Personal Global Footprint resources

[Boyd Roberts]

There are a great many online resources to help students consider aspects of their personal global footprint. Some are aimed at adults, while some are specifically geared to school students. Some are international – or intended to be used by people in different countries - while others are geared to specific contexts. Here are just a few examples:

Ecological Footprint Quiz – an interactive footprint calculator from Earth Day Network. Students choose the country where they live (or the one most similar to it), answer some questions and give an indication of their impact on the world.

International Student Carbon Footprint Calculator – designed specifically for secondary school students, this is based on a quite detailed questionnaire on travel, food, home etc., to calculate personal carbon footprint. You can also take part in collaborative activities with schools in other countries.

Global Footprints looks at many aspects of our footprint or impact on others around the world, taking a broad view and covering topics including food, water, waste, energy plus debt, health and trade footprints. Provides background information about the issues involved.  Geared to the UK context.

There are quite a few posts on the Award Ning relating to personal global footprint. Go to Award Ning and enter “footprint” as a search term or click on the links below:

The Story of Stuff (VIDEO) - traces everyday consumables from resources extraction all the way through to disposal as waste. A compelling and influential film.

The Story of Bottled Water (VIDEO) – looks at how marketing is used to promote an industry that has considerable environmental implications

What is your slavery footprint? – looks at the use of forced labour to make everyday products we may be using,

Personal Global Footprint resources and worksheets from Kerry Dyke of the International School of Bangkok.

The food we eat – a wide range of resources (videos, worksheets, information, links to websites etc) on food, bottled water, coffee, farming, the ethical and ecological case for vegetarianism.

Think, Eat, Save – on reducing food waste

Stories behind the labels – stories behind clothes produced cheaply (some of this relates to the Bangladeshi clothes factory collapse in 2013).