my ecological footprint
| Category | Global Hectares |
| Food | 39% |
| Mobility | 15% |
| Shelter | 15% |
| Goods/Services | 31% |
| Total | 4.7 |
| Number of Planets | 2.6 |
1. What can you do to reduce your own ecological footprint?
I explored the scenarios in the footprint calculator.
Reducing the amount of animal-products I eat by half decreases the number of Earths from 2.6 to 2.3. I suppose being vegetarian is the best but I love my eggs and yogurt too much!
Purchasing products that used less packaging or were made out of 100% (PCR) recycled material would reduce it to 2.4, as would having solar panels provide most of the electricity for our house. It's quite difficult for me to implement the latter because I live in an apartment and the only way for that to happen, is if the Housing Development Board suddenly felt guilty and decided to install them on the rooftops of the apartment block.
Apparently, having ALL my appliances being energy efficient does nothing much - it's still 2.6 Earths - same for using public transportation one day more each week instead of driving my car, and for taking a local holiday to avoid flying. Singapore is really small and has a quite efficient public transport network so I can reach most places by public transport, like school. But it gets tiring going to the same places in town, so sometimes I borrow my dad's car on weekends to get away to the "rural" areas which are inaccessible except by car.
If I checked all the boxes, I'd need 1.8 Earths to sustain my lifestyle.
2. What are some of the resource inputs and waste outputs of universities like the ANU and NUS and how do these contribute to their overall footprint?
Generally, resource inputs would include electricity, water, food, paper, petrol - whatever is needed to maintain a university's on-site accommodation, faculties, toilets, canteens, and to bring students in and out of school (public transport, cars, shuttle buses). Outputs would be food waste, used paper, dirty water, erm.. wasted heat from lights and air-conditioners?
In NUS, the lecture halls are ALWAYS too cold and it's even worse when it rains. I am positive that air-conditioning surely takes up a huge portion of the electricity bills.
3. List some innovative strategies that the educational institutions like the ANU and NUS are doing to reduce their overall ecological footprint. Do any of these strategies challenge social or institutional "norms"? (That is, Change the way people behave or think?)
Both institutions have the usual strategies of reducing usage or recycling, with regards to energy, water, paper, etc. It's great that NUS has got default double-sided printing in place though - a simple strategy but effective.
In terms of innovative strategies, for ANU, they purchase over 20% of their electricity from accredited green energy sources; they water some of their sports ovals with recycled water; and they encourage cycling around the campus by providing bicycles. The impact on its ecological footprint is quite direct. NUS has the Kent Ridge Park Volunteer Program - the park is adopted by interested students who reforest/maintain the greenery, do nursery work or guide visitors around; the focus of most of its innovative strategies seems to be on awareness building or education, which indirectly reduces its ecological footprint.
I suppose these strategies do in some way change mindsets, but I'm not sure whether they are converting the non-greenies to become green, or making those who were already interested/active, even more so.
4. Devise 2 strategies that ANU or NUS could implement to reduce their footprint, and enhance sustainability. Who is responsible? Individuals changing their behaviour, the univerisity changing the way it conducts business, or both? Why?
(btw what Sustainability Resource for Universities readings are they talking about? i dont see any)
Individuals are responsible, ultimately. Even though one person can't do much, if we ALL change our behaviour, it'll create a ripple effect and I feel that that is more powerful than anything else.
One strategy is to have lights activated by motion sensors, so that when there is no activity in a room, the lights will shut off automatically. Another strategy would be to decentralize the air-conditioning system so that people in air-conditioned places can adjust the temperature if they feel that its too cold. But one problem with this is that some people might forget to switch off the AC at the end of the day.
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