Throughout the quarter I was able to reduce my ecological footprint by almost one planet. I feel that my efforts this quarter were definitely at a high level and I would have hoped that my reduction was greater. In regards to the goals I had set this quarter, I followed them to the best of my abilities and tried to always remain conscious of my daily impacts on Earth. My original footprint related that my lifestyles and actions would require the resources of 4 Planet Earth’s to fulfill my demands. From the first footprint, I realized that my meat-heavy habits and energy wasting activities were mostly to blame for my high impact. Accordingly, I attempted to change my lifestyle and reduce my ecological footprint. The goals I set for myself were to eat a PB&J for a meal every day, reduce unnecessary consumer goods purchases, and to be more mindful of the electricity use in my house. I would say that I maintained these goals quite well over the quarter. PB&J every day is almost impossible, but the result of this initiative is that I am more mindful of the resources that are required for non-vegetarian meals. I try to limit the amount of animal-based meals that I eat nowadays. I have also not bought any unnecessary new products; I have tried to buy reused clothing if at all possible. And I am glad to see, after paying more attention to the use of electricity in my house, the bill for these services actually seemed to go down as I started to preach my message to the roommates.
Concluding, I wish that I was able to get a lower number on the ecological footprint calculator but I believe that this method is not entirely accurate. My efforts are in the right place and I have definitely made a mindset change that will be with me from now on. I am much more interested in figuring out sustainable ways of doing business and of living on this world. I wasn’t aware of many issues regarding the environment and I hope that I can be more mindful of these types of things throughout the rest of my life.
