Shaunell Harris

11/27/14
Humanities
Ecological Footprint

= 4.62 Earths
(in global acres) Footprint

Country Average

Carbon
Footprint

57.80

91.43

Food Footprint 65.29

65.74

Housing
Footprint

21.77

31.58

Goods and
Services
Footprint

34.29

57.66

My total
footprint

179.15

246.41

(in global acres) Footprint

Country Average

Cropland
footprint

21.38

29.61

Pastureland
footprint

49.68

68.02

Marine fisheries
36.04
footprint

49.33

Forestland
footprint

72.04

99.45

My total
footprint

179.15

246.41

Number of Earths

4.62

6.35

2. Include a paragraph (150-200 words) reflecting upon your results.

I kind of felt bad when I answered some of the questions because theres some uncomfortable
awareness that Im presenting to myself, along with the lifestyle that I am presenting to my kids and how
they will repeat my behavior with not doing everything possible to take care of the Earth. I really did not
expect that based on my lifestyle there would need to be 4 Earths to sustain life if everyone used
resources like me. I admit that I recycle minimal by recycling my garbage, not littering and walking around
my home often to make sure the light are off. I always want to be energy efficient and be supportive to
the world. My struggle with a green lifestyle is the cost it takes to be ecofriendly, plus convenience and
then there is education on how to be energy efficient that I lack. I need to be more proactive and learn
more and start out slow. Four Earths is shocking to me. I think about how there are people that might be
even worse than me and wonder how many Earths they would need, but we only have one Planet and
some change needs to happen. I could find ways to use water less and I could not take my kids out to
eat and just make the time give them a home cooked meal.

3. Read about how the test was designed and how you can reduce your footprint. Then include a
paragraph (150-200 words) discussing how you can implement some of those ideas.
As I mentioned in the above comment that I was lacking education, so I am glad that there are websites
that can educate people on how to utilize the resources around us. I looked at the website
MyFoodPrint.org and their vision. There way of explaining things makes it seem really easy to use
resource and you feel like this is common sense. Their vision of using resources is very simple in that
they are there to educate people, to share the pros and cons of doing or not doing something that in time
could harm the planet. I thought that it was interesting that using your garbage disposal was a bad thing.
I thought that if I was shredding up food I was supporting not feeling a garbage pile. I think starting out
slow for being green is a compost. I also think I can cut down on meet because I get meat orders from
Stans Market and this survey states that meat consumption is 18% of greenhouse gas. I cannot reiterate
enough that this survey helped me feel aware of what I am doing and what I can do differently. I watched
a story in humanities about Easter Island and how the ran out of resources for themselves, things
became so bad that they resorted to cannibalism. I know it would take a while to get to that point but I
dont want it to happen to my children, children, and children.

What impact did the assignment have on you or your understanding of the world? Did it challenge
any of your assumptions?
Humanities has so many in depth lessons on religion, race and ethnicity. I chose the Ecological
Footprint because of the impact it had on me. To me it means that if we dont take care of the Earth
and find out how to utilize our resources than we will not have a chance to debate what religion is
correct, who should be president or why even wake up and go to work if the world is dying because
our lack of care. I cant stop thinking about why we worry so much about everything, when we should
focus on planet that we have.
I answered some questions on MyFootPrint.org and the results are listed above. I thought that I was
doing well but as the scores show I was wrong. This assignment was a challenge for me because I
could have lied on the questions, acting like I am a great eco lady with a better score, basically be in
denial. I instead answered honestly because I wanted to see for myself what I am first hand doing or
not doing for the planet. I wanted to see how I could change the negative habits.
Even though race and religion are important I feel like being ecofriendly is something that I can do;
whereas racism an religion are things I already knew and where I stood about the issues. This
challenge of going green will not be just for me but for my children and their habits, that way the
generations that lead after my kids and their kids can be a healthier planet. I made several
assumptions that my minimal recycling was enough and that I could not make the time to do
anymore. The hardest part about this assignment is I am one person and there are so many people
out there that dont recycle. I guess what I am trying to say is I am frustrated and have been ever
since I started the assignment, I really enjoy assignment that make me more aware of what I am
doing or could do better. My Humanities class really made me think and feel a lot of things and
people are.