J840 Communicating Social and Environmental Initiatives

It’s the imprint I make on the world based on the way I live, act and consume in it.
Mine is 11 acres (4.45 hectares). It includes an average of the fossil fuels needed to maintain my energy usage, the water needed to sustain my food intake, and land needed to absorb the waste I produce.Lest you think I am living large:
I’m 5 feet tall and weigh 98 lbs.
I eat a little bit of chicken or fish each week.
I walk almost everywhere.
I live in a small studio apartment in New York City with my beloved husband.
My shoe size is 5.

The average ecological footprint of Americans is 24 acres.
You’d need more than 5 planets to sustain that.

So what makes footprints so big?
For me, it’s getting on lots of planes and eating a fair amount of processed food. And even though I can’t forgo my flights, I can make adjustments in other areas of my life to offset that consumption.

The smallest per capita footprints are Eritrea, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia, and the largest is the United Arab Emirates (39 acres/ 15.99 hectares per person) with Singapore and the U.S. right behind.
Details on India’s footprint can be found here.

In less than 2 minutes you can figure out your ecological footprint, and learn what you can do to shrink that foot. Take the quiz here on the Redefining Progress website (RP is a great organization to check out and support).

Let me know if anything surprises you. ‘Cuz you know what they say about big feet. . .
Simran

(Soundtrack: KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” – Nic Harcourt’s signature show out of LA featuring some of the best unsigned and signed bands on the planet. Available all over the world on the web.
Mindset: Trying very hard not to be blogenvious of Rahul!)

-Simran Sethi