Final Evaluation of My Footprints

Final Evaluation of My Footprints

Ashley Uyeta 

Since my last re-evaluation, it has been a few weeks. I still have lots of mixed emotions about these calculations. As much as I want the numbers to go down every single time I take them, that isn't always feasible. Depending on when you use the calculators and what your lifestyle is in the moments ins't going to stay the same forever. I think before, I was so wrapped up in trying to get the numbers down, and trying to live in the most sustainable way I possibly could, that I only could only seek validation through the numbers. Slowly as time went by, some of the new changes became almost like habits, and I think that's were I realized that I can still feel good about the changes that I have made, while trying to improve them little by little. 

Moving forward, I want to keep working towards my goals with more understanding and empathy for myself. As long as I'm doing my best to make a conscious effort to improve the way that I am living so that it's sustainable, then it is okay to not consistently reduce my numbers in a drastic way. So, here is my third evaluation of my footprints after implementing changes and living my every day life trying to work on my footprints.

Ecological Footprint

The pictures are in chronological order, starting with my original ecological footprint before my goals. Before I created and implemented any of my goals into my life, the calculator stated that if everyone on Earth lived like me, there would need to be 4.3 Earths to sustain my lifestyle habits. At the time, I didn't realize how big of an impact I was leaving behind. I think in our society, we are so wrapped up in the idea that we only live once, so make the most of it. The idea of taking the trips we want to take, eating the food that makes us happy, buying the items that will bring up joy in the moment. But we fail to realize how that impacts the future generations that are being brought into this world, and how little we are leaving for them in order to gain more, what seems like unattainable satisfaction. 

Since my original footprint results, I have reduced how many Earths would be needed to sustain my life by about half. This shows that the changes that I have made, made a significant difference. A lot of it had to do with the instantaneous changes that I made to align with my goals Since then, my latest result shows that the amount of Earths needed went up by 0.5. At first, I definitely did make me feel a little upset that the number wasn't below 2.2. But when I took a moment to really think about it, being up by 0.5 isn't as bad as it may seem. There will be fluctuations depending on different contexts. I should be and I am happy that my number still isn't as high as it was when I first started out. The newest result shows that I am still taking my goals seriously. The ecological footprint encompasses a lot of the other footprints as well, so based on this, I believe that the majority of my other footprints will be around the same as the most previous re-evaluation. 

Carbon Footprint

When I first started on this journey of reducing my footprint, my carbon footprint stated that my household currently 38% better than other households. My households travel is extremely low because the majority of our traveling is through walking or carpooling. I know that isn't feasible or attainable for a lot of other people, as well as, depending on my situations and the future, I'm not entirely sure if I'll be able to keep it that low. In the second evaluation, it already shows that traveling went up significantly. Not as much compared to other households, but for our household, it went up by a lot. The rest of the categories, home, food, goods, and services, all went down after my goals. 

One thing that I feel like helped how much carbon that was being produced from my household, is that my roommates were also willing to make changes as well. I think that if I was the only one making such changes, then there wouldn't have been as big of a change as there was. We all cut back on our meat consumption and how much groceries we felt like we needed to buy, used less electricity and heat in all our rooms and common places, and we spent less on buying and using goods and services. 

You can see the continued trend of our household traveling going up. I think that is one category that will change a lot depending on when you take the calculator and the situation. Right now, because we are all college students, a lot of time we are able to walk to different places or use public transportation. Those might not be as accessible in the future, having to use our cars more often. The home category doesn't look like it has changed much, but I feel like we've overall made huge progress in that area, so I'm pretty content with the fact that it didn't go down drastically. Goods and services went down quite a bit again. We've all stopped spending a lot of our money on goods and services, trying to save money. In this instance it is quite low, but I'm wondering if it will be like our traveling category, depending on when I take the footprint, would it fluctuate in the same way? 

Water Footprint

My original water footprint stated that I use around 1,674 gallons of water a day and as a household, we use 6,695 gallons. From the start, I was already pretty happy with my results seeing that it was below the US average by around 200 gallons. Our household water footprint seemed a little alarming, but since there isn't a comparison, I'm not sure whether it's good or bad. All I wanted from the beginning was to see the numbers get lower after my goals. 

After my goals were taken into account, my water footprint went down around 300 gallons and our household water footprint went down around 1,000 gallons. Everyone in my household became more self-aware of how long they were taking in the shower, as well as we stopped hand-washing the majority of our dishes. We started utilizing our dishwasher more than before so that water wasn't running for a long time while washing the dishes. 

Since my last re-evaluation, for my personal water footprint, it has basically stayed around the same as last time. Same goes for the household water footprint, although it has gone down a little more. The main drastic change from the original to now was the virtual water from my meat consumption. It's nice to see that I am maintaining and being consistent with my water usage. 

 

Slavery Footprint

When we think about slavery, often times we think about the past, yet their is still modern-day slavery that society often times looks over. Looking back at my original results versus my two re-evaluations, I'm starting to wonder how accurate it was, or if I messed up the last two. Starting off with 33 slaves was hard to see. It's not something that people want to believe. Companies have hidden the types of labor that they have exploited and not many people are eager to find out whether it's true or not.

More and more people are becoming aware of modern slavery, so it's a step in the right direction, but there are still many changes that need to be made. Taking this calculator definitely is eye-opening and shows people how they might still be contributing to slavery, Despite some of the changes that I have made, especially with my meat consumption and buying more locally grown produce, I

don't think that I would've been able to reduce the amount of "slaves working for me" by 11. I could be wrong as about that as well, but I'm starting to be a little skeptical. 

In my last evaluation, I was more happy than anything instead of reflecting on how it was possible. For the last two evaluations, they were closer in numbers. From 22 to 24, isn't too bad. Overall, from my original to my last one, there has been some changes, but I'm wondering how accurate the change has actually been. One thing that I know will contribute to lowering the count is what and where I get my produce and the items that are in my closet. While I would want to continuously lower all of my footprint numbers, especially this one, I know it's nearly impossible to get it to zero, which is what most people would want. 

Reflection

The goals that I set for myself started with small steps that would improve and reduce my footprints. By starting off small, it made my goals extremely achievable and excited me to reach them. Overall, these goals are all ones that I was able to meet within the timeframe that was set for working on these goals and they are ones that I will definitely continue working on. 

1. Limit my meat consumption

2. Using less electricity 

3. Buying more locally grown/sourced foods

4. Thrifting more clothes

Now that I've actually been able to apply different goals in relation to my footprints, it's become easier to think more consciously about the actions that I take moving forward. They are also goals that won't discourage me when thinking about sustainability, making sure that it remains positive to me. I think going forward, these are goals that I'll be able to do at any stage of my life, making sure that they are long-term goals rather than short-term.