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Reducing Ecological FootPrint
- Transportation
- Get rid of excess weight in your car. Many families may have materials in their
car that they never remember to take out. Removing extra weight in your car
increases your gas mileage making more efficient use of your car.
- Try to maximize the use of one trip rather than take several trips. Instead of taking several trips in one day such as going to the
restaurant and then going to the supermarket a few hours later, try to put these trips in one car ride. This reduces fuel consumption
and time as well. You can also plan your most efficient route with all your points of destination ahead of time before you drive/get
driven. (The picture gives a much exaggerated idea of preplanning and maximizing one trip)
- Drive and use transportation at the optimal hour. This means getting up early to
go to the place you want to go to or going later in the after hours where traffic
won't be as bad. This decerases the amount of fuel and carbon emissions created
from idling on a street or highway.
- Assess your needs and wants and see if you really need to take transportation. This means really thinking whether or not
you should go take that bus ride to McDonalds or convincing your parents to drive you to your friends house. This also
means using your car and other transportation methods sparingly and to not take it for granted.
- Inform your parents to have the correct tire pressure to reduce friction. By having the
proper tire pressure you reduce the amount of firction and make the most out of your
gas. This also applies to your vehicle engines as well as a tune-up will increase the
efficiency of your vehicle. In addition, when changing your tires and/or engines try to buy
brands that have tires made from environmentally friendly products and have minimal
rolling friction/resistance
- Instead of taking the bus to your friends house to do a project, communicate online. With the new age of
technology, people don't have to go to other people's homes to talk or do work together. Instead use
your technology to communicate. You can also encourage your parents whenever possible to hold
conferences with their phones rather than drive to a meeting
- I chose transportation because in my daily
life, I get driven a lot as well as the fact that I
take the bus a lot. As a result, I chose
transportation as an area to improve as I can
reduce my vehicle miles by maximizing the use of car
trips and ensuring that the parts of my car are
fuel efficient and friction resistant.
- Get rid of excess weight in your car. Many families may have materials in their
car that they never remember to take out. Removing extra weight in your car
increases your gas mileage making more efficient use of your car.
- Housing
- Use a clothes line for your clothes instead of a dryer. This save electricity. Clothes line
could be lined in your backyard or in your basement.
- Install and use software that minimizes and monitors your PC electricity usage and turns off your PC at certain hours of the day
- Minimize Water usage
- Try to minimize use of the washing machine, however, if you must wash clothes wash on the lowest setting. Or, instead wash the clothes
yourself. This can be done by having a large pan of water and reusing that water to wash your clothes. At the end rinse your clothes at a
low setting of water. In addition, use cold water when washing by hand to reduce heating costs.
- Many people choose to flush down their toiletry waste such as toilet paper and
items. However, these items should instead by put in the bin where they can be
disposed of as solid waste.
- Try to minimize use of the washing machine, however, if you must wash clothes wash on the lowest setting. Or, instead wash the clothes
yourself. This can be done by having a large pan of water and reusing that water to wash your clothes. At the end rinse your clothes at a
low setting of water. In addition, use cold water when washing by hand to reduce heating costs.
- Recycle your old electronics and batteries. These electronics could be extremely old phones or wires. The
recycled technology wont contribute to land waste and greenhouse gas emissions as well as soil and water
pollute-on but instead be reused to build new products in the future.
- Adjust your thermostat responsibly and efficiently.
- Wear sweaters in the winter and at the same time lower your theromostat temperature. You can also stack more
mattresses ontop of each other and wear warmer slippers instead and also lower your heating costs a bit every day
- Open your windows in the summer to allow better ventilation and wear t-shirts while reducing your air conditioning
- Wear sweaters in the winter and at the same time lower your theromostat temperature. You can also stack more
mattresses ontop of each other and wear warmer slippers instead and also lower your heating costs a bit every day
- Try to decrease your household expenditure on consumer items to reduce resource consumption.
However, when new appliances have to be bought, try to buy appliances certified by ENERGY STAR
and/or products that are made from recycled/reused materials. This could be fridges which have
energy efficient parts or flooring and design which boasts the use of recycled/reused materials.
- In my home, I have a lot of high-tech products that demand
energy usage as well as the fact that since my home has several
people, we have lots of dishes and clothes to wash. As a result,
with this in mind I chose housing as one of the key areas to
improve as I can reduce my EF greatly by maximizing the use of
our appliances by using their lowest levels and installing
software to monitor our electronic device usage.
- Use a clothes line for your clothes instead of a dryer. This save electricity. Clothes line
could be lined in your backyard or in your basement.
- Food Choices
- When you eat, save the leftovers instead of throwing them
out. The leftovers can be stored in containers and this reduces
plastic bag as the extra food isn't being thrown away. In
addition, since the food doesn't go bad as long as you
preserve it, you have food for your next meal. This reduces
the amount of trips to the grocery store which reduces
money, gas, and time as well as the weekly intake of food per
person.
- Another feasible way to improve your food footprint is for
one day a week to go meatless. Meat comes from animals
which requires food, water and land to nurture and grow. In
addition going meatless only once a week will not only reduce
resource consumption but also reduce greenhouse gas
emissions as meat accounts for 18% of all greenhouse gases
- Avoid processed food during shopping at your supermarket. Processed and packaged food takes
water, energy and lots of fuel. In addition many vehicle miles are used to transport the food which
results in a huge increase of carbon emissions. In fact 80% of emissions center around food
production which means how you get and what you get in your food matters.
- Plant your own garden. By planting your own garden at home (doesn't have to be big) you can
grow a portion of your own food and also decrease your dependence on certain products. This
tells the producers of tehse products to reduce the amount of food they produce and results in
less land usage and less vehicle miles
- Make a compost bin. Compost bins recycle organic waste into material that can
be reused such as humus. Compost bins reduce greenhouse emissions and waste
piles as they the food you compost doesn't end in a landfill
- I chose Food as one of the areas I am addressing because in
my ecological footprint calculator, it showed that I eat a lot
of meat and some fish as well as I never eat all I buy which
means a lot of food is wasted and a lot of crop land is used
as well. As a result, I chose Food because I can reduce my EF
a lot by cutting down on meat, saving and preserving
leftovers as well as composting extra spoiled/extra food.
- When you eat, save the leftovers instead of throwing them
out. The leftovers can be stored in containers and this reduces
plastic bag as the extra food isn't being thrown away. In
addition, since the food doesn't go bad as long as you
preserve it, you have food for your next meal. This reduces
the amount of trips to the grocery store which reduces
money, gas, and time as well as the weekly intake of food per
person.
- My Community- A Smart Growth Analysis
- I feel that an area that is lacking in my neighbourhood is the ability to create of
a range of housing opportunities and choices as Richmond Hill cannot provide
housing for the younger and/or older generation. More housing choices would
allow greater density housing which reduces land usage, as well as electric and
gas usage as it would be shared between people. In Richmond Hill, most of the
homes most of the homes are fully detached homes with only the new
subdivisions coming out being townhouses, nevertheless these new
townhouses are still very costly. As a result, when people in the younger or
older generation are looking to buy homes in Richmond Hill, they will be
rejected as they can’t find any suitable prices. Specific examples are the fact
that houses in Inspiration Communities range from 600,000 to 1,400,000, all of
which are above the possible spending budget of a graduate or even people in
their 30’s who seek to live in Richmond Hill.
- I feel that an area that is lacking in my neighbourhood is the ability to create of
a range of housing opportunities and choices as Richmond Hill cannot provide
housing for the younger and/or older generation. More housing choices would
allow greater density housing which reduces land usage, as well as electric and
gas usage as it would be shared between people. In Richmond Hill, most of the
homes most of the homes are fully detached homes with only the new
subdivisions coming out being townhouses, nevertheless these new
townhouses are still very costly. As a result, when people in the younger or
older generation are looking to buy homes in Richmond Hill, they will be
rejected as they can’t find any suitable prices. Specific examples are the fact
that houses in Inspiration Communities range from 600,000 to 1,400,000, all of
which are above the possible spending budget of a graduate or even people in
their 30’s who seek to live in Richmond Hill.
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