think of three specific, realistic changes you know you could make that would reduce your ecological footprint. (For example, you may be able to walk to school, but you will probably not be able to change how many people live in your home.) List these changes in the space below. (3 points)
The biggest change I could make is to reduce the consumption of meat and shellfish as well as reduce the number of miles that my family travels in the car as 50% of the ecological footprint are carbon emissions.
3. Develop a hypothesis about whether or how changing three of your habits would affect your ecological footprint. Write your hypothesis in the space below. (2 points)
If I reduce the number of miles travelled by car, reduce eating meat and other animal products and shift towards vegetarian recipes, and turn off electricity when I am not using it, then the amount of ecological footprint that I will leave behind will greatly reduce.