Ecological Footprints

I think that the ecological footprint activity struck a chord between optimism and pessimism. Although I would not call the exercise pessimistic and actually do not believe that the word "pessimism" applies to this activity in any sense, changing our footprints would require a lot of effort. While the lab emphasized that almost everyone in the class had an environmental footprint that was unsustainable, it also showed us that we could still make a difference because there is still time to change. Changes that would be the most difficult for me to adopt would be those regarding travel and food consumption. While utilizing public transportation is a good alternative to driving one's own car, in Phoenix, it is difficult to use public transportation to go everywhere one would go to in one's own car. However, carpooling is very possible; I could certainly, and do, carpool with friends. A lot of my travel footprint came from airplane usage, though, and that is something that I would definitely not want, or be able, to give up; travel is very important to me. Obviously, food consumption is also something that would be difficult to alter as I don't think I eat more than my fair share right now. I could, however, make a greater attempt to eat locally grown foods bought from farmers' markets; this would clearly require more effort than going to the closet grocery store and picking up whatever they happen to have in stock. As an exercise, figuring out my own ecological footprint was certainly an eye-opener for me and I think that it has definitely helped me put what I have learned so far into the context of my own life. It has allowed me to connect my own life and experiences with those of others around the world, and that type of insight is always priceless. (308)