You just moved to a neighborhood with a neutral eco-footprint with a single goal in mind: make it green. You recycle everything, vote for eco-friendly NAPs, and get eco-upgrade parts to upgrade your household appliances.
Your effort finally pays off and the neighborhood gets green.
However, shortly after, it gets back to neutral. Then, it suddenly bounces back to green, only to get back to neutral a few days later.
Clearing up the environment takes an awful lot of time in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle, but it slides back down extremely easily.
Does this scenario sound familiar?
Seeing your eco-footprint go up and down can be really annoying.
Let’s explore why that happens.
What makes my eco-footprint go down in The Sims 4?
Your eco-footprint fluctuates in The Sims 4 because the game takes into account all the other houses in the area when calculating the neighborhood footprint.
The game recalculates the eco-footprint of the entire neighborhood every once in a while. If your neighbors’ houses are not eco-friendly, the overall eco-footprint of the neighborhood will drop toward neutral.
This is a neighborhood effort, not just a lot-specific effort.
To get your neighborhood’s eco-footprint back in the green, you need to do something about your neighbors’ houses.
One solution is to step in directly and make the other houses green using Build Mode.
But that’s only a short-term solution.
If you want your neighborhood to stay in the green for a long time, you need to change your neighbors’ behavior.
As you gain more influence, you can get other Sims in the neighborhood to follow your lead.
You need to become an example that others look up to and want to follow.
How do you do that?
To get more Influence Points, interact with your neighbors using Friendly interactions. Say hello to everyone you meet. Don’t forget to actively take part in the NAPs that the community voted for.
You can then use your influence to get townies to vote for and implement eco-friendly NAPs.
They’ll quickly notice you’re using solar panels, wind turbines, dew collectors, and eco-friendly plumbing and appliances.
They’ll want to follow your example.
Leading by example is the best strategy.
What activities trigger a green eco-footprint in The Sims 4?
The following activities will get your eco-footprint in the green:
- Use the Eco, Geothermal, and Water Springs lot traits
- Grow your own fruit and veggies
- Be a prosumer, install more solar panels, wind turbines, and dew collectors than you need
- Upgrade all your household appliances and plumbing using Eco Upgrade Parts
- Set all lights to auto and use candles when possible
- Vote for green NAPs promoting clean energy
- Use Build Mode to make the houses from your neighborhood eco-friendly
- Clean the air to improve your eco-footprint
Happy Simming!