Conclusion

At the conclusion of this unit, my global footprint has been reduced from 7.5
hectares (beginning of unit) to 5.4 (end of the unit). This is also less than the
Victorian state average, which is of 6.8 (EPA Victoria, 2013). The amount of planets I
would use has also been reduced, at the beginning of the unit it was on 4.2 planets,
and now it is 3 planets. However this means that although my global footprint is has
been significantly reduced; my global footprint is still ultimately unsustainable.
Beginning of unit Now
Hectares 7.5 5.4
Planets 4.2 3
Food 52% 38%
Shelter 14% 19%
Mobility 14% 19%
Goods 7% 6%
Services 13% 18%

Breaking down my percentages from what they were at the beginning of the unit to
now, the area I was focusing on the most (food) has been quite dramatically reduced
from 53% to 38%. However this has caused some of the other areas percentage to
rise. Some of the things I implemented to decrease my global footprint and my food
percentage included creating and looking after a veggie garden (See posts 24
th

March, 22
nd
April and the 19
th
of May). I also reduced my meat intake, by eating
more salads and substituting the meat in my sandwich for a different item (eg jam,
salad etc) (See posts 31
st
March, 30
th
April, and the 16
th
of May). One thing I was
surprised about was how easy it was to actually implement this change. The only
thing I struggled with was the initial change in habits, and to think about what I could
do to make these changes. Once I had started buying different foods and knew what
else I could put on my lunches, it was pretty easy to makes these changes to help the
planet. Gerhard (2014) writes that cultural sustainability without any doubt is
grounded in human experience and behaviour....We have to educate ourselves
towards a green attitude (p. 674). Before I could make these changes to the way I
lived, I had to change my behaviours and thought patterns to implement change.

On average I have also implemented the change I was hoping to in the area of
transport. Although on the chart it indicates an increase in percentage from 14% to
19%, this will be to compensate for the fairly high decrease in my food section. There
have been two ways I have implemented change in transport. Firstly I have used
public transport as much as possible, to prevent the amount of petrol I have used.
(See post from the 14
th
of April) I have also carpooled with people on many occasions
to further reduce my impact on the roads. (See posts 30
th
March, 13
th
April, and the
2
nd
May). As noted in my plan of action, this was one area that I knew I would find
difficult to change. As I live in a more rural area, it takes time and petrol to get to
places, and often there is not a way to do so by public transport. However, my petrol
consumption at the end of the unit has been reduced to 28L per week, compared to
the 38L at the beginning of the semester. This probably can be accounted to the fact
that I have not been driving to the city or to my family (who live further out), and I
have been going with my family when we do go on these trips.

My familys water consumption at the beginning of the unit was extremely good
averaging 83L per person per day. As we did not have a bill to compare this to at the
end of the unit, I took a rough reading from our metre at the front of our house (See
post from the 27
th
of May for more details on process). The reading showed that we
use approximately 105L per day per person. I would estimate that this increase on
water usage would possibly be because due to the colder weather we would be
taking longer showers. One change that I continue to work on is to make sure we do
not use excessive amounts of water when showering.

Our electricity usage at the beginning of the unit was 3 kWh per day per person. At
the end of the unit our usage was 2.9 kWh. Although I planned to reduce my
footprint in this area by taking the plugs out of the wall and turning power points off
at the wall, I did not achieve this goal over the course of this unit, however I intend
to keep attempting to achieve this goal.

Our gas bill also stayed roughly the same, with our consumption at the beginning of
the semester being 9.5Mj per person per day, and at the end of the unit it was
10.9Mj per person per day.

Type of waste Beginning of unit End of unit
Paper 0.2kg 0.3kg
Plastic 0.5kg 0.4kg
Metal 0 0.1kg
Food 0.4kg 0.6kg

My waste is quite similar to the beginning of the unit. Nothing has significantly
changed. However I have learnt many things over the course of this semester which
has changed the way I sort my waste, and I have added these changes into my
lifestyle, in order to become more sustainable. (See posts from the 21
st
and 27
th
of
March to see what I learnt in tutorials)I also began to use reusable containers (See
my post from the 16
th
of May) instead of wrapping my lunch in cling wrap. This is one
area that I intend to continue the change after the unit has finished, as the change is
quite easy to implement.

I also reduced my intake on the amount of goods I bought. Instead of buying what I
wanted, I began to think more about whether I really needed the product before
purchasing it. On several occasions, I refused to impulse buy and instead went
home without the item. If several weeks later I had rethought whether I needed the
item, then I would go back and buy the item. Generally I would refrain from buying
this item, as I no longer was interested in it.

There were a few surprises that I encountered over the course of the semester. One
of which was the amount of change that was occurring already in the world that I did
not know about. My post from the 18
th
of March shows the range of recycled cards
that I found at the supermarket one day something that I had no idea about. I also
found out about the health benefits of organic food, something that is good for the
sustainability of the planet, and also good for us. (See post from the 9
th
of May)

Over the course of this semester I have taken many steps towards becoming more
sustainable, especially as I have learnt more and more details about my personal
habits and the damaging effects that the way we have on our planet. I will definitely
keep working on areas of my lifestyle that are especially damaging towards the
planet after this semester, and will continue to look towards more ways of living
sustainable.


















References:

EPA Victoria (2013). Ecological Footprint - Australia's Footprint. Retrieved March 14,
2014, from
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/ausfootprint/default.asp


Gerhard, F. (2014). Becoming sustainable: Human determinants of change. Science of
the Total Environment, 481, 674-680. Retrieved from
www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv