Planetary Footprint of a Purdue Student - Mason Hall, Hillary Vrba, Annie Warner (Group 21)4/13/2018 What is a Planetary Footprint? A planetary footprint, also known as an ecological footprint, is a measure of ecological resources needed to sustain the world’s population for a given lifestyle. According to the Global Footprint Network, this measure is calculated by tracking the natural resources consumed, waste produced, and carbon emitted over six categories of surface area: cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, built-up land, forest area, and carbon demand on land. The Global Footprint Network offers a footprint calculator for the public to determine the sustainability of their own individual choices. First, the calculator analyzes the lifestyle of an individual, primarily his or her dietary choices, housing, and common modes of transportation. Next, the calculator determines how many “Earths” are required to support the world if everyone lived as that individual. The number of Earths required is simply the ratio of the amount of Earth’s resources required by that individual to the current amount of resources available. This ratio helps to visualize the planetary footprint, or amount of resources needed to sustain the world for a particular lifestyle. Results from Purdue Students To analyze the global Footprint of a Purdue student, our group gathered the questions from the Global Footprint Network’s footprint calculation survey and asked sixty of our peers to answer the questions honestly. The following illustrate the results from the student surveys: Using the most popular answers from our survey, we tested the footprint calculator from the perspective of a common Purdue student. We found that the world requires at least 4.1 “Earths” to support the world’s population if everyone were to live as an average Purdue student. In other words, if everyone were to live as a Purdue Student, we would require 4.1 times the current amount of resources available to sustain healthy populations. In Naomi Klein’s article “Capitalism vs. Climate”, she mentions that individual action alone will never be an adequate response to the climate change crisis. So why should individuals care about helping the planet? According to a survey that our group conducted, 60% of Purdue students think about the environment when making their everyday choices, but 61.7% believe that Purdue University does not provide the means necessary to be eco-friendly on campus. So what can a Purdue student do if they want to be more green on campus? One way a Purdue University student can improve the state of the planet is by getting involved in student organizations and campaigns on campus. Clubs and Organizations Like most students know, if you want to get involved in a new club or organization the best place to look is Boiler Link. By simply typing in the key words “green” or “sustainable” a dozen or so environmentally focused organizations are generated that you can be a part of. Here are just a few: Boiler Green Initiative Boiler Green Initiative is a student organization that focuses on interdisciplinary projects on campus and in the greater Lafayette area each semester. According to their website their mission is to “facilitate green initiatives by challenging the Purdue community to become environmentally engaged”. Currently they have three committees or focus areas which include the Stormwater Management Committee, Recycling Committee, and the Green Roof Committee. Boiler Green Initiative also includes and umbrella of other organizations around campus that activity work together including the Purdue Student Sustainability Council, the Electric Vehicle Club, the Purdue Energy Forum, the Environmental Science Club, and the West Lafayette Go Greener Commission. Green Greeks The goal of Green Greeks is to make Fraternity, Sorority and Cooperative houses more sustainable by educating members on how to properly implement sustainable practices in their chapter houses. One example would be teaching members on how to correctly recycle. Currently, this club has expanded to also offering a one credit course that is centered around a research project that focuses on finding the best possible way to implement recycling into a chapter house. They recently presented their research plan at the Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference on April 10th. Engineers for a Sustainable World The individuals involved in this organization are devoted to finding solutions to local and global sustainability challenges. The goal of this group is to bring together students, faculty members, and community to leaders to incorporate sustainable design in the engineering program at Purdue through projects, courses and outreach. Currently, the organization is working several projects including an app that can turn off lights from anywhere and a reusable bag sharing program with the Environmental Science Club. On Campus Campaigns The Final Straw project, which was created by Purdue students and faculty back in 2017, aims to help Purdue students become more aware of how dangerous straws are to the environment, and how there are easy ways to reduce straw waste. The campaigns’ goal is to eventually make Purdue a straw free campus! Look for them around campus to find out more info! Earth Ethics Our group collectively feels we have an obligation to ourselves, future generations, and the planet to maintain a safe and sustainable environment. This begins with an appreciation for what the planet has supplied us with as a home. As humans, we continuously take resources from the planet and use them to our benefit. Ethically, we would focus on principles that would lead to a more sustainable future. The Earth on its own is a finite resource, so as we slowly use what it has provided for us, it is only right that we maximize the utility and reusability of its resources. We also have an obligation to give back to the world as well. People should always be conscious about the way they use petroleum and other non renewable products because the access to them in the future will be limited. The sooner we switch from relying on these quickly disposable products will also be the time when we start giving back to the planet by reducing pollution through industry. We all contribute to air pollution through transportation either indirectly or directly, so to combat that we would also like to take less long car trips and try to bike more often on campus. We feel that we can also limit the amount of freshwater resources that we personally use by being minimalistic in our consumption. This means taking shorter showers, turning off tap water when not in use, and fixing leaks, to start. On a larger scale, these principles would translate to us buying more efficient home products. In our lives and careers, we would also like to contribute to the development of technology that would help to address these sustainability issues. Works Cited Ecological Footprint. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/ Hilgert, Nick. “Purdue Students Reduce Waste through 'Final Straw' Project.” Purdue Exponent, 20 Mar. 2017, www.purdueexponent.org/features/article_34091775-4f63-5e92-aad7-0dd7b54a5b7c.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share. “Boiler Green Initiative Official Website.” Boiler Green Initiative Official Website, www.boilergreen.com/. Images: https://boilerlink.purdue.edu/organization/greengreeks/gallery/album/166819 https://www.google.com/search?biw=1376&bih=673&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=HFzPWs6OKqfZjwTv-JuwBg&q=engineers+for+a+sustainable+world&oq=engineers+for+a+sustainable+world&gs_l=psy-ab.3...371168.376895.0.377025.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.DeF0_cSStgE#imgrc=fvVTX-c6kh1ZjM: https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/
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AuthorsThese blog posts are written by students in the POL 327 Spring 2017 class. Archives |