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Go to http://myfootprint.org/en and read about ecological footprint analysis. Take the ecological footprint quiz, noting your responses and results. Now take the quiz again, three more times. Each time, change only ONE of your answers from your original answers, as if you had changed one of your own behaviors. Make note of: How does the changed behavior change the resulting final footprint? By how much does the footprint change? And, which particular changes appear to get the most ecological benefit?

What was your original footprint? How did it compare to the national and global averages? In what categories were you higher or lower than this average? How many Earths would be required to support a planet in which everyone lived as you do? Why do you think your overall impact is higher than/lower than/equal to the average? What factors in your life, background, or current situation account for your overall footprint? Will they change in the future? In what direction?

What three changes did you introduce in your proposed behaviors in the three further quizzes? Which of these changes had the greatest impact on your footprint? Which of these is actually the most feasible or likely change (i.e. which would be easiest)? Is the easiest change the one that would make the biggest difference in terms of ecological benefits? Why or why not? What makes some choices more difficult than others? In light of this, to what degree do you feel that global population is a factor in environmental change, relative to consumption, affluence, and lifestyle?