Skip to main content

My footprint 10 years later

On December 4th, 2018, I shared my footprint results from a few calculators. I wanted to see how the estimates changed now that I live in a house and have a more demanding job. I'm sure the calculators and their assumptions have changed too. Essentially, my footprint hasn't changed a lot. I've reduced in some areas (shopping) and increased in others (transport and housing). Although I buy more organic, I eat a lot more dairy.

Check it out and let me know: what's your footprint?

  1.  Redefining Progress
    My 2018 results are here. If everyone were to live like me, we would need 4.7 earths. That's 0.3 more than in 2008. Surprisingly little change despite having a whole house and flying internationally more often. My global acres footprint increased by 10 acres. My pastureland proportion increased significantly. I suspect a lot of the results changed due to increases in quality and availability of data over the past ten years.
  2. The Global Footprint Network and Earthday Site has a much improved calculator with a lot more detail. It's very different from the redefining progress calculator. I estimated my mileage as 24 hours yearly instead of 12,000 miles (which is my current mileage because I went to Scandinavia this year). It was much easier to estimate hours instead of miles.

    This calculator said my lifestyle would require 3.8 earths in 2008 - this year I got 2.2 earths! Wow! That's a very low number. It also gives me the day of the year by which I've consumed my fair share of resources that the earth can provide - it's June 14th. My global hectares went from 16.8 to 9.5. The biggest areas of impact seem to be food, mobility, and services. I eat meat and dairy daily.
  3. The Ecology Fund seems to be the same tool interface as it was in 2008. 
    This calculator also said that my footprint has decreased. I now require 6 hectares instead of 7.4 to satisfy my personal needs and give 25% of the space to other animals. If everyone lived the same we would need 3.8 instead of the previous 4.6 earths. Part of this result is that I got to say I used less energy than other people. I do know that our bills are much lower than what I hear other people say they pay, but it's hard to use such a scale.
  4. The WWF calculator moved and it's still british. Instead of giving the number of planets, it says what percentage of my share of the planet I'm using. My use is 157% of what it should be, or 57% more than... UK targets for 2020? I use slightly more than the average UK citizen. The total tonnes of CO2 is almost the same, 15.7 in 2018 and it was 15.2 in 2008.
  5. Habbits are missing sadly. I loved this weird image.

Comments

Most Popular Posts

A Few Thoughts on Privilege and then Affirmative Action

In 2014, David S. Pedulla found that black gay men would receive salaries similar to their straight male counterparts due to what he identified as "privilege" [ 1 ]. Although being black made a man seem more aggressive, being gay made him seem more effeminate. So, being black and gay seemed to "cancel out" and result in salaries that were higher than straight black men and gay white men. Reading this study by Dr. Pedulla and the reflections by gay black men writing about the study, I began to realize that the issue here is in our definition of privilege. No one wants to be hired just because they are white, gay, female, or otherwise labeled.  Privilege, as a useful definition for achieving equality, is not primarily about material benefits. Privilege is being seen and treated as an individual.   When you are seen and treated as an individual, rather than a box, you are more likely to be valued for your skills. Whether or not these findings are generally ...

Sustainable Wardrobe Sourcing Mishaps

Since reading " Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion " by Elizabeth Cline , I've had a new-found need to make my wardrobe more sustainable. I applied Marie Kondo 's method to identify which items I wanted to keep and which I needed to thank for their service and give away or recycle or turn into rags. I made the vow to buy clothes to replace when necessary, and not to fulfill a shopping desire or urge. I also made the vow to source all new clothing more responsibly. That means features like: Organic cotton GOTS Certified Fair Trade Recycled materials   Some of this effort has gone pretty well. I bought a clearance organic cotton dress from Pact to wear as a night dress along with 95% organic cotton panties. Many of these items are fair trade and GOTS certified. I also got a regular cotton dress from Passion Lillie that is fair trade and dyed in a supposedly more environmentally friendly process. Unfortunately, I've had a number of p...

Ecological Footprint Calculators

This post is to log and share some ecological footprint calculators and give people an idea of the over consumption that we take for granted. I first encountered these calculators for a class assignment and they now form the basis for my career! Hope everyone learns something. (you can click to expand the pictures of my results as of 12.04.2008) Redefining Progress is the best calculator, I think. You can pick a lot more countries. If everyone is a vegan, drives almost never, carpools, lives with 5 other people in a large apartment building in the inner city, never flies, maintains a garden, buys almost never and always organic/sustainable, uses 30% renewable energy, buys carbon offsets, and takes every measure to recycle and conserve resources. Then we need 0.87 earths. That's perfect! The Footprint Network and Earthday Site use scales and not numbers (which is nice) and try to draw a picture of your lifestyle. The Ecology Fund is a very short and sweet version. The WWF has a ...