What Is Your Ecological Footprint?
I’m really embarrassed right now. I just took the Ecological Footprint Quiz designed by Redefining Progress, and my results stunned me. The bottom line: If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need 3.14 Earths! My monstrous footprint requires 121.91 acres when I am ostensibly trying to survive on just one-fifth. Ugh.
The good news, I guess, is that the average in this country is 246.41 acres so I am doing much better than most, but, still, 121.91 acres! You have got to be kidding me! How can this be? As you might imagine I have an incredibly small housing footprint but my carbon footprint is through the roof. Why? Mostly because of air travel. If you take even a couple flights each year, you’re basically offsetting all the good you might be doing by biking to work and eating from your garden. Air travel as we know it is unsustainable, and I foresee it becoming a luxury in the very near future in the same way taking a cruise across the Atlantic was at the turn of the last century.
Despite my horrific score, I’m glad I took the quiz because now I know exactly what I should be working on around here. I challenge you to do the same. It takes less than five minutes and only stings a little bit.
Tags: ecological footprint
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I take the challenge, then. I want to see how this ecological footprint does for me.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:01 am
So I took this little quiz and, as I told you, I learned that it would take 3.47 earths to support my habits. But I didn’t find this depressed me or inspired me to be better. It shocked me a little to realize that my efforts have so little impact and made me feel that the cause is futile. Oddly, though, you seemed COMMITTED to lowering your “earth requirement” even more.