Eco-Footprint Recalculation

   Before I retook the quiz, I was worried that it wouldn't have gone down at all because the steps that I took to reduce my carbon footprint were not necessarily quantifiable from this quiz since it focuses on household measures.
   However, I took the quiz anyway and it did go down by .3 earths. Services were 55%, food was 14%, mobility was 14%, shelter was 7%, and goods was 10%. So, my food, mobility, and shelter impact went down during the course of this quarter.
    The goal that I stuck to strictly was always taking the stairs, never the elevator, for which I am pretty proud of myself. The energy savings of this activity would not show up on my household ecological footprint. I also started eating more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (usually 2 or three a week) in congruence with the PB&J campaign. This was also hard to quantify in my quiz because none of the ingredients are local but it did save trips to the store and money on on-campus lunches in addition to being a non-meat based lunch.
    There are a few things that were not a part of my original goals that I have started doing to reduce my carbon footprint. One of which is paying closer attention to what I can recycle at home. I have also started taking my reusable grocery bag to the store to reduce plastic and paper bag consumption. Another factor that has helped reduce my household ecological footprint has been unplugging my chargers when I'm not using them.
    I'll admit I have been slipping a little bit on buying local and organic produce because I have been going out to eat a lot recently. The weekend trip to Texas for an interview did not help my mobility footprint either. All of that aside, this exercise for class has shown me that no effort is unnecessary, every little thing that you can do to reduce your impact counts. This idea needs to be spread so that more people will be empowered to make any small change that is reasonable for them to reduce our impact on the earth. Not every activity is realistic for everyone, but find some goals that you can stick to and do it! Changing one habit will make you aware of other unsustainable behaviors and be a catalyst for more change!