When I calculated my ecological footprint at http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences, my score was as follows:
-Impact of My Home: 2
-Impact of Electricity Used in My Home: 1
-Impact of the Waste Generated in My Home: 1
-Impact of My Public and Personal Transportation: 5
-Impact of the Food I Consume: 5
-Impact of My Use of Goods and Services: 4
As the results have determined-"Those eco-friendly choices have you headed in the right direction! The bad news? You're still a long way from sustainable. It would take multiple earths to support a planet living your lifestyle". The number of earths it would take to sustain all of the people on the planet if everyone lived like me is 3.7.
According to the results of this quiz, the ways for me to lesson my impact are by reducing my impact of:
- Transportation
(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/18/can_you_dump_the_pump.jpg)
- Food and Drink Consumption
(http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/Dj/empty-wine-bottles-md.jpg)
- Shopping Habits
(http://www.distinctivemarketing.net/images/reusable_shopping_bag.jpg)
I'm not at all surprised by such results-I'm aware that I am not the most sustainable human being, but I'm also aware that I try to be, and that I make my small contribution on a somewhat regular basis.
Moreover, obviously I'm going to have a large impact of transportation because I live in a very spread out city in Florida, where it is nearly impossible to go anywhere by bike or on foot. I suppose I could make less of an impact if I tried carpooling more often, but I honestly hadn't realized that I drove that much. It certainly isn't my fault that everything here is so far apart! As for the food and drink consumption impact, I was a bit concerned. I eat an average amount, but I can assume that the regular consumption of wine is not at all sustainable, and definitely brought down my score a substantial amount...but as we are Italian, my family drinks a lot of red wine! It is simply custom to us.
My family and I do wish to promote a sustainable lifestyle-we recycle mostly all of our glass and plastic garbage, as well as some paper and aluminum wastes and such. We are consistently making an attempt to conserve energy, and we have recently changed all of our lightbulbs to the green friendly lightbulbs they will someday make mandatory. We also really make an attempt to minimize our water consumption, and do not use water carelessly or without thought.
In conclusion, I can say that my family and I are willing to evolve. We are undoubtedly willing to adapt to new energy efficient customs, and to try to improve our impact on the environment. As we have limited resources to do so (by this I mean-our large spread out city, the fact that a lot of renewable energy is not offered to people in our area, etc), it may take a while, but I believe that we may someday live sustainably. By carpooling more often, purchasing more green products, and keeping up with my current eco-friendly choices, I hope that I can reduce my impact on the planet.
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