Ecological Footprint: Week 3 Update

With any long-term goal, it is helpful to set smaller goals that will help you get there! These small goals should be specific and measurable and as suggested by my professor, concerning daily activities.  

I don't really understand how my initial result was so high compared to other students. I don't drive, I'm not a carnivore, and I feel as though I've already adopted some good energy/water-saving habits. When I said that I have little information, I meant on things that I suspect most college students aren't fully aware of: how the apartment I currently rent was built, what my roommate does when I'm not around, and so on. I was a little stumped! After looking through some more online suggestions, here are some changes:

1. Shop at my local co-op market: This one's not changing, but I guess since I usually buy some produce once a week, I'll say that I'll visit the co-op once a week at least.
2. Get my roommate to do laundry together: I'm not sure if I can convince her yet because she's sort of a germaphobe, that's why she does laundry more often than I do, but if we did our loads together then we'd be saving on energy, water, and quarters!
3. Walk to/from campus more often, avoid taking the bus: I will walk to campus 3/5 days, and walk home 3/5 days. Why not everyday? Cause I bus to work after classes on some days.

Drought Emergency in California (and Nevada)

Last year was the driest year California has ever recorded, since the state started measuring rainfall in 1849 before it even became a state. Statewide averages can sometimes hide important fluctuations between in-state regions. The following images illustrate that (1) southern California is much more severe than northern California as one might expect and (2) no relief occurred in January 2014, which only added on to the extreme lack of precipitation during October through December 2013.

Basically this deficit has been years in the making and the forecast for 2014 isn't looking any better.

Resources

California Has Driest Year Ever -- And It May Get Worse

The Ecological Footprint of a College Student

Whether or not I'm an average college student is debatable, but here are my results after taking the Ecological Footprint Quiz:

Here's what I'm going to do about it
The best thing for me to try and reduce is either my food or goods and services footprint. A lot of the things in my carbon and housing footprint are out of my hands at this stage in life, so it makes sense. I can...
-Shop at my local co-op market more often. I seriously live only half a mile away from it but not gonna lie, it just hasn't been that important to me.
-Plant a garden. Well I can't plant a garden around my apartment building but I can grow herbs on the windowsill.
-Recycle electronics. I'm already a little OCD about sorting recyclables but I'm terribly at recycling electronics. I actually hoard them for years not knowing how to properly dispose of them. 

Notes
-I answered the quiz as if I was predominately living with my family which is not the case but i just have more information. 
-I also approximated on several numbers.
-I wasn't sure on a number of things, pretty much, even after googling them.