Reference no: EM13182587

Lab: Environmental Footprint 

Purpose

The purpose of this lab is to learn more about how connected you are to the ecosystems and biosphere that you inhabit. You will learn how your everyday choices contribute to the human impacts on our environment you've been learning about. Most importantly, you will learn about benefits that you can achieve by joining the increasing number of people who are making choices that reduce their environmental impact.

Objectives

The objectives of this lab are to: 
•Identify the products and practices that contribute most to your environmental footprint
•Identify solutions for each of these products and practices and estimate your savings of BOTH carbon emissions and money.
•Consider the multiple benefits (e.g., environmental, economic, health, etc) that humanity can achieve by reducing our individual and collective environmental impacts.

Procedure 
1. Find out your ecological footprint:
a. Visit the Global Footprint Network web site. Use the footprint calculator to measure your ecological footprint and learn "how many earths" it takes to support your lifestyle. Be sure to choose the "detailed response" option for each question.
b. Answer each question in the quiz honestly and record your answers in the following categories:
• Your food (how much of it is animal products, processed, produced locally, and more)
• Your home (energy sources, how much trash you generate, how much new clothing and furniture you buy each month)
• Your mobility (how many miles you drive, the mileage of your vehicle(s), your use of public transport)
c.On the results page, click on "Explore scenarios" to learn how to reduce your footprint.
d. Use the questions that follow to reflect on your experience and feelings when taking this quiz.
2.Learn about specific products and practices that will help you reduce your environmental footprint and can even save you money.
a. Visit the EPA Household Emissions Calculator and complete its questions to learn more about your environmental impact and the benefits of solutions:
• Section 1: Estimate your current total household emissions (from home energy use, vehicle use, waste).
• Section 2: Explore actions you can take to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and waste disposal costs.
• Section 3: See how much you can save (in dollars and emissions) by taking the actions you chose in Section 2.

Lab Questions 
1. What are the 3 everyday products and practices that contribute most to your environmental footprint?
2. What impacts might result if everyone in the world had the same lifestyle as you? For example, what might the impacts be on:
a. Earth's climate?
b. The health of ecosystems and biodiversity?
c. Humanity's natural resource base and thus economic security?
3.Identify solutions to each of the 3 components of your environmental footprint that you listed in question 1. What are the savings of BOTH carbon emissions and money you can achieve via each solution?
a. How much would this amount to if every household in America (roughly 100 million) did this?
b. If everybody did this, what might the impact on the health of our environment be? For example, how might these collective actions benefit our air and water quality? The health of the world's forests?
c. How might these environmental improvements benefit human health and, in turn, our economy?
4.Does reducing the size of our footprint necessarily mean reducing our quality of life? Why or why not? Are there ways of enhancing quality of life while lowering impact?