Hi everyone, although I was really curious to see what my impact on this planet was, I was also cringing at the thought of how NON environmentally friendly I really was living my life! It felt like getting on the scale and seeing your weight after a Thanksgiving dinner (a little guilty). lol.
By doing a few quizzes, I really had some eye-opening moments.....
**The first quiz I took was for calculating my ecological footprint. What exactly is an "ecological footprint"? An ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem. I calculated my footprint through the Earth Day Network Footprint Calendar which is a quick little quiz that shows you how many planets it would take to support your lifestyle if everyone in the world lived like you.
Wow, I cannot believe how much of the world's ecosystem I demand! The results of my quiz are shown in the image above^^. The results show that it would take 5 planet Earths to support my lifestyle to provide enough resources. I always think that I don't have "that much" stuff or don't demand that much, but this quiz proved me wrong. Compared to all of the billions of people in the world, we sometimes don't realize how other people in the world are living compared to us. This really opened my eyes to be really grateful for what I have and really start making smarter choices to make my ecological footprint a little more impressive! It also said that 43% of my ecologic footprint comes from FOOD. Seriously, a little embarrassing, but I guess I never really thought about it. I do eat meat everyday and a lot of my food comes from Korea. Buying food locally really would make a little difference and I can change that! I think it is all about the little things you can do to make a big difference.
**Another quiz I did was called the AAA Fuel Cost Calendar.
This one was an interesting one since many people are always talking/thinking/complaining about gas prices. This assessment estimates the amount and cost of gasoline needed to complete a vacation trip. I thought...how perfect! I went on a spring break trip last year to Panama City Beach, Florida with a bunch of my girlfriends in a CAR. (I never recommend driving 24 hours in a car with 5 girls).
So for this quiz, you put in your starting point, ending destination, your car model and year. Then they calculate the miles and gallons of your trip according to national gas price averages. Here were my results:
Pretty interesting huh? We used about 145 gallons of gasoline for that trip, that is about 30 gallons a person. We never even stopped to think about how much gas we were using! I wonder how many gallons of fuel is used to operate a plane? How much of a difference do you think there is in gallons per person for a trip on a plane to a car? Something to think about....
**Lastly, Kaileigh @ Kaileigh's Nature Blog recommended that I try this one out: Pollution Report Card.
This "report card" was cool because you type in a zip code, for this case I used mine from my home town of Apple Valley. And then they compare your town to other towns in the U.S. For Apple Valley, In 2002, this county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of water releases. Ohh ouch. Not so proud to be a Valley girl :( this quiz just shows you a glimpse of how the environment you live in can really effect your health!
**Choh's Final Thoughts:
Well, doing these 3 quizzes really showed me that each person does have an impact in our environment and doing these Eye-Openers really shows you the "truth" whether it's pretty or not. In my case, doing these quizzes has taught me a lot about myself. I discovered that you have to look at the big-picture to realize you can do little things to make a difference. I for one, will be buying more locally and I don't always have to be getting my food from over-seas! Also, doing the gasoline quiz, I realize you just have to be a little more aware of how many gallons of gas you are using when driving. I cannot wait to ride my bike and rollerblade this summer! I hope you all had an eye-opening experience as well and remember, you all can make change!
Holla Group #1!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi
Posts
7 comments:
I don't recommend 24 hours in a car under any circumstances! I've done it several times and every time I say, "Never again!" Love all the figures you provided...they helped convey the information effectively!
Kathy- This was fun to read! Seems like you definitely learned a lot. I looked up my hometowns county-its kind of scary to actually see how it all adds up! I found it a little interesting that the top polluter in my county was the "Austin Utilities". Really? Come on now... Great find Kathy!
Kathy-
I absolutely loved your post!! Your charts were such a cool addition to your post. I also liked how you showed the Duluth status on gas prices. Lastly I love how you added humor to your post which is what I like to see. Keep up the good work!
Kathy- I really liked your refrence to spring break! That was a really long drive and you're right we didn't even stop to think of how much fuel we used for that whole time! I really like that you put all the graphs in your post too! Good idea!
Heya Kathy! Great blog post! I really liked the way ya had everything very clear, and how ya also threw in the pictures of you results! And also it is very true that every person, no matter how small, has an impact on the environment. And these eye openers are a good way to tell how good/bad you are for the environment. Have a good one!
Haha, I love the car trip advice...I took a Greyhound bus on spring break from Duluth, MN to Albuquerque NM! So I know how that goes. I also felt I learned a lot with the help of these quizzes and I like how you added what you plan to improve to help the environment! Great post=)
Hey Kathy! I'm also so glad we're in a group together! Just to answer your question, my photos are from places I've been. The one you were wondering was from my hotel in Mexico last spring break. I love taking pictures so it's nice to have a place to display them=) Thanks for the question!
Post a Comment