Michael Fowler (FGCU): “My Ecological Footprint”

A personal ecological footprint is a measure of how many resources you use. In today’s environment it is extremely important to do our part for the earth in any way we can. It is relatively easy to make a few small changes that will drastically reduce your ecological footprint. After recording all of my resource use on different days for 24 hours, I noticed many ways to reduce my own resource use and personal ecological footprint.            One of the main ways to reduce my personal ecological footprint is to change the way I use energy. After evaluating the items I use within the energy list, there are many items I need to cut my usage down on. For example, when I’m not using my laptop I need to turn it off. My laptop is an energy user that I use the most and if I keep it off when I am not using it, it will save energy tremendously. Another energy saver would be my ceiling fan. I usually let that run on almost a 24 hour basis. I never realized that how much energy I could be saving if I turned the fan off when I’m not in the room.            Water is another important resource that needs to be consumed less. When I brush my teeth I could be saving a lot more water if I only use it to rinse the tooth brush and not let it run. Turning off the water while shaving is another way I need to save water. I found out if I fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of water to rinse my razor is a good way to conserve. Shorter showers are another way I need to conserve water. The longer I am in the shower the longer the water runs. If you’re taking a shower, don’t waste cold water while waiting for hot water to reach the shower head. People don’t realize how much water they could be saving if they cut down on their shower time.  Research shows saving water also saves energy.             Carpooling is I a good way to reduce the use of fuel. I need to start using that method more often when going place when all of my friends are going to the same place. Riding a bike or riding a long board when trips are short would be a more effective way then using a car. Finding the closest source when buying my food will save me on fuel when transporting it back to my house. When buying the food I need to limit the amount of resources I use by purchasing items with minimal packaging.             After completing this personal ecological footprint I have realized all energy I could be saving. Even if it is the smallest change I still believe it will make a positive difference. Now that I know what I have to do, I will encourage more people to conserve energy and reduce their ecological footprints to help make the earth more sustainable.

This entry was posted on 13. April 2009 at 23:41 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.