Ecological Footprint

Ever wonder how much nature must be consumed in order to sustain your lifestyle? For my Environmental Studies class, I had to calculate just that. This calculation is also known as an ecological footprint; and as I had imagined, my footprint is rather large. Check it out it!

After taking this ecological footprint quiz, I realized there are many steps I can take in order to reduce my overall footprint. These include:
-taking public transit or carpooling more often
-developing a driving plan/schedule in order to reduce miles driven
-riding my bike or walking to areas nearby
-buying products with less packaging
-buying local, organic food
-take shorter showers
-use biodegradable, non-toxic items

After a month of watching my habits, and limiting what I ate and where I went, I significantly reduced my footprint. Now I only need 4.1 Planet Earths to provide enough resources (instead of my earlier 6.5). Just imagine what could be accomplished in a longer period of time!

Are you interested in knowing your ecological footprint? Take the quiz at http://www.myfootprint.org/ or http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/.

Electronic waste is a common problem within our society. On April 19th, California Electronic Asset Recovery (CEAR) held multiple e-waste collection events throughout five counties at participating McDonald's locations. To help in this e-waste collection, I volunteered at a McDonald's in Folsom, California. From 8:00 am until 12:00 pm, people continuously dropped off their e-waste, until our storage container was full!

Our e-waste collection event was definitely a success, and a great opportunity for individuals to dispose of their unwanted electronics! If you have read this far into my blog, you are probably wondering what actually constitutes e-waste? Electronic waste is also referred to as e-scrap, or electronics that have reached their demise. Such items include: televisions, computers, VCRs, cell phones, etc. It basically includes anything with batteries, a circuit board, or plug, but for more information on CEAR and what other items are considered e-waste you can go to http://cearinc.com or http://cearinc.com/what-is-e-waste/what-can-i-recycle.