In the case study entitled “State of the States Report” conducted by the researchers at the Global Footprint Network in 2015, I was intrigued by the variation in size of each individual state’s ecological footprint. The data presented in the report is outdated, however, I still feel that it provides good insight on state-level differences.  Comparing ecological footprints globally is valuable and necessary to understand our Earth on a broader scale, but I personally neglected to think about the wide variation that occurs within a singular country. The United States is unique because of the natural variation in environment, size, population density, and ecosystem. This case study breaks down each state’s per-capita ecological footprint, with residents of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware producing the largest ecological footprint, and residents of New York, Idaho, and Arkansas producing the smallest footprints.

In this graphic featured in the report, the differences between Virginia (the largest footprint) and New York (the smallest footprint) are striking. This data debunked my false assumption that the amount of people in an area naturally leads to a larger per-person footprint when in actuality, the size of the footprint is dependent on the amount consumed by the people.

Upon observation, I noticed the largest differences in the housing and personal transportation sections of the per-capita footprint. This is due to the majority of New York’s residents living in smaller, compact, apartment-esque housing. The population in New York is more congested, compared to the larger suburban portion of Virginia, where homes are larger. With regards to transportation, leading to personal CO2 emissions, New York residents frequently use mass public transportation, lowering their individual footprint. Personal transportation is more common in Virginia.

I grew up in a suburban community in Northern Virginia, and after analyzing this data, I have a better personal understanding of my own ecological footprint. I am also able to conceptualize this information with my firsthand understanding of Virginian’s consumption habits, leading to their large per-capita footprint.

References:

Carbon Pollution from Transportation. (2020, November 20). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation

State of the States Report. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/2015/07/14/states/