Powering Down Rm. 207

After calculating my carbon footprint and using the footprint calculator, the fact that stood out to me the most was that if everyone in the world lived like me, we would need 5.2 Planet Earths! Clearly, I need to take steps to reduce my impact. After analyzing my results more completely, I realized that 50% of my behavior breakdown was my home energy use. Because of this, I am determined to reduce the impact caused by my home energy usage by turning off and unplugging lights and electronics in my room.

Besides home energy, my food and diet impact was about 30%, my driving and flying impact was nearly 16% and the impact caused by my recycling and waste was about 5%. Since my most significant impact was definitely home energy, I decided to focus on reducing this component.

To do this, I plan on using as little energy in my dorm room as possible. This means turning off the lights, the television, and other electronics when they are not in use. I will also focus on unplugging items when I am not using them. For example, I know that I often leave my computer and cell phone on their chargers when I am not using them. So as a part of my behavior change I’ll only plug in my computer and phone chargers when either electronic needs to be charged. I’ll also attempt to use my lights as seldom as possible. To do this, I’ll open my blinds and use as much natural light as I can throughout the day. This should greatly reduce the amount of time have my lights on. Though there are many ways to reduce home energy consumption I will specifically be turning off my lights and unplugging electronics that are not in use.

I’ve chosen this behavior because it is clear that my largest impact is in home energy, and I can reduce this impact by doing very little–just unplugging and turning off! This should not be too difficult to accomplish, I will just have to change my typical routine. Instead of just flicking on the light, I’ll open the blinds. Instead of just leaving my computer on the charger, I will unplug my charger. This is not very difficult, it just may be tough to remember. I am hoping that by practicing this for the next few weeks it will become habit.