EcoPrint

Ecological Footprint Quiz results and thoughts     

        Well, I took the ecological footprint quiz online at myfootprint.org. I didn’t have a link on my class page, so I hope that was the right one! There was bad news and good news. The bad news is that I am a bit of an ecological pig and if everyone lived like me, we would need 2.14 planets to supply the necessary resources to support my lifestyle. So, clearly, there is a lot of room for improvement (First screenshot below.) The good news is that I’m not nearly as much of a piggy as most Americans. Geez (Second screenshot below.) Using the same answers, I did the quiz again, posing as living in Costa Rica. My footprint went down to .34 Earths. The interesting part is the second screenshot showing that I would still be using less than the country average. That was a little surprising. I figured I would use more than the average Costa Rican. It tells me they live well with less impact.

            So, what can I do to reduce my ecological footprint? I have two modes of thought on that. The first are the little things I should do where I am now, in the situation I am in now. The second is a dream of good living with little ecological impact and that’s going to take some time and some money.

            First, I drive too much without someone else in the car. I live in a rural area though, so I don’t have much of a choice. We do limit our trips into town by trying to consolidate our errands into one trip. It’s about 15 miles. I suppose I could ride my e-bike more often. I wish I could handle being Vegan, but I simply can’t. I’ve tried being vegetarian and found it not good for me. However, I don’t eat meat daily. If I could afford carbon offsets, I would, but that’s simply not reasonable when your next meal is the last tamale in the fridge and no money.

            My dream is to live the life I imagined myself having in the quiz a third time. That time, I put in all the answers I wish I could make happen. The result was a .54 planet score – not bad, but still not as good as Costa Rica. Basically, just being an American hits the score (which makes sense because we transport everything all over the place here.)  In this dream, I live in a house that I built with local materials with ultimate efficiency (solar gain, solar hot water panels, solar PV, etc.) and with transportation that is also highly efficient, like a car that is charged by solar or renewable solar offset electricity.

      I scored much lower (better) than the average American, but still require 2.14 planets to support my lifestyle. Clearly, there is much room for improvement. The second set of snapshots under the Costa Rica heading are the results using the same answers, but if living in Costa Rica. Surprisingly, my score was lower than most people in the country. All in all, this tells me Costa Ricans live well, but still with far less impact than those in the U.S.

     I live in a tourist town. As such, I get to see the onsumptive side of….well, rich people, and it is ugly. No offense to Texans, but we sure to get a lot of Texans here who drove up in their HUGE, perfectly shiny pickup trucks, to spend their extra scratch. Don’t get me wrong, we need that money here in Taos, but it can be pretty disgusting to see the wanton waste happen right in front of your eyes. I have nothing against trucks, if they are used for what trucks are used for, but these aren’t used for that purpose. Everything’s big ‘n Texas, you know. It has become just another consumerism fad with no thought to the surrounding environment. When they park across TWO parking spaces, I feel pretty pissed. Why do people feel the entitlement to take up more than their fair space in this world? Are they just not educated or do they feel they deserve it? “I got mine, now you go get yours!.” I’m pretty tired of that attitude…….