...the average American uses 24 acres of land to support what he uses and throws away everyday. If everyone in the world did that, we'd need five more planets!
There's an interesting quiz at www.MyFootprint.org that tells you how much land you require to sustain you. 21.7 acres was the answer for me, meaning if everyone on the planet was similar, we'd need 4.7 planets.
This from MyFootprint.org:
Quote:
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
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.7 PLANETS
Ugh. I'm not sure why goods/services is so high. I do everything that I can for myself, and buy products with the least amt of packaging and produce far less waste than the average American. Shelter is so high because I'm in an apartment, which means I have no control over anything beyond the kind of lightbulbs I use and whether or not I turn on the heat.
No, I'm just curious how the two relate. It seems a little extreme to me because based on the avg ecological footprint being 2 global hectares or 24 acres per person, it looks like it's a twelve-fold difference of scale -- which is wrong because you're talking about area not length. I don't know why but I'm having trouble equating 24 square acres to 2 square hectares.
So say 24 is 4 wide by 6 deep = 1.66 wide by 2.5 deep = 4.17 hectares, not two...
Yes, I'm enough of a geek that this is going to BOTHER me until I figure it out...
If I do it the other way around, make it 2.4 acres wide by 10 acres deep, that's 1 hectare wide by 4.167 hect. deep... which still leads me back to 4.17 hectares, not 2...
OnYourMark, LLC is a full-service web design, production, programming, hosting and Internet marketing company with audio, photography and video services in our studio on Main Street in Sussex, Wisconsin or at your location.
We serve clients in industry, healthcare, eCommerce, professional services, real estate and construction, information services, hospitality, advertising agencies, and more...throughout Wisconsin and the USA. Please contact OnYourMark for a free, no-obligation consultation about increasing your inquiries and sales while decreasing your costs via the web.
Linear Mode
