Now that you’ve
had time to look into your own ecological footprint size, I’m going to discuss
my own, as well as how accurate I consider it.
If you haven’t already read my entry about the Global Footprint Network’s
calculator tool, you can do so by clicking this link. It’ll also give you the link for the tool I’m
discussing, so that you can gauge your own ecological footprint.
My footprint
is huge. If everyone on the planet lived
the way that I do, we’d need four and a half earths. Wow!
The worst part of that, though, is that mine is actually smaller than
the average American footprint.
Double-wow.
The
calculator also revealed that I would need 20 global acres (measured in
hectares) to be able to support my lifestyle.
Scary stuff.
It’s
important to remember, though, that this is a tool. As a tool, it is used to get a job done. The job in question? Reduce my impact on the planet. This is very doable.
Based on the
pie graph I viewed, my strain on the earth’s resources is not divided
evenly. The categories are broken down
like this:
Food: 17%
Goods: 14%Mobility: 6%
Shelter: 18%
Services: 44%
The Services
category had me rather panicked.
Clearly, I thought, I need to seriously change this. It was then that I discovered that “services”
was a societal category. Services deal
with things like government services, healthcare, and the entertainment
industry. That’s not all of it, but you
get the picture.
The only way
I could change any of this is through activism.
Even my personal decisions would have minimal impact unless a large
amount of people made those same choices.
I took a
moment to consider this. Almost half of my ecological footprint can only
be changed at a societal level! That
being said, there is no way to get my footprint down to below 1 earth. Does that mean I give up? Do I scrounge up a piece of cardboard, hang
it around my neck with hemp rope, and scrawl out an apocalyptic message with
ink that I made myself?
Of course
not.
What I can
do, though, indeed, what we can all do is let politicians and businesses know
that we need this to change. If a large
amount of the public wants change it’ll happen.
Look at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart didn’t
just decide to place organic foods on its shelves because it wanted to make the
world a better place. Wal-Mart did this
because that’s what a large enough group
of consumers wanted. It made good
business sense.
The more we
demand renewable resources be used, and the more we demand that pollution be regulated,
the more this endeavor will succeed. We
can’t just stand on our soapboxes and expect others to listen, though. People learn through example. If we want to do anything substantial with
our footprint we need to start with ourselves.
We need to make changes in our own lifestyles and help others see that
those changes can be rewarding.
Let’s throw
away our complaints about the damage being done to our planet, and instead work
toward repairing it.
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