Activity 2a |
What is your environmental footprint? |
Mentor
Helga Nordhoff |
Your carbon footprint is an estimate of the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced to support your lifestyle and activities. The ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of land and ocean area you need so support your consumption habits and absorb your waste.
Your carbon footprint is affected by the following:
- The country you live in. (Nothing much you can do about that at the moment.)
- The type of home you are lliving in.
- Your lifestyle; this includes the way you heat/cool your home, what methoods of transport you use, etc.
- Your habits; this is refers to your consumer habits, your recycling habits, etc.
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Activities
- Go to "The Carbon Footprint of Nations" website (http://carbonfootprintofnations.com/content/calculator_of_carbon_footprint_for_nations/) and compare South Africa's national carbon footprint with that of our neigbouring countries, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
If the data does not display - look at the screenshots in the Word document.
Do this in the form of a table in a Word document. List - as rows - the footprint for exports, imports, capital, government, households direct, households indirect, the total carbon footprint and lastly the carbon footprint per capita. Place the country in the columns.
Save your document on the network drive in your folder - name it YoursurnameFootprint.docx
- Calculate your ecological footprint on the "Ecological footprint" web site (http://myfootprint.org/en/visitor_information/)
- Capture the result in the above Word document under the heading 'My ecological footprint' and write down any recommendations made on the website of what you can do reduce your impact on this earth.
- Read chapter 15, Stuff, of David MacKay's Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air. Capture your thoughts about this chapter in your electronic diary.
- Keep track of any web pages you visit and reference them correctly under a heading 'References'. Guidelines for the Harvard Reference method are available under resources.
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References & Resources
- Michelle & Riaan Garforth-Venter. May 2011. the green line. LAPA Publishers
- Daniel Marnewick. 2010. Replace your Carbon Footprint Bicycle Tread. Article from the April / May edition of Ride magazine. Viewed online on 20 March 2012 at http://showme.co.za/lifestyle/replace-your-carbon-footprint-with-bicycle-tread/
- David JC MacKay. 2012. Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air. Viewed online on 28 March 2012 at: www.withouthotair.com/
- SAinfo. 27 Ictober 2008. Calculate your carbon footprint. Viewed online on 20 March 2012 at: www.southafrica.info/about/sustainable/footprint-241008.htm
- Melissa Rudd. 16 March 2012. South Africa's dirty feet - counting carbon emissions. African Business Review, Money Matters.
Viewed online on 20 March 2012 at: http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/money_matters/south-africas-dirty-feet---counting-carbon-emissions
- Wikipedia.
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