Take the Ecological Footprint quiz

[YankeyMCC]

It's pretty sobering. I buy local as much as I can, drive a hybrid, use my bicycle for local errands, try to conserve electricty at home and my lifestyle would still require almost 4 Earths if eveyrone lived like me.

I need to do more.

http://www.earthday.org/footprint/index.asp#

Some background on the concept can be found here:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=footprint_overview

and

http://www.rprogress.org/newprojects/ecolFoot.shtml

[truebrit71]

1. Wow.....3.4 Earths for me...

...although my footprint is 15 and the average is 24....

[Buzz Clik]

14. ditto

[tech3149]

2. I had done this before

but I went back to refresh my memory. I'm glad to say I came in with a good result of 10. I wish I could do better.

[yorkiemommie1]

3. 12

2.4

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. Cool. I'm Below Average. Still Need 4.6 Planets Though LOL

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 5.9
MOBILITY 4
SHELTER 3.7
GOODS/SERVICES 6.9

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 20



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 4.6 PLANETS.

[Xithras]

5. 2.6 Earths for me.

My score was an 11, primarily aided by the fact that I rarely fly, don't commute, and live in a heavily agricultural area which permits me to buy most of my food locally.

I was suprised to see that the average score in the US is 24. I had no idea.

[YankeyMCC]

8. Flying it what hurt me I think

I travel a lot for my job. When I'm home I don't have to commute very often and my office is very close by but I often have to fly to clients. So unfortunatley the biggest problem for me isn't exactly easy to change without changing careers.

Luckly even though I live in an urban area there are good options for regional if not exactly local (though there is some) food.

[laundry_queen]

9. 2.6 for me too.

I think some of the questions are vague (we eat meat but buy organic from a local farmer every year). What helped me was I don't commute and I don't fly.

[Kurovski]

6. 2.8

But the test is somewhat vague and does not differentiate between sources of electricity. Nor does it ask about heat sources.

"less" garbage than average? For the area? What does that mean?

Not a good one.

[StellaBlue]

7. 3.5 planets

I love this site.

I got 5 planets last year when I took it living in the UK with my ex. When I first moved back to Texas and was living with my mom I got like 8 planets. My dad, also in Texas and a stereotypical American, got 14 planets.

:eyes:

[nosmokes]

10. 2.8 for me

, but the test is biased against anyone that hasta fly or lives rural and drives. for instance, i'm not there yet, but i'm moving towards a diesel vehicle i'll run on reclaimed veg oil.. that essentially would be a zero emission vehicle but it would not be reflected in the quiz.

[hughee99]

11. I thought I'd try something out...

after doing my own and coming out at 3.5, I put in what I believe to be the most environmentally friendly answers.

So living with 7 people in a 500 square foot house of Green design without electricity, not traveling at all by any means other than foot or bicycle power, it takes 1 planet to sustain me. Given the fact that this is true of almost no one in a developed country, and even many people in less developed countries this would mean that the planet is not even close to being able to sustain the current population, let alone allowing for population increases. Is it just me or does this quiz seem to be missing something?

[Xithras]

12. Actually, you're missing something.

It's not that it takes 1 Earth to sustain you, it's that one Earth could sustain everyone if we ALL lived like that.

[hughee99]

15. That was why I was asking...

If everyone lived like that, the earth would just be able to sustain everyone. Clearly though, a very large percentage of the people on earth do not live like this and take up more resources than the example I gave. If this is the case, you would expect the earth to be well over it's carrying capacity, and although there is some debate as to that, the earth doesn't seem to be so far over it's capacity as this survey would seem to indicate.

[YankeyMCC]

18. Your location affects the result as well

A 500 sqft Green House in the US is different from the hut in sub-sahara Africa in terms of the resources required to build and maintain it and how the materials got to the location of your house.

Plus it apparently plugs in average rates of usage and pollutant production to fill in the blanks between the general information you provide it based on national per capita averages.

And it may very well be that we are 2 or 3 times over the Earth's steady state carrying capacity.

[hughee99]

19. Good call.

The same house and situation in Nigeria or India, (for example), takes up far less resources than in the US. Most of this difference is in the "food" category, so maybe it's related to the equipment used for agriculture in the US vs. some other countries.

[YankeyMCC]

13. I don't think the quiz is missing something

what is the carrying capacity of the planet? There is much speculation about that.

And as the Xithras remember it is Everyone lived the profile you put in.

[smirkymonkey]

16. 2.6 for me.

Not driving has a lot to do with that I think. I walk and take public transportation.

[VeggieTart]

17. Eeek. 17 acres.

Another problem is I fly less than 10 hours a year but more than 3. Also, my efficiency apartment is just over 500 square feet. If I say it's under 500 feet, I cut my footprint in half. But I am vegan, so that helps somewhat. I am bad in that I eat way too much packaged food and produce from far away. I very rarely travel by car (I ride buses mostly), so that helps. I don't know if my apartment has energy conservation, although I have replaced one of my bulbs with fluorescent.

[RB TexLa]

20. So shoot me, 41 footprint 9.2 planets

[VeggieTart]

21. Holy shit, are you on Atkins or what?! n/t

[RB TexLa]

22. actually more strict than Atkins

Pretty much meat and vegetables. But also wife and I are in a large apartment. I drive an older SUV and work outside sales.


The only one I try to make worse is we do try to fly somewhere as often as we can. :)



PS --- Judging from the picture, I have your cat's twin sleeping in the chair next to me.

[CabalPowered]

23. The original Wackernagel book is a great resource

for anyone concerned about their footprint.

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Ecological-Footprint-Reducing-Bioregional/dp/086571312X/sr=8-1/qid=1159549108/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1928104-6060710?ie=UTF8&s=books