This spring, more than 320 Concord-Carlisle High School students took aim at their carbon footprints as part of a third-quarter Earth Science project on home energy assessments.
The 11 classes logged into the ConcordConserves.org calculator, tallied their carbon footprints and then competed to see who could reduce the most carbon by choosing from a list of reductions, such as planting trees, eating locally and replacing light bulbs.
Collectively, the students made more than 1,500 reductions that resulted in 740 metric tons of reduced carbon emissions, according to data from ConcordConserves.org.
“I was really pleased we were able to do that,” said Peter Nichol, the teacher who designed the project. “I think it’s a great way for the town to look at being more energy efficient and reducing its carbon footprint is having the students bring that home, because some of their parents may not be aware of it.”
The project was given by three earth science teachers — Nichol, Ray Pavlik and Jeff Yuhas — and incorporated sustainable issues with the project which normally asks students to design a website for a chapter in a text book.
Students were asked to calculate their household energy use and carbon footprint by looking at household utility bills and travel habits. Then they created websites detailing their home energy analysis and a data summary, including what the student’s family could to do lower its footprint and save money on energy bills. The websites were submitted on flash drives.
“I felt that the project was a good way for the grade as a whole to examine their carbon footprints,” said Brian Rich, a freshman who participated in the project. “Since we all had the same project, many people talked and compared, and it allowed us to see where our families fell on the carbon spectrum.”
Calculating footprints
The high school project is the most widespread usage the ConcordConserves.org carbon calculator has seen since it was introduced in January.
“We’re hoping to get other groups involved,” said ConcordConserves.org founder Harry Bartlett. “This is the type of thing we are looking to use to raise more awareness and get people involved. We’re looking to introduce this not just at the high school, but even the middle school and the fifth grade to introduce it into the curriculum and hopefully get it into the homes.”
The carbon calculator was developed for residents and students to lower their impact on the environment and learn how their carbon footprints — and lifestyles — compare to those of others around the world.
After registering to the website and creating an account, the calculator lets folks measure the amount of carbon their household uses, choose energy-saving initiatives from a list of proposed reductions and compete against other groups to see who can reduce the most.
“The complete feature really is what took off,” Bartlett said. “A lot of what we look at here is how do you get people to change behavior, and things like peer relationships play a key role in getting people to change their behavior.”
Changing behavior
Seeing how their carbon footprints stacked up against others in the global community was an eye-opening experience for several students and teachers. Another surprise was how seemingly every action influences one’s carbon footprint.
“I didn’t even know how some of these things helped the environment,” said Colin Smith, a freshman who participated in the program. “I didn’t realize front-loading washers helped the Earth.”
They may have had a leg up on the competition, however. Smith’s mom helps ConcordConserves.org update the calculator on its website.
For Rich, making changes is a more gradual process.
“Overall, I think we have changed our behaviors a bit,” he said. “It’s still taking a while to set in, but we have been taking small steps by turning off lights while not in the room, selectively using air conditioning, biking to the library. … Also, we are about to start composting some things to make better soil.”
Students, teachers and the folks at ConcordConserves.org all agreed the value of the project was that it got students and their families thinking twice about situations where they could save carbon.
“I feel like as an earth science teacher it is my job to be more aware of our impact on our planet and I think this is a good way to do that,” Nichol said. “I think American society is living beyond our means right now in the way we use resources — we use a quarter of the world’s energy and we’re a fraction of the world’s population. I think those are all important issues to address and I think we’ll have a much healthier economy when we can grasp some of those issues and live in a more sustainable economy.”
