Kirsten Balding at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, is a huge advocate of using Global Footprint Network\u2019s Ecological Footprint calculator to teach students about sustainability. \u201cIt is a really engaging way for students to measure their consumption of resources,\u201d says Balding. \u201cIt\u2019s a very clear and simple way of communicating a complex concept\u2014that also presents solutions too!\u201d<\/p>\n
And she doesn\u2019t just refer to the calculator in a single class session of her sustainability course, but refers to the results over the entirety of the course.<\/p>\n
From Australia to the United States, university students and teachers across the world have contacted Global Footprint Network over the years to praise and offer ideas for improving the Ecological Footprint calculator.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not only in environmental science courses that the Footprint calculator is proving a thought-provoking instructional tool. Jessica Piekielek, who teaches sociology and anthropology at Southern Oregon University, has taken advantage of the calculator in her Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class to talk about global population growth, development, and social inequality. \u201cI especially appreciate that students can experiment with calculating Footprints based in other countries, so that we can compare results and discuss,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n
Balding from RMIT University echoes that sentiment. The calculator, she says, \u201chelps students understand the relevance of sustainability and global ecological overshoot to their own lives and careers, making them realize that sustainability and climate change is their problem too\u2014and not something to leave to \u2018someone else\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gu\u00e9nola Nonet, who is a professor in Management and Public Administration at Nova Southeastern University in the United States, uses the Footprint calculator to teach graduate students about sustainability. \u201cThe Footprint calculator is fun, insightful and students love using it. We use it to look not only at the mean of the entire class\u2019s Footprint but also students\u2019 individual Footprints. Their comments are astonishing,\u201d Nonet says. \u201cI\u2019m always happy to see the awareness it helps create and often receive comments like \u2018I thought I was doing well\u2026 Now I see my true impact.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
University students have been as enthusiastic as instructors about the calculator. Currently available in 11 languages for 16 countries, the calculator is used by both undergraduate and graduate level students for research and other school work.<\/p>\n
Students at the Escuela Superior Polit\u00e9cnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Ecuador research their personal Ecological Footprint. Heydi Fuentes, a student at ESPOL, prefers Global Footprint Network\u2019s Footprint calculator because it includes several lifestyle choices and leads to more precise Footprint results.<\/p>\n
Elfe Marschall, a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York, wrote, \u201cI find [the calculator] very fascinating and have told my friends and family to check it out!\u201d<\/p>\n
Amanda M. Onley-Willette, a student at Midlands Technical College, highlighted the comprehensiveness of the calculator, \u201cespecially at the end when the program gives you different suggestions on how you can improve your Footprint.\u201d She added, \u201cMaybe if we got together and collaborated among our different communities, we could come up with more ways to reduce our Footprint as a whole along with ways to improve one\u2019s personal impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, in a future update of the calculator, Global Footprint Network aims to show the effects of scaling individual action to a larger national or even global level. We also hope to create a new version of the calculator that works on mobile devices.<\/p>\n
Please share your experience using the calculator with us at media@footprintnetwork.org<\/a> or consider supporting the calculator by making a donation at footprintnetwork.org\/donate<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kirsten Balding at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, is a huge advocate of using Global Footprint Network\u2019s Ecological Footprint calculator to teach students about sustainability. \u201cIt is a really engaging way for students to measure their consumption of resources,\u201d says Balding. \u201cIt\u2019s a very clear and simple way of communicating a complex concept\u2014that also presents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[128,122,92],"class_list":["post-6822","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-blog","tag-calculator","tag-education","tag-personal-footprint"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n