Monday, March 5, 2012

Footprint Calculator Results are in!


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?
The Apocalypse is near! sign.  Uncomfortable woman and child

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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