So what is your eco footprint? There is a lot of talk about your eco (ecological) footprint lately but do we really understand what it is?

Your eco footprint basically is the amount of area needed to sustain your lifestyle. First click on this link to see what your eco footprint is.

EcoFootprint Quiz

Mine was and embarrassing 20. Then I was faced with the reality that if everyone in the world lived like me we would need 4.6 Earths to sustain us as a human race. The good news is that Americans have an average of 24 so I am a little below that.

The way this particular survey figures it our is a combination of how many acres of land is needed to sustain your food, How many acres are needed to produce the energy that you need, how many acres are required to house you; this includes the building materials and your house footprint, and how many acres it takes to produce; and dispose of your consumable goods and services.

This is a very good survey that takes a lot into consideration, but still what does it mean?

• Food – your food score is based on the amount of land is needed to raise animals, and crops for your consumption along with the area needed to transport your food to you. To reduce your Food Eco Footprint you can consume less animals, it takes a lot more area to raise animals for food than it does crops for food. Also if you buy locally, such as at farmers markets, your footprint will be smaller due to less transportation and processing costs.

• Mobility – your mobility score is based on the amount of land is needed to support your travel, like roads, the amount of land that is needed to produce the energy for your mode of transportation, and the resources to build your transportation equipment. To reduce your Mobility Eco Score simply carpool more, use public transportation, and when able walk or ride a bike. A fun way to reduce your score is to use a motorcycle or motor scooter as they get much better gas mileage.

• Shelter – your shelter score is based on your land use (the amount of property your house takes up not the amount of land you own), how much land is needed to build your house, and the energy you use in your house. To reduce your Shelter Eco Score you can downsize and live in a smaller house. I promote this on my personal blog Coach Kip (http://www.coachkip.net). You can room with someone or invite people to live with you, and you can use energy conservation practices such as solar water heaters, proper insulation and insulating windows, and turn down that thermostat in the winter, and turn it up in the summer. This will also save you money!

• Goods – you consumable goods score is the most complicated of all your scores. It is based on not only the goods you use, but of the ones you dispose of. It can be a double whammy. You need land to produce the goods, and you usually need more land to dispose of it and put it in a landfill, especially if you do not compost your food waste. So how do you reduce your Goods Eco Score? Buy recycled products, recycle products that you need to get rid of, compost as much of your waste as possible, and don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely need.

Right now as a total population we are about 23% over what our Earth can sustain. Or in other words it takes just under a year and 3 months to recuperate what we use in a year. With each one of us just doing a small part we can fix this problem and have a much happier and simpler life.

Tags: Green //