Ecological Footprint

ENVE3000 Assignment 1                                                                                                       September 12, 2006

Analysis of My Present and Future Ecological Footprints
http://www.myfootprint.org/

            My ecological footprint is a representation of the rate at which I consume space and resources on planet Earth. From the on-line exercise, I have retrieved a calculation of my impact at present and my ideal future. My ideal future results were calculated with respect to an enhanced consideration of my activities, lifestyles, and moral requirements.

            Presently, my ecological footprint was registered as 3.3. This meant that to sustain everybody having the same habits as myself, we would require 1.8 planets. Where I collect most of my footprint appears to be from my consumption and disposal of food, consumption of electricity, and methods for long distance transportation.

The manner in which I dispose of waste isn’t entirely sound. It would be hard, yet very possible for me to reduce my production of waste quantitatively. To do this, I would have to alter my lifestyle such that I would consume only organic, un-processed, and un-packaged foods. In addition, I would have to further decrease my consumption of eggs and dairy products. These changes would reduce my production of non-biodegradable waste and decrease my dependence upon corporate packaging industries as I would eat only locally grown, un-processed vegetables. These changes alone would reduce my footprint from 3.3 to 2, making it possible for everyone to live this way on 1.1 planets.

My activities at present tend to consume a lot of electricity, but they don’t directly release many emissions. Despite being conscious of turning lights and appliances off when I’m finished using them, I tend to use many heavy duty appliances from day to day. Things I could do in the future to reduce my consumption of grid electricity would be to invest in a renewable energy source and remain within its optimal range by limiting my activities appropriately. The result of this investment would further lower my footprint to 1.6, allowing everyone living this way to co-exist on exactly 1 planet earth.

In terms of moral requirements, I can easily make a few changes to further reduce my footprint. The environmentally harmful influences which remain within my life are the plane rides I take to visit family and friends. Airplanes are the worst modes of transportation when it comes to emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If humanity continues to use airplanes as often as present, the atmosphere will be continuously harmed until a catastrophic event takes place. Without the use of air-travel in my life I would be left with a footprint as low as 1.3. Again, everyone living this way (accumulatively) would require less than one planet earth to sustain a healthy planet.

These changes to my life style, activities, and morals prove to make a rather large difference to my environmental impact as a whole. The difference between my present day footprint and my ideal, yet possible future footprint equates to a difference of nearly 1 entire planet. Such changes would grant me with the honor of setting an environmentally friendly example for all others with large footprints.