Living Within Means

You may live within your means, but do you live within Earth's means?  

I took a quiz on Ecological Footprint  that estimated the ecological footprint (the amount of land and ocean area required to sustain my consumption patterns and absorb my wastes on an annual basis). I would say that we have an average size household and use an average amount of food and water;  we don't live an extravagant life, and I was still surprised by the outcome of my footprint.  If everyone on Earth lived my lifestyle, we would need 8.87 Earths to sustain us. My Results  Now, my goal is not to bring it down to zero Earths, but to lessen my household's impact by at least half;  I think there are a lot of improvements that I can make such as making a garden, recycling more, switching to energy saving appliances and fixtures.

Global Footprint Network has another quiz to take.  I like this one because it has cool graphics and music.   My results from this quiz are that we would need 5.2 planets to sustain life.  The two largest categories are food and services (at least food I am confident I will be able to be less dependent on)  .  It also has a way to explore scenarios that will reduce my impact (like eating fewer meat based foods and more fruits and veggies).

Now the two footprint numbers are way off from each other, but if you look at the bigger picture, it just means that I need to be more conscious of my style of living and that I can do things to help lower my carbon footprint in this world.  Just think if everyone changed a few little things, like make their own herb garden or change to low flow showers and toilets, or florescent bulbs;  that could create a HUGE impact!!

What is your ecological footprint?

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