ASSIGNMENT I-1   FOOTPRINTS & GLOBAL CHANGE - PART A

PART A - FOOTPRINT CALCULATIONS
 (due IN CLASS on Tuesday Sep 7th - worth 5 pts for all 3 footprints)

click here =>  PART B - FOOTPRINT CALCULATIONS
(Worth 15 points)

Part B due date:   Tuesday night Sep 14th  before 11:59 pm

BASIC DIRECTIONS

1. Go to each of the following webpages, enter the necessary information, and compute your individual Ecological, Carbon, and Water Footprints  [ NOTE: for the Carbon Footprint calculator, calculate the footprint for YOU only (not for a household).] 

2.  When you get to the final screen that shows your results for each footprint type PRINT IT OUT and WRITE YOUR NAME ON IT -- You should bring one printed results page for each footprint type to class on TUESDAY Sep 7th.

3. See the Guidelines below with specifics on some of the choices you'll need to make when entering your answers.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

Guidelines: 

  • Choose ENTER DETAILED INFORMATION for more accurate answers whenever possible. 

  • If you are an international student, you should select the USA as your current location and answer for how you live now as a student in the US.  (Later in PART B we will be comparing footprints in other countries - including yours!)

  • Print out the final page that shows your results and bring it to class on Tuesday Sep 7th with your name written on the top to earn the points for PART A.

CARBON FOOTPRINT
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

Guidelines:

[Warning:  The final screen on this Footprint Calculator seems to have a bug in it on some browsers and does not display pie charts at the bottom of the page showing Behavior Breakdown.  This won't affect your footprint calculation, however, so it's ok of your browser doesn't display these charts.  If you can, run the calculator on Mozilla Firefox which works well.]

  •  View "more info" under each question -- it will give you helpful info to guide how you should answer if you are unsure about what to choose in some cases.

  • Choose "Calculate for Me Only" even if there are others in your household or apartment

  • Select "Arizona" as the state and answer for how you live here as a student (some states generate cleaner energy than others, but you are living in AZ now!)

  • Print out the final page that shows your results and bring it to class on Tuesday Sep 7th with your name written on the top to earn the points for PART A.

WATER FOOTPRINT
Use the Extended Calculator at this link:
http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=cal/WaterFootprintCalculator

Guidelines:

  • Be sure you use the Extended Calculator at the link shown above ( not the Quick Calculator, which seems to have a bug in it.)

  • Select the United States (even if you are from elsewhere) and answer based on your current behaviors.

  • You may need to do some conversions to answer the questions on kilogram (kg) amounts for your food intake.  If you are not familiar with kg amounts, look at the food labels on the packages of things you eat (box of cereal, etc. or estimate them based on serving sizes, which are stated in grams (g) or ounces (oz) on the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food items. You can also find nutrition facts online at websites like http://nutritiondata.self.com/   A useful convertor to convert between pounds and kilograms  (or other units) can be found at http://www.megaconverter.com/mega2/    (select MASS, then pounds (Avoir.) and kilograms

    (NOTE: See our NATS 101GC Webpage under     CLASS SUPPORT LINKS for a few other useful conversion websites.)

  • Print out the final page that shows your results.  NOTE:  All you need is the part of the page that shows the box with your final results, so you can snip that out electronically and print only the results box only if you wish to save paper!)  Bring it to class on Tuesday Sep 7th with your name written on the top to earn the points for PART A.

  • Troubleshooting:  If after you click on Submit, your results come out as all zeros, scroll back up to be sure you have selected the country (USA). (Sometimes the "Select a Country" window resets itself.)