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What Is My Carbon Footprint?

Map of the world with a footprint over it. CO2 is repeated in the footprint.

Topic

  • Environmental Science
  • Human Population & Impacts
  • Climate Change
  • Scientific Skills & Literacy
  • Science as a Social Process

Resource Type

  • Activities
  • Lessons

Level

High School — General
Saved By
61 Users
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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

One 50-minute class period to enter the data.

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)

PDF files meet criteria.

Version History

Date Published 03.07.13
Date Updated 12.18.20

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

Materials

Google Resource Folder (link)
Student Handout (PDF) 341 KB

Related Science News

UN: Huge changes in society needed to keep nature, Earth OK
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