Global Footprint Network

Recently I read in a local newspaper about a website that allows you to calculate how many "earths" and global hectares we would need if everyone lived like you (called a footprint.) I did the quiz, realizing ahead of time that life in North America uses a lot more resources than life in underdeveloped / poor countries.

After answering the more detailed questions to get a more accurate result of my footprint, the world would need 4.4 earths to sustain everyone if they lived like me. Like I said, it wasn't a complete surprise but still kind of scary to think about. It asks you about what type of food you eat, if the food is local, energy consumption at home, how often you drive, etc etc.

The quiz allows you to change your answers to see what could be causing such a high use of resources. It then tells you what you changed that caused your global footprint to increase or decrease.

I found it interesting that reducing how often I'm on a plane reduced my overall "required earths" by 0.3. I don't even fly that often, probably 3 times a year. This fact makes me semi-support the recent increase in fuel-surcharges and baggage charges from airlines.

I've always had an interest in environmental sustainability, and this site has certainly caused me to be more conscious over the last few weeks. There is a bit of a glitch though - I am unable to ever get my resource usage down to a level where we would only need 1 earth to sustain everyone if they lived like me. A few reasons for this include:
- A lot of food I eat cannot be bought locally because it isn't in season for half the year.
- I work and live in one city currently, but go to school 20 minutes away.
- Buses to the city I attend school would take 1.5 hours due to the weird route it takes.
- My bus service, as mentioned in the other post, doesn't have a convenient schedule any more.
- Equipment for renewable energy is too expensive still. Hopefully this will change as more cities around the world continue to sell more and find new ways to reduce production costs.
- And, I just like meat. Apparently if I ate less or no meat, I would reduce my footprint.

The site also gives tips on reducing the amount of resources you use, information on national resource usage, carbon footprints and more.

Check out the Global Footprint Network and see what your footprint is.