Question

. Complete the Ecological Footprint activity. Describe in some detail 3 particular items in that calculation that you think you could change to reduce your footprint. Include the barriers and supports that affect whether you could make those changes.

Answer 1

The ecological footprint of a person is calculated by adding up all of people's demands that compete for biologically productive space, such as cropland to grow potatoes or cotton, or forest to produce timber or to sequester carbon dioxide emissions.
Resource consumption such as electricity, oil or water higher a person's ecological footprint Therefore, electricity consumption, oil consumption and water consumption are all factors that contribute to ecological footprint size.
By calculating how much waste you produce each week and multiplying by 52 you can get your annual waste production. This is then multiplied by a carbon intensity to get your footprint.

The factors that reduces ecological footprint :-
1. Use cleaner transport -
-Walk, bike, or take public transport whenever possible. If you don't own and drive a car on average you can reduce your total ecological footprint by as much as 20 per cent. Using it less will reduce your footprint, helps to avoid traffic jam and keeps your citys air cleaner.
2. Add energy saving features to your home :-
-install energy saving lamps in your home .
-Explore green design features for your building, like passive solar heating a rainwater catchment or greywater recycling system, and recycled materials.
-use biodegradable ,non toxic cleaning products for your health and environment .
3.Reduce your foods and goods footprint :-
-shop at your local farmers market - Look for local, in-season foods that haven't travelled long distances to reach you. Organic and other forms of low-input farming that use minimal or no pesticides and fertilisers which are energy intensive in their manufacture consume up to 40 per cent less energy, and support higher levels of wildlife on farms.
-choose food with less packaging.
-Growing our own fruit and vegetables reduces all the energy and waste which normally goes into getting food from the field to our plates – such as transport, refrigeration and packaging. In your garden you can compost food waste as well. Garbage that is not contaminated with degradable (biological) waste can be more easily recycled and sorted.
4.purchase carbon offset
5.save water