Reduce Eco Logical Footprints
Americans have a large eco logical footprint
Reducing eco footprints is a core aspect of paradigm shift
The Footprint Calculator is a great tool for addressing one's eco footprint
The images below illustrate the condition of eco logical footprints in the US. The top graphic shows global CO2 produced over the past 200 or so years. The US has produced far and away the most. The footprint map compares the size of eco footprints for the average citizen world wide. The US is close to the largest. With such a large population with such large eco footprints, policy and lifestyles in the US has profound effects on the rest of the world.
Reducing one's eco footprint is a core task of "To Be The Change." Reducing eco footprints is both sensible and ethical. Verily, little progress will be made to address climate change and a host of other social, political, economic and environmental problems if we don't reduce our eco footprints. To share our personal experience of reducing our footprint and what a small footprint lifestyle is like is one of the most powerful stories we can tell on behalf of paradigm shift and is an important boost to our credentials to advocate for sustainability..
The graphics below compare historic carbon production by country, the map shows size of carbon footprints by country and the last graphic shows the home page for the Global Footprint Network's footprint calculator.
Americans have a large eco logical footprint
Reducing eco footprints is a core aspect of paradigm shift
The Footprint Calculator is a great tool for addressing one's eco footprint
The images below illustrate the condition of eco logical footprints in the US. The top graphic shows global CO2 produced over the past 200 or so years. The US has produced far and away the most. The footprint map compares the size of eco footprints for the average citizen world wide. The US is close to the largest. With such a large population with such large eco footprints, policy and lifestyles in the US has profound effects on the rest of the world.
Reducing one's eco footprint is a core task of "To Be The Change." Reducing eco footprints is both sensible and ethical. Verily, little progress will be made to address climate change and a host of other social, political, economic and environmental problems if we don't reduce our eco footprints. To share our personal experience of reducing our footprint and what a small footprint lifestyle is like is one of the most powerful stories we can tell on behalf of paradigm shift and is an important boost to our credentials to advocate for sustainability..
The graphics below compare historic carbon production by country, the map shows size of carbon footprints by country and the last graphic shows the home page for the Global Footprint Network's footprint calculator.
Reduce Eco Footprints
Another core aspect of paradigm shift and be the change is to greatly reduce our eco logical footprints as individuals and as a society. That simply means we quit consuming so much stuff. Recall from above, modesty of lifestyle and part one, the deconstruction of capitalism. Permaculture principles clearly advise choices way different from the consumer culture.
Some calculations of eco footprints figure for the entire world's population to live like the average American, we would require the water, soil, resources, energy, capacity to mitigate pollution of five planet earths. That five planet number comes from a variety of sources. Other metrics focused on carbon output and arable land needed per person also conclude, best to quit using so much and reduce levels of pollution greatly.
That five earth figure is profound. Can you imagine yourself and the average American using 1/5 the amount of home, food, energy, recreation? Even more of a jolt, the well off with their multiple homes, boats, travel and spending would need to downsize far more. Still, reducing eco footprints can make life better for all of us. Yes, we would need to revisit how we define what is a "better" way of life.
A smaller footprint lifestyle will include a veggie diet, if not vegan, simple clothes and past times. At least sharing a car with others if not being car free outright. We would be sharing more and gaining enjoyment in life more from experience with others and nature and less by needing bought products. A joyful walk in the snow, rather than a snowmobile. A sunset with friends rather than a computer game. A work party to put in a garden rather than watching Game Day on TV.
Note, sustainability will mean the extinction of many products and jobs but it will create new jobs and new opportunities. More on extinct jobs shortly. Sustainability will require reducing eco footprints at scale from personal to national.
The assumption that the familiar convenience and affluence of middle class America can seamlessly become green and sustainable would be a mistake. The level of affluence and convenience most Americans take for granted is the source of or contribute to nearly all our major problems and downward social, economic, political and environmental trends. Electric cars simply replacing internal combustion and 2000 square foot [or larger] passiv homes for two people do not fit paradigm shift.
Besides the environmental downside of over consumption there is an enormous social and spiritual downside to the consumer culture. A consumer culture powered by electricity, as if that were possible, still requires overconsumption and will produce, essentially, the same social, political and ethical problems we have now with fossil fuels.
Referring back to the section critical of capitalism, this five earth economic system cannot exist without waste, excess and external costs. It cannot exist without the distractions, celebration of vanity and social engineering that disable positive human potential and social uplift. Millions of jobs produce products and services that degrade the well being of people and planet while millions of other jobs exist to repair the damage caused by unhealthy products and services. One out 9 Americans receives government help to buy food. We are told this is a healthy economic system. What could be more untrue?
The graphic below. Health care, for example. Hundreds of billions of dollars and untold amounts of professional time are spent on treating people with avoidable problems such as overweight, car wrecks, counseling for many social problems. Many products exist to address problems that are totally avoidable like so much tech in new cars to help make them safer. Enormous amounts of money is spent on insuring enormous amounts of stuff. Untold jobs manufacture and promote the use of products we know cause damage to people and planet. A look at the economic sectors above can stimulate thoughts of what products and services are totally avoidable.
The Footprint Calculator
A big help for reducing eco footprints is to visit the eco footprint calculator. The one I like is from the Global Footprint Network. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE CALCULATOR
The calculator asks questions about your lifestyle. For example: Food choices [local and plant based is best.] Transportation – [transit, walk and bike is best.] Car share is better than driving or owning one's own car. Home life - [more people sharing that house - the kitchen, bathroom, etc is best.] What do you buy and what are your leisure activities? Taking the survey brings up a lot of issues we should all be thinking about – our own personal consumption.
In chapter Be The Change, I describe in modest detail my own responses to the calculator and put those responses into the context of a more or less, "one earth lifestyle."
