? of the Day: What is your ecological footprint on Earth?

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 05/17/2006 - 07:44.

I was shocked yesterday when I asked my 70-something mom if she was planning to replace her aging car anytime soon, and she said she'd like to get a hybrid. She is also interested to move from a large house in Shaker to a smaller condo in University Circle, so she can live near what she values most in the community. She wants to minimize her ecological footprint on Earth, while she is still here to help. While mom is a progressive, she has not previously been nearly so concerned about her individual impact on the environment. This is progress!

We need better environmentalist role models in the community, including 70-something grandmothers. And we must make examples of high-profile ecological offenders, from individual GEM employees, managers, executives and shareholders who just contaminated the region, to the Hummer driver with the "ENVYME" license plate who is so offensive to all man-woman-and-childkind. The media and ecological frontlines are great places to begin - community leaders should investigate their negative impact on our environment, champion social responsibility, change behavior when appropriate, and step forward as positive role models, if they may.

There is an easy way for folks to benchmark social responsibility, by measuring your ecological footprint on Earth... go to http://myfootprint.org/ and complete a two minute, 15 question quiz (share your results as comments here). The results tell you how many of the Earth's biologically productive acres of land are required to support your consumption of resources, and how many planet Earths would be required to sustain the world if everyone lived like you. Read on...

To put the outcomes in perspective, at the Futures Forum in 2004, EcoCity director David Beach confided we need 26 acres to sustain his lifestyle (and he considers himself
a good ecological citizen), and if everyone on earth lived the way he does we'd need 6 planets for all the Earth's citizens.... see comlete write up here. Go to http://myfootprint.org/ and take the survey and let us know your results as a comment here... for now, let's just gather some perspectives... ASAP, I'd like to formalize this into a very public NEO community stakeholder social responsibility benchmarking initiative. I'll post my footprint, will you?

( categories: )

Norm Roulet's ecological footprint

Survey completed at http://myfootprint.org/ on May 17, 2006, showing room for improvement. I'll be working on that:

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 2.7
MOBILITY 0.7
SHELTER 2.5
GOODS/SERVICES 2.2
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 8

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 1.8 PLANETS.

My updated ecological footprint

he survey has been updated and is getting quite good - take the scological footprint test here...

I remain pleased with my results, especially as I see I have done much in the past years to reduce my environmental impact on Earth - progress...

Carbon Footprint (in global acres)

Footprint 45.07
Country Average 91.43

Food Footprint 25.28
Country Average 65.74

Housing Footprint 28.66
Country Average 31.58

Goods and Services Footprint 2.88
Country Average 57.66

My total footprint 101.89
Country Average 246.41 (in global acres)

Number of Earths 2.63
Country Average 6.35

Thursday, 08-July, 2010

Ecological Footprint Quiz by Redefining Progress

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Phillip Williams :: ecological footprint

Survey completed at http://myfootprint.org/ on May 17, 2006, showing room for improvement. I'll be working on that:

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 3.2
MOBILITY 1
SHELTER 2.2
GOODS/SERVICES 2.2
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 9

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 1.9 PLANETS.

Ed Hauser's Ecological Footprint

There is much room for improvement and I'm gonna start my diet and riding my bike- soon!

    CATEGORY     ACRES

    FOOD     4.9

    MOBILITY     1.5

    SHELTER     7.7

    GOODS/SERVICES     6.2

    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.

HUMBER'S RIDER'S TIRE PRINT

CATEGORY     ACRES
    FOOD     2.5
    MOBILITY     1
    SHELTER     6.7
    GOODS/SERVICES     5.2
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT     15

   
    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 3.4 PLANETS.

Evelyn's ecological footprint:

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.6 PLANETS.

CATEGORY     ACRES

    FOOD     4.2

    MOBILITY     0.5

    SHELTER     2.5

    GOODS/SERVICES     2

    TOTAL FOOTPRINT     9

<!--******* END FOOTPRINT RESULTS TABLE *********-->

Charles Burkett's

Charles Burkett's footprint:
       
    CATEGORY     ACRES
    FOOD     5.9
    MOBILITY     2
    SHELTER     11.9
    GOODS/SERVICES     12.6
    TOTAL FOOTPRINT     32
   
    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 7.3 PLANETS. 

Footprint Quiz

    CATEGORY     ACRES

    FOOD     2.5

    MOBILITY     1

    SHELTER     2.7

    GOODS/SERVICES     2.5

    TOTAL FOOTPRINT     9

    

    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 1.9 PLANETS.

Susan's eco footprint

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.9 PLANETS.

CATEGORY

    

ACRES

FOOD

3

MOBILITY

    

0.7

SHELTER

4.2

GOODS/SERVICES

    

3.5

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.

An interesting article on this subject here:

http://afr.com/cgi-bin/newtextversions.pl?pagetype=printer&path=/article...

It is "Green Manhattan" by David Owen

Set aside some time for this extensive article -- it's worth it. It is reprinted from the New Yorker. It makes a strong case for us lightening up on Flats East Bank even though it is not the "way" we want development to happen in our urban core. Still having green buildings in a location that is the antithesis of sprawl land is good.

Read about what the project "will" entail here http://www.gcbl.org/planning/flats-east/green-neighborhood-design

We already know it will not be adaptive reuse of historic buildings, but one has to consider, where were we when the buildings might have been in a condition that might have prompted an innovative adaptive reuse scheme? I was penniless and preoccupied with other things. We can't save everything.

Did this help you change your behavior?

It's been almost 2 years and nearly 2500 reads since I posted this... have you changed your behavior since May 2006 regarding your ecological footprint and saving the environment?

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