For the first eye opener assignment we took quizzes to determine our ecological footprints. I was shocked and slightly horrified with my results. In order to support my activities, the IUHPE quiz informed me that I would need 3.9 planet Earths to provide enough resources. When broken down into a pie chart, 51% is services, 20% is for food, 14% for shelter, 5% mobility, and 11% for goods. I try to be as environmentally friendly as possible, so I can't imagine how many planet Earth's a person who doesn't try would need. I read the FAQ on this site and it said it may be impossible to keep yourself within the limitations of one planet. It scares me that most of the services are societal and ones I have very limited control over. Another quiz I took was titled Carbon Independent. This compared your households total CO2 usage to the rest of the world. My families use was 7.23 which is much less than the USA's average of 20. This number made me feel better than the 3.9 Earths did. To reduce my footprint I will try and buy products with less packaging, buy more locally, and wait as long as possible before turning the heat on.
I had a similar reaction after doing this but I didn't catch the section that discussed how it would likely be impossible to live within one planet Earth. So scary, and we really need to inform others about how to live more sustainable lives.
ReplyDelete