Ms. Newburn’s Math & Science Blog

This weekend I was inspired to create a website called Save the Planet: Ecological Footprint Education. One of the most valuable things we can do is to become stewards, or protectors, of the Earth. This website has resources, videos and suggestions on how to reduce your ecological footprint. If you know of any other great ideas on how to save the planet or other helpful resources, please share them with the class. (Click on the title of the email. It’ll take you to the blog where you can post comments for all of our benefit.)

We are currently in a very consumer-based culture, which is not living at a sustainable level. We need to question the value of this pattern, if we are to change it. Do you feel better when you make a purchase? Does it give you a deep sense of satisfaction or is it temporarily filling a void? Creating a shift in awareness and values will be important aspects of healing the planet. Are you willing to question your shopping impulses?

I just took the ecological footprint quiz. Have you taken it yet? Here are my quiz results.

	CATEGORY ACRES FOOD 2.2 MOBILITY 2 SHELTER 9.9 GOODS/SERVICES 8.2 TOTAL FOOTPRINT 22
	IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
	IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 5 PLANETS.

5 planets! Yikes! It can be a bit depressing to see the results of your quiz. Don’t despair. Take action! Look at the choices you make daily and your consumption. What can you do to decrease your ecological footprint? Post your comments for others to benefit from your wisdom and insight.

If you liked the ecological footprint quiz, you may also enjoy taking the Bobby Bigfoot Quiz. It shows how the daily choices that you make impact your ecological footprint.

We all leave footprints in the sand, the question is, will we be a big heal, or a great soul.

‘Tis the holiday season for many of us. What choices will you make when it comes to the ecological footprint you place on the planet? Why not create a healthy footprint for yours and future generations!

First off, you may be asking, “What is an ecological footprint?” According to Wikipedia’s definition, “an ecological footprint is a metaphor used to depict the amount of land and water area a human population would hypothetically need to provide the resources required to support itself and to absorb its wastes.”

Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz to see how much resources you use. I hope you’re sitting down when you take it. It’s quite intense to hear the amount of resources we as Americans use. I also recommend you take the quiz pretending you are from another country. You’ll be flabbergasted at the difference!

Things to Consider About Sustainability and Your Footprint
1. When you buy something, it must last as long or longer than it takes to make the raw ingredients to be sustainable.

• Water bottles: A plastic water bottle, which is made of petroleum, takes millions of years to create. Yet we throw it away after an hour.

millions of years to make > 1 hour to drink NOT sustainable

• Jeans: Jeans are made from cotton, which takes less than a year to grow.

less than a year to grow < wear jeans for more than a year Sustainable

2. Packaging is a huge waste of natural resources. Buy things with a minimum amount of packaging. Also bring your own bags to the store. If it’s a small purchase, ask that they don’t put it in a bag.

Holiday Suggestions from My Family to Yours
My family used to do several things that I’d like to share with you to help you be more environmentally conscientious.

• First, we often wrapped gifts in the comic section of the paper. It was fun and colorful, and we all agreed that it was an easy step we could all take for the planet.

• We also had boxes that had tops and bottoms. The tops were wrapped in wrapping paper and we used these boxes year after year… not to mention the bows. This year I received some gifts for my 40th birthday and they were in the boxes that I remember from when a kid. What a nice childhood memory!

• Create attractive cards or gift tags that identify gifts that can be used year after year. For example, “From Mom & Dad, To Rebecca.” We had little felt gift tags that we made and we used them every year for Christmas. Think of all of the paper we saved, and it was a sweet thing to see those little tags. We still have them 35 years later!

• Another cool thing that we did is that we didn’t have a Christmas tree. In 2002, over 20,000,000 trees were cut in the US alone by commercial farmers. And that’s just for the US! We had a Christmas branch instead. We cut some large limbs from trees that needed to be pruned and from the limbs we created a “tree.” Everyone always commented on how beautiful our trees looked. UC Berkeley School of Forestry has an annual sale of trees that have been cut from national parks that are potentially a fire hazard. If you celebrate Christmas, see if there is an alternative that suits your family’s needs and concerns when it comes to Christmas trees.

For more information on ecological footprints, check out this web quest.

This holiday think about the purchases you are making and the gifts you are requesting. What ecological footprint will you leave on the planet for your generation and future generations?

Have a lovely holiday!