http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/personal_footprint/
In my results it would take 3.8 earths for everyone to live the way I do and 16.9 global acres of the earth's productive areas to support my lifestyle. I found this surprising because I do partake in activities that I feel should keep my footprint low. For example, I ride my bike or take the bus mostly everywhere I go, and I recycle. The website did give me good recommendations on how to reduce my ecological footprint. Below are some of the recommendations from the website:
- reduce my animal product consumption in half
- purchase products with less packaging or with post-consumer materials
-use the bus
-take a local vacation, to fly less
This ecological footprint test asked questions about one's lifestyle asking questions such as; about what you eat, size of your home, number of people living with you, if you drive or take the bus, utility use, what your recycle and how often you fly, drive or take the bus. With the answers to these questions a footprint is calculated by determining how much agricultural land, energy, residential area and waste you consume by your lifestyle. The article in the Urban Sustainable Reader has good definition of an ecological footprint, as the "total area of terrestrial ecosystem types needed continuously to support all the social ad economic activities carried out by the people of our city as they go about their daily activities" (p292).
I also calculated my Greendex from the National Geographic website
Greendex is part of a International Consumer Study, where the calculations took into account transportation, food consumption, housing, goods consumption, waste disposal, and appliance purchasing. I received a Greendex score of 65.
The Greendex asked different questions then the ecological footprint calculator. The Greendex asked purchasing, household appliances and energy efficient household appliances questions that the other website did not have in their survey.
An ecological footprint relates to the concept of carrying capacity because it can be used to measure a populations current consumption and projected requirements against available ecological supply and point out where there will be short supplies. In my results from the Global Footprint Network it said that 3.8 earths were needed for everyone to support my lifestyle, this is portraying how far over the carrying capacity we will go if everyone strives to live like me. This way of thinking leads to an issue of environmental equity, because I don't really want to change my way of life but then it's unfair to others who are living with a lot less then myself but there are simple not enough land and resources to accommodate everyone.
If you had to change something, what would it be? For you personally, what might make the greatest impact on your footprint? What would be the hardest thing to change?
ReplyDeleteI think that the main things that I would change would be to drive less and try to fly less. I should eat less dairy and mean but I would find that difficult because i love cheese and meat is a very good source of protein.
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