ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTING
/ CARBON FOOTPRINTING
This page ARCHIVED -
August 2008
What do we mean by the idea of a
FOOTPRINT ?
-
We all consume resources, and living in an MEDC we consume
more than our 'fair share'. By going to
THIS CALIFORNIAN
SITE, you can calculate your ecological FOOTPRINT: how much of an
impact you have on a personal level on the environment. It does this by asking a
few questions about your lifestyle. There is a discussion of how to use the
site, and work on footprints in an article in the April 2002 issue of Teaching
Geography.
-
There are Ecological footprints available
HERE but a search
on GOOGLE will throw up any number of sites which offer them. Try to put
together a table to record the results, and change the parameters to see the
effects.
Daniel Raven Ellison of West Heath School
in Berkshire has set up a great site which will have a QCA / RGS-IBG endorsed
SoW. He is also a consultant on a fab new RGS
mini-site on Education for Sustainable
Development which now includes a rather splendid Scheme of Work.
I was privileged to see Daniel's Teacher
to Teacher session at the 2005 GA Conference. He went through several areas
which could assist in the teaching of these areas, and gave me a rather nice
booklet on foot-printing in London.
- JENGA is a good game for using to teach
about sustainability. Can't keep taking blocks from the bottom without the tower
falling over at some point. Should be able to pick up a cheap version of it in
your local factory shop.
- Need to CALCULATE their footprint. Can
then ACTION PLAN how they are going to reduce it. Could also do some data
handling with the information that they produce about their individual
footprints.
- Can also scale it up. If each pupil has an
average footprint of: a particular amount, then can plot how big that is on a
map. Remember that 1 hectare is 100m x 100m - this equates to one section of a
grid square on an OS map which is easy enough to measure.
- This can then be worked out for the
particular CLASS, then the SCHOOL, then the COMMUNITY / TOWN / VILLAGE where the
school is located.
- Also bought Mark Lynas' very useful small
Collins Gem on CARBON FOOTPRINTS. This has loads of advice and information
on reducing your carbon footprint.
CARBON OFFSETTING
- Could also consider how to make activities
CARBON NEUTRAL: can pay to have trees planted to 'carbon neutralise' journeys
that they make, or activities they have taken part in...
- Could also aim to introduce an Eco /
Environmental committee onto the school council.
- There are a number of sites which offer
the chance to create a CARBON NEUTRAL EXISTENCE. A must visit site is the
FUTURE
FORESTS Carbon Calculator, which works out how to reduce your carbon in 3
categories:
DOMESTIC
FLIGHTS
TRANSPORT
and suggests how many trees you need to
plant to neutralise the carbon you created.
- The WWF Lifelines magazine for Summer 2005
gave more information on FOOTPRINTING.
- Gives links to the WWF's own
FOOTPRINTING site and a
SCOTTISH site.
- We are using up the Earth's resources at a
rate 20% faster than they can be replenished.
- The CO2 site has a section called
CLIMATE CARE. This allows you to work out and
OFFSET the Carbon dioxide emissions that are the result of your daily activities
and travelling. The Times is apparently using these offsets whenever it sends
a travel reporter round the world. It is aiming to be the first 'climate
neutral' travel section. It send a report to The Gambia for example, and the
cost to offset their reporter's share of the effects of that flight cost £14.43.
-
http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/environment.jsp - a useful set
of documents at the Mayor of London's page includes a useful guide to
London's FOOTPRINT - Recommended
- Also an excellent article in the Guardian
ahead of the FA CUP FINAL of 2007 going through some of the footprint
details: WHO ATE ALL THE PIES ? Some great statistics in this article.
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