Ecological Footprints

Welcome to Hampton Roads Eco Footprint, a place to learn about how you can reduce your impact on the environment in our area. You can find tips on reducing your energy use, recycling, conservation and many other things.

In Girl Scouts, when we go camping, we follow the ideas of Leave No Trace, and the ideas of take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, and kill nothing but time. So in other words, when we go camping, we leave nothing behind that shows we were there. This idea, of leaving no trace that we were here, can be applied to the environment as well.

Everything we do leaves an "ecological footprint" on the earth. However, this isn't the same as the little footprints we leave behind when camping. An ecological footprint refers to an actual impact on the environment. Whether this footprint is big or little, it still impacts the environment, and believe it or not, us. An ecological footprint is the impact of humans on the environment and ecosystems, usually by using land, water, and other naturual resources. Things we do everyday leave big footprints all over the earth, but this impact can be decreased.

Recently we have begun to hear all these things about "global warming" and "carbon emissions." However, everything is not all about global warming, as other things, such as our land use, leave footprints too. Think of all the little things: the thousands of plastic bags you probably use, the cardboard you might throw away, and the thousands of pieces of paper you go through. These are all things that leave a large footprint on the earth and they can be and should be fixed with very simple solutions, without even disrupting your everyday life.

Many people don't act because they either don't care, don't believe it is a problem, or don't see what this has to do with them. I've designed this site specifically around Hampton Roads, Virginia. All the information here relates directly back to Hampton Roads and how the footprints we make effect us. Not the nation. Not Japan. Not even Virginia. Just Hampton Roads. In doing so, I hope to show you that it does have something to do with you and you can help.