...presumably the same size as your foot...
Seagoon: Let me see that boot! (sotto voce) Hmmm, size nineteen. (aloud) What size head have you got?
Eccles: Size nineteen.
I was bored at work today, so I devoted some time to finding ecological
footprint calculators on the web. I knew these things existed, but for
some strange reason it'd never occurred to me that they'd be on the
internet - although of course, they're perfect web fodder.
So anyway. I found a few, the best of which were probably the Mountain Equipment Cooperative one (yeah, I know), and the Earthday Network one. The general gist of it was that if everyone lived like me then we'd need about 4 planets to keep us all going.
I had time, so I did about four different ones, and the results varied
a bit. The MEC one did put me off when it came out with statements like
" The average living space for a North American household is around 200m2 in your area" (in my area?), so I plumped for the Earthday one in the end.
Cut to the chase: my ecological footprint is 4.9 hectares.
Good news: the UK average is 5.3 (phew)
Bad news: the sustainability target - an equitable figure based on everybody using the same - is 1.8 hectares.
Good news: The Earthday calc has another calculator to help you work
out what the most effective steps you could take to become more
ecofriendly are.
Bad news: the best thing I can do for the planet is become vegetarian.
The thing which most startled me was the contribution that my food (all
flown in specially from New Zealand, obviously) makes to my footprint.
I was genuinely startled about that.
Anyway, go see what your footprint is.
6 comments:
Food miles are a huge thing. It's my main reason for trying to purchase local produce. I'm actually far less bothered about organic/non-organic than buying local produce. There are many advantages, from supporting local business to finding out about the welfare of the animals I'm eating. That said it's hard when the local shops only open 9-5 Mon - Fri plus Saturday mornings. If we're away at the weekend I can't get there.
I think that the ecological footprint would be enormously reduced if we would move towards nuclear power.
From Earthday Network, I use 15.6 acres (6.3 hectares). Most of this is from driving a car to work, which I'd love to fix, and likely some from vacation flight, which I'd hate to fix. I do feel good that I use under 62% of the average North American, but bad that it would take 4.3 earths to support me and 6.6 billion of my clones.
I got 35.17 acres. Ouch.
Now I don't feel so bad, Steve. I got an answer of 20 acres.
16.06 acres for me at the MEC. My total footprint 15 at Earthday. Although I agree with any evaluation of my life as adrift in excess, I'm uncertain about many answers I'm sure are influential. For example, I live near a nuke plant, so ideally my electricity use would be considered "green". Also dining out, hours spent on the internet, and units of bottled water purchased. Shouldn't "hours of sleep nightly" be here? I mean, what a metric that one is ... and I bet a few green-peas out there pulling the red eye in favor of that late evening bicycle ride down the parkway would as soon not think about it. Obviously, the world's total population minus the 50 million or so that live in relative affluence lives in two rooms (under one roof, or indoor/outdoor) in a stack or on dirt, uses only borrowed gasoline, and subsists on food grants that mostly go to their kids; so, its right to compare only locals with locals
16.06 acres here. At the MEC. Although I agree with any evaluation of my life as adrift in excess, I'm uncertain about many answers I'm sure are influential. For example, I live near a nuke plant, so ideally my electricity use would be considered "green". Also dining out, hours spent on the internet, and units of bottled water purchased. Shouldn't "hours of sleep nightly" be here? I mean, what a metric that one is ... and I bet a few green-peas out there pulling the red eye in favor of that late evening bicycle ride down the parkway would as soon not think about it. Obviously, the world's total population minus the 50 million or so that live in relative affluence lives in two rooms (under one roof, or indoor/outdoor) in a stack or on dirt, uses only borrowed gasoline, and subsists on food grants that mostly go to their kids; so, its right to compare only locals with locals
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