First take the Ecological Footprint Quiz doing the best you can to reflect your own lifestyle. Write down your choices and the results, especially how many worlds you need. Then try the following.
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What is YOUR footprint? Take the ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT QUIZ at www.myfootprint.org The Quiz can also be found by going to Redefining Progress at www.rprogress.org. Click on the blue footprint. |
Using the same parameters, try the following:
Change parts of your lifestyle one area at a time, leaving the rest as you did at first, to see how much effect you can have on your footprint. For example:
Remember, do these one at a time.
My rather restrained American lifestyle earned me a footprint of just under four planets. Moving to a row-house put me at three. Changing other parameters one at a time was not very effective. Moving out of the United States is the best thing I can do. However, I still use 1.4 planets in Nairobi, Kenya and use around 2 in France and Portugal. The Quiz does reinforce the argument that Americans are the most environmentally expensive people on earth. I used 3 planets in Beijing, a very provocative result. What does that say about China's industrial development? (I have not investigated Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America although I think I have read Canadians have a large footprint.)
The Frequently Asked Questions found on the right on the last or results page of the Quiz helps answer questions about how the Quiz is designed and some of the results of following the suggestions I gave above.
Students might also try to do the Quiz in a foreign language after doing it once in English. That is a good way to pick up some vocabulary.
I would be curious to know if you have used the Ecological Footprint in your teaching. Also, I would like to develop more material using the site. Please contact me with you ideas, suggestions and questions, especially if you are not comfortable with using web sites.
Ann O'Connell, oconnell@xmission.com