Filed under: Society + Media
My score was less than stellar. I tallied a total mark of 16 acres. If everyone required the same acreage as me we’d need 3.6 planets to sustain us. My score stayed under the national average by virtue of a low “mobility” score thanks to my intermittent use of KU’s bus system. It was the “food” category that elevated my footprint score. I enjoy heavily processed food quite often. By “heavily processed” I mean Michelina’s tv dinners. Those of you that have enjoyed Michelina’s “lean gourmet” selections know the food is vaguely synthetic – like shoe rubber or something. God only knows where that stuff comes from, but at 99 cents a piece they are well within the college budget. I also have an obsessive compulsive relationship with McDonald’s and its pipin’ hot flapjacks which doubtless contributes to a higher waste output. Overall, my footprint was significantly worse than I had envisioned. I think you can attribute it to the simple convenience of fast-food and cheap dinners and the hassle and elevated expense that comes with trying to eat local food. Despite my lifestyle hardly being ecologically conscious, the fact that my score is actually below average is somewhat frightening. Worldmapper’s bloated representation of the United States on its footprint map attests to this fact.
-Vince Meserko