After about 10 minutes answering questions, you are ready for your calculation. Enter your responses, within moments, you are given your score – how many planet earths would be needed for everyone in the world to live like YOU!
Is this calculator the final word? We can certainly consider far more details about our lives than the brief questions from the survey. For example, the calculator does not ask how many kids do you have. It does not ask do you produce any of your own food or energy. The calculator misses many nuanced questions. My own experiments with the calculator makes me think it is too generous. Still, the calculator performs a useful task – giving us some context for the impact of our own lifestyles that will likely be a jolt to most who take the survey.
Consider the time involved at a neighborhood work party to put in a community garden or some other positive activity compared to watching, say a football game or recreational shopping. The garden can lead to many positives like making new friends, healthy exercise, building a community asset, personal satisfaction, uplift of the spirit. What is there to show for a football game, a tractor pull or vanity shopping. One could talk about it with friends but that's even more wasted time.
In the section Deconstructing Capitalism, we had a look at the immense social and economic dis equity of our society. A relatively small number of people own a remarkably large percentage of the nation's wealth. The Federal Reserve found that the richest 1% of the nation's population has financial resources about equal to the least affluent 50%. That is a truly remarkable statistic. That dis equity has massive implications to democracy, social stability, public health, education, the environment, human potential to name only a few.
History teaches us that extreme economic dis equity is a destabilizing social condition. Combining that concentration of wealth to the expansive ecological footprints that often goes with that wealth, we arrive at a sensible conclusion - those who gain the most stuff and affluence from the current political/economic system are the ones who need to downsize the most, not only their environmental footprints but also their political control. Such an idea will not likely be embraced by the wealthy and powerful.
To a considerable degree, the wealthy and their political companions hold the vast majority of society not only hostage to their System but wanting to join it. Social engineering is very effective.
Managing our own time and money in positive ways is a fundamental part of moving towards a preferred future. Reducing the social, economic, political and spiritual damage of the consumer culture is just as important as reducing our damage to the natural world. All those footprints are related. In the same common sense act - how we prioritize our time and money - we can reduce all of those footprints at the same time and then, take purposeful initiative as we choose with the time and money downsizing can liberate.
Yes, all the above is an enormous wish list. Those who advocate paradigm shift will need to make a persuasive case for a pie that is both a lot smaller and a lot more equally divided. Few people would be unaffected. Being the change presents a lot of challenges. The greater the challenges for moving towards sustainability we overcome, the greater the benefits, ultimately, for everyone and the environment.
HERE is a link to an anecdotal description of a small eco footprint lifestyle and its biographical context.
A big help for reducing eco footprints is to visit the eco footprint calculator. The one I like is from the Global Footprint Network. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE CALCULATOR
The calculator asks questions about your lifestyle. For example: Food choices [local and plant based is best.] Transportation – [transit, walk and bike is best.] Car share is better than driving or owning one's own car. Home life - [more people sharing that house - the kitchen, bathroom, etc is best.] What do you buy and what are your leisure activities? Taking the survey brings up a lot of issues we should all be thinking about – our own personal consumption.
In chapter Be The Change, I describe in modest detail my own responses to the calculator and put those responses into the context of a more or less, "one earth lifestyle."
After about 10 minutes answering questions, you are ready for your calculation. Enter your responses, within moments, you are given your score – how many planet earths would be needed for everyone in the world to live like YOU!
Is this calculator the final word? We can certainly consider far more details about our lives than the brief questions from the survey. For example, the calculator does not ask how many kids do you have. It does not ask do you produce any of your own food or energy. The calculator misses many nuanced questions. My own experiments with the calculator makes me think it is too generous. Still, the calculator performs a useful task – giving us some context for the impact of our own lifestyles that will likely be a jolt to most who take the survey.
Consider the time involved at a neighborhood work party to put in a community garden or some other positive activity compared to watching, say a football game or recreational shopping. The garden can lead to many positives like making new friends, healthy exercise, building a community asset, personal satisfaction, uplift of the spirit. What is there to show for a football game, a tractor pull or vanity shopping. One could talk about it with friends but that's even more wasted time.
In the section Deconstructing Capitalism, we had a look at the immense social and economic dis equity of our society. A relatively small number of people own a remarkably large percentage of the nation's wealth. The Federal Reserve found that the richest 1% of the nation's population has financial resources about equal to the least affluent 50%. That is a truly remarkable statistic. That dis equity has massive implications to democracy, social stability, public health, education, the environment, human potential to name only a few.
History teaches us that extreme economic dis equity is a destabilizing social condition. Combining that concentration of wealth to the expansive ecological footprints that often goes with that wealth, we arrive at a sensible conclusion - those who gain the most stuff and affluence from the current political/economic system are the ones who need to downsize the most, not only their environmental footprints but also their political control. Such an idea will not likely be embraced by the wealthy and powerful.
To a considerable degree, the wealthy and their political companions hold the vast majority of society not only hostage to their System but wanting to join it. Social engineering is very effective.
Managing our own time and money in positive ways is a fundamental part of moving towards a preferred future. Reducing the social, economic, political and spiritual damage of the consumer culture is just as important as reducing our damage to the natural world. All those footprints are related. In the same common sense act - how we prioritize our time and money - we can reduce all of those footprints at the same time and then, take purposeful initiative as we choose with the time and money downsizing can liberate.
Yes, all the above is an enormous wish list. Those who advocate paradigm shift will need to make a persuasive case for a pie that is both a lot smaller and a lot more equally divided. Few people would be unaffected. Being the change presents a lot of challenges. The greater the challenges for moving towards sustainability we overcome, the greater the benefits, ultimately, for everyone and the environment.
HERE is a link to an anecdotal description of a small eco footprint lifestyle and its biographical context.