How big is your Ecological Footprint??...

by Frog 33 Replies latest social current

  • Frog
    Frog

    Since I have a little too much time up my sleave at present I thought I’d start a thread on a subject that’s dear to my froggy heart

    For starters, here are a couple of links to on-line Ecological Footprint calculators that only take a couple of minutes to punch in basic data to get back a rough environmental impact assessment on how sustainable your lifestyle is. Give it a try & post your feedback on how many planets it takes to sustain you, so that we can all publicly shame each other;)

    http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp http://www.bestfootforward.com/footprintlife.htm

    Sustainability and people's use of nature

    Sustainability requires decent and equitable living within the means of nature. Not living within our ecological means will lead to the destruction of humanity's only home. Having insufficient natural resources, not living decently and equitably will cause conflict and degrade our social fabric.

    Therefore we need to know whether people's quality of life improves over time. Even more urgently, we need to start monitoring whether we are living within our ecological means or at what rate humanity is depleting the biosphere. We must ask: "How much nature does humanity, our country or our household use to sustain itself?"

    After all, people are part of nature, and depend on its steady supply of the basic requirements for life: energy for heat and mobility, wood for housing, furniture and paper products, fibres for clothes, quality food and water for healthy living, ecological sinks for waste absorption and many life-support services for securing living conditions on our planet. This use of nature is measured in this report, nation by nation

    http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr/rio/focus/report/english/footprint/introduction.htm

    A really great grassroots organisation called Pilotlight in the UK & Australia s tarted a campaign called ‘We Are What We Do’, and is all about raising awareness of how our individual actions change the world. This is a link to their program, which provides a 50point checklist on how we might go about living more sociologically & ecologically sustainable (you can click on each point for additional info, which provides some basic stats).

    http://www.wearewhatwedo.org.au/do_something/actionlisting.php?PHPSESSID=746510ac102d4baea2f264f89d397b2d Froggy x

  • unbeliever
    unbeliever

    I don't see any links.

  • Frog
    Frog

    whoops, try again ub!...mental note, don't try & cut & paste from word clipboard to JWD!

  • Soledad
    Soledad
    CATEGORY ACRES
    FOOD 5.7
    MOBILITY 1
    SHELTER 1.7
    GOODS/SERVICES 1.7
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT 10
    IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

    WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
    IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.3 PLANETS.
  • skyman
    skyman
    CATEGORY ACRES
    FOOD 3.7
    MOBILITY 0.2
    SHELTER 3.7
    GOODS/SERVICES 3.7
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT 11
    IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

    WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.


    IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.6 PLANETS

    I say B.S. to all of that becuase I own a Ranch and if every one lived like me it would take 100's of planets

  • tetrapod.sapien
    tetrapod.sapien

    it's true. our planet was never intended to sustain this many energy hungry apes (or any type of hungry animal of this number). which is the way it is. it is what it is, and that's what it is. a complete accident, yes, but then again, so is everything else.

    we could be doing things better. no doubt. the reason we don't is because of the low percentage of smart apes, to the masses of dumb ones. and of the smart ones, there are too few who care.

    i am having a harder and harder time caring lately. but then, that said, my footprint is actually pretty small. i just don't believe in humans anymore.

    ts

  • the_classicist
    the_classicist
    CATEGORY GLOBAL HECTARES
    FOOD 3.1
    MOBILITY 0.8
    SHELTER 1.1
    GOODS/SERVICES 2
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT 7

    IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 8.8 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

    WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

    Unfortunately, it does not take into account the fact that all of my province's electricity is generated by hydro dams.

    You've got to like this part, though:

    IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.9 PLANETS.
    our planet was never intended to sustain this many energy hungry apes
    tetra, our planet wasn't "inteded" for anything. It will adapt, just like everything had to after the meteor hit. That's not to say we should not be moderate, however.
  • the_classicist
    the_classicist

    Here we go:

    CATEGORYGLOBAL HECTARES
    FOOD3.1
    MOBILITY0.8
    SHELTER1.1
    GOODS/SERVICES2
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT7
  • tetrapod.sapien
    tetrapod.sapien

    exactly classicist, exactly...

  • the_classicist
    the_classicist

    Now all we have to do is to figure out how to terraform other planets...

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