The result? Is startling.
I'd like to think I make some considerable effort to make less of an impact: I eat no meat, a little dairy (hello, cheese, my love!), live in a tiny 500 square foot apartment with someone else, only commute 10 miles round trip to work, and generally make an effort to tread more lightly on the earth. And yet? I still would need THREE FRIGGIN' PLANETS to support my habits for everyone on the planet.
Seriously.
That's disheartening in so many ways. I know the statistics - we're 5% of the world's population and use 25% of the resources. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It can be depressing to think about this stuff. {An aside: I recently read an article in Newsweek about the happiness gap between 'liberals' and 'conservatives' - and how 'liberals' aren't as happy. (Gah! I hate these divisive, loaded terms. And caring about the environment shouldn't be a political issue! I really want to rant about how the religious right should give a crap about being stewards of God's creation, but I won't. Oops, a little just squirted out there, sorry.)}
This is a complex issue (when I say that, I hear Joey Tribbiani tell Monica that Chandler is 'a complex fellow, one who is unlikely to take a wife.' ha!). The quiz is obviously not 100% accurate (how can you measure something like that perfectly?) and finding solutions to these problems isn't easy, simple, or painless. But I think it's important to think about our consumption and to realize that even small changes can make impacts. And those impacts add up to BIG impacts. (There's a cool tool on the website that allows you to see how changes you make might impact your footprint.)
So, go, check it out and if you do - what's your footprint??
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Some updates:
- I'm totally going to be doing my pay-it-forward giveaway sometime soon, I promise! I bought some things to give away this weekend in Yellow Springs. Be on the lookout to enter...
- A few weeks ago, I told you guys about my MIL asking about my blog, which led me to thinking about the fantastic, insightful comments you all left. So I decided to let a few friends and my sisters know about my blog. I don't think any have taken the bait, besides my beautiful friend, Eileen, who insists this is my secret life I've been hiding. She makes me laugh. :)
- As far as the comment reply thing - I email sometimes, but I always talk aloud to my computer when I get a new comment. Like, "Aww thanks, Lindsay," "Yeah, Gabriel Brothers!," and so on. So I guess I'll email you if you have an email address associated with your Blogger ID and I want to tell you something. Otherwise, come live in my computer and hear what I have to say to you. Because replying on my own website? Kind of a pain. :) (And no one reads it, right? Why am I blathering on about this? Who cares? I'm stopping