What Is My Carbon Footprint?

Description
This activity allows students to calculate their carbon footprint using an online calculator. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product. A household’s carbon footprint varies depending on factors such as home size, types of vehicles used, and what household members eat and purchase. In this activity, students calculate their household’s carbon footprint by entering data into an online calculator. At the end of the activity, students suggest ways for reducing their carbon footprint.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Estimate the amount of carbon dioxide produced either directly or indirectly through everyday activities.
- List several ways to reduce a household’s carbon footprint.
- Compare the average carbon footprint to their own.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
atmosphere, carbon dioxide (CO2), emission, global warming, greenhouse gas, pollution
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-ESS2-6; SEP2, SEP5
AP Biology (2019)
SYI-2.B; SP1, SP4
IB Biology (2016)
4.3, 4.4
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 5.7, 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, 6.13, 9.4, 9.5
Learning Objectives & Practices: EIN-2.I, ENG-3.B, ENG-3.C, ENG-3.E, 3 ENG-3.T, STB-4.E, STB-4.F, SP1, SP5, SP6
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9–12.4
Math.N-Q.2; MP2, MP5
Vision and Change (2009)
CC4, CC5; DP2, DP3, DP6