Ecological footprints

The Finnish students of Comenius-project did this test about their ecological footprint. Ecological footprint tells you how big water and land area is needed by one person to produce renewable nature resources and return garbages back to nature during a year.
The average result of our tests was 4,4 globalhectares. This means that each of us needs almost 6 footboll fields of ecologically producing area.

The main reasons for the large footprint we have is our way of life. The house where we live, the vehicle what we use, all the things we buy etc. Still we can make a difference and change our lifestyle more ecological. The important thing is that you think about the ecological things in your housing and in your everyday life. In our project we tried to figure out the ways what we and the people around us can do or should not do and all the problems which might occur with this.

You and your family:

-Recycle and separate all your waste (bottles, newspapers…)
-The electricity: lamps which save energy, all the electrical machines (computer, tv…) turned off when not using them, shorter the time spent in the shower, don´t let it be too warm inside your house…
-Public transportation! The less you use your own car and the more you use bike and walk the better. Longer trips whit bus or train, not always with your own car.
-Don´t buy useless stuff and recycle the things you don´ t need anymore
-Try to buy your clothes in the jumble sale not always straight from the fashion shop
-All the food you buy for example vegetables and fruits should be home produced.
-Books and magazines could be recycled and borrowed also so that you don´t need to buy new ones all the time

The school:

-Many trash bins in the classrooms so students can separate their rubbish
-Less printing so the paper waste decreases
-Lamps which save energy
-School food cooked with homemade dish
-Different kinds of „theme-days“ considering ecological lifestyle. For example in our school we have had a day without electricity and recycling-week
-Some professores and researchers could visit the school and tell stories/facts about environmental issues

The countries:

-Each country should take care of the trash by putting enough trash cans so that it´s easier for people to separate their rubbish
-Public transport should be better: buses, trains etc more often so that people don´t need their own car
-There could be restrictions for car driving and discharges, a punishment to those who don´t follow the rules
-Laws that make for example recycling obligatory for everyone
-More water- and windenergy and other renewable resources! Less non-renewable!

The problems:

Every one of us can make a difference, even the small things are important and can make a huge change. The problem is that how many of us really wants to change their lifestyle? The climate change is a big topic everywhere but still people find it so distant.
The country or countries together, for example EU could make laws and restrictions and punishments for not acting environmentally but it´s difficult to catch those who don´t care. People disagree in many things so it´s hard to make a decision which everyone can accept. In addition, people are lazy in western countries nowadays. It´s easy to use car, the foreign products are often cheaper, travelling with airplane is cheap, shopping is a nice hobby, people are so busy with everything that they don´t have time to act environmentally… Or that´s what they think, we just need more enlightenment so that the changes for our earth can begin immediately!