EC_CarbonFootprint

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@EC_Carbonfootprint

Bailey Antman, Sami Brown, Esteban Lorenzo


A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions; the average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world (The Nature Conservancy, n.d.). Lowering our carbon footprint can have a strong impact on mitigating the effects of climate change, which can lead to big differences. To deliver this message at Eckerd College we decided to create an Instagram account that focuses on educating and spreading awareness of the reduction of carbon emissions on campus. @EC_Carbonfootprint’s mission is to address various climate injustices related to carbon emissions and bring light to the types of solutions students can commit to on our college campus.

Our target for this project was Eckerd College students because of their existing knowledge of climate change and the ways in which carbon has an impact on their environment. Not only are students at Eckerd College more likely to care about the impact they have on the environment, they are also more likely to change their behavior due to the recognition of unsustainable habits. Through our instagram account we were able to gather a following of 104 students and/or faculty at Eckerd College who are interested in our cause as well as what they can do to help lower their carbon footprints. By offering information on how to lower your carbon footprint as well as interacting with our participants, we were able to reach and persuade a range of students to recognize and care about the footprint they are leaving on this campus and the planet. 

To influence a change in behavior, we utilized the class concept of personal narrative in our instagram posting. We used pictures of ourselves to show that we are personally invested in the message we are sharing and doing the action needed to reduce our carbon footprints. The use of personal pictures seems to have the most influence on our followers at large, with our most interacted with pictures being those that feature one of our group members. We believe this is indicative of the persuasiveness of using personal narrative, despite our narrative being mainly demonstrated through pictures. Another class concept we utilized was backwards planning, a term used in Dan Xies’s presentation, which involves diving into how we will reach our intended audience, and was helpful in organizing our timeline, and visualizing long-term goals. 


While we did not reach our goal for the number of followers we amassed, we did reach a level of interaction with our account that we consider to be successful. Our stories averaged 50 views and our polls averaged 25 participants. Our video posts received more interaction, with upwards of 60 views and an average of 22 likes. Scrolling through social media has become part of our daily routine; why not utilize it as a method of communication and public awareness? I invite you all to follow our Instagram page @EC_CARBONFOOTPRINT, and become part of the EC Carbon Fighters!




 


References


Bra, K. (2020, November 18). How to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Travels. Sustainable Travel International. https://sustainabletravel.org/how-to-reduce-travel-carbon-footprint/

Lober, D. (2021, February 10). Do Reusable Bags Really Help The Environment? ReuseThisBag.Com. https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/do-reusable-bags-really-help-the-environment

Shwom, R. L., McCright, A. M., & Brechin, S. R. (2015). Climate Change and Society Sociological Perspective. Public Opinion on Climate Change, 270-298.

Thrift World. (2020, September 20). How thrifting helps the environment. https://thriftworld.com/blog/article/how-thrifting-is-helping-the-environment

Weber, E. U., & Stern, P. C. (may-june 2011). American Psychologist. Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States, 66, 315-328. doi:10.1037/a0023253


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