What's your Ecological Footprint?

[unhappycamper]

ABOUT THE FOOTPRINT QUIZ

The quiz is based on national consumption averages and is meant to give you an idea of your Ecological Footprint relative to other people in the country you live in. It is not highly detailed, but should give most people an idea of where they stand.

If you already live a sustainable lifestyle, do not be discouraged by your results. There are some portions of your Footprint that are not the direct result of your consumption habits. For example, each resident of a city is ‘responsible’ for a portion of the city’s infrastructure, such as roads, schools, and government offices, regardless of whether the resident uses those services. In addition, some options that could make your Footprint smaller are not available to you as a result of choices on the part of local decision makers, such as reliable and efficient public transportation as an alternative to driving. Therefore, an important path to reducing your Footprint is to advocate for more sustainable decisions at all levels of government. This will make it easier for you and many others to reduce Ecological Footprints.

Ecological Footprints document a given population's consumption and waste production expressed in biologically productive land and ocean areas necessary to maintain these services. By aggregating data on the consumption of various resources and on the ability of the earth to provide them, the Ecological Footprint accounts provide a means to compare various components of consumption and ultimately serve as an indicator of sustainability - or, in the case of deficits, of unsustainability.

http://www.myfootprint.org/

[livetohike]

1. 13 acres

US avg. is 24 acres.

We would need three planets if everyone lived as I do. :cry:

[unhappycamper]

3. I need 5.9 planets to support my evil ways.

Perhaps I need to look at making some changes.

[RebelOne]

7. We would need 4 planets is everyone lived as I do. n/t

[trogdor]

10. 3.9 for me.

[sui generis]

2. 8.4 planets for my big ass life

This study has many serious flaws, not the least of which is an outright acceptance of overpopulation.

Just because you divide the world population into the available land acreage doesn't mean that it is acceptable to live on the resources of an acre or four, or more precisely, that the denominator should even be that high. Most vertebrates need acre equivalents that are far in excess of four acres per human if you run everything to scale.

I am seriously pro-environment; I recycle, I eat mostly fresh local seasonal vegetables and fruit with small portions of daily meat. I garden organically and I put money, time and effort back into preserving the environment and eco-system as much as possible, and still enjoy the benefits of modern life.

I suppose we could all just sit around and eat taro root and scratch our ass and try not to fart too much methane into the atmosphere, and be sure we die conveniently after our children mature, but that's not the best use of human intelligence. This quiz isn't as effective for calling attention to environmental concerns as it could be if it adjusted some of its assumptions.

[livetohike]

4. Should have asked if one had children

I don't. Overpopulation is the biggest cause of our ecological problems.

[fishwax]

5. 12 acres

half the U.S. average of 24.

[mongo]

6. 15 acres

You would think that the quiz would want to make me feel good for using 60% of the ave American. But it tells me we need 3.3 planets.

I don't know how useful this quiz really is - I don't have access to public transportation, and my little house in a small town most likely is less impacting on the planet than a person living in an apartment in a big city - but I'm sure you get a better rating for living in an apartment.

Also, in small cities what about the busses that run around all day with 5 - 7 people on them most of the time? I've been behind busses producing enough black exhaust to match 20 cars(since they are never required to meet any emisions standards).

[Debi]

8. 3.7 planets....

If I die young will that cut the amount of planets? Just sayin...

[Wcross]

9. 15 acres to support my lifestyle.

I own a 15 acre property so does that count as being even with the environment? The majority of the land is cut for hay to feed cows- does that help? BTW- If I eat meat I raise myself, does that help? I also use my home to support 6 dogs and two cats- any deduction for that?

[Just Me]

11. (((eek))) 3.6 planets for my lifestyle!!!

Yet, I live far more modest than just about anyone that I know.

[XemaSab]

12. 18 acres

I think this is an overestimate.

The "shelter" category took 5.9 acres, which I'm confused by. I have a 2 bedroom apartment, and I heat it in the winter, but in the summer I just leave the windows open for 7 months straight.

Also, the "goods and services" section took another 5.9 acres.

"This category includes consumer goods like appliances, clothing, electronics, sports equipment, toys, computers, communication equipment, household furnishings, and cleaning products. It includes services like water, sewage, garbage, telecommunications, education, health care, financial services, entertainment, recreation and tourism, military, and other government services. Since industrial lifestyles increasingly depend on services and are characterized by the use of consumer goods, this Goods and Services portion of the footprint can become a significant piece of the overall footprint."

I don't buy a ton of crap, use a lot of water, or generate a lot of garbage.

Furthermore, I live in inland California, which has a climate totally unlike either San Francisco or LA. We get WAY warmer and colder than San Francisco, and WAY colder than LA.

I think this quiz was too vague.

Informative, but vague.

[slackmaster]

13. 8.8 planets with an explanation

There is no practical way for me to use public transportation in my area. The city was not designed for it.

The best thing I could do would be to drive a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

[bikebloke]

14. 9 acres

2.1 planets
But living in an urban environment, I'm saddled with the infrastructure.

[etherealtruth]

15. Need 1.1 planets for my lifestyle...

... Ticks me off that the Detroit Metro area (for all intents and purposes) has NO mass transit system

[NMMNG]

16. 21 acres

It says if everyone were to live as I do we would need 4.7 planets :shrug:

I don't know about that...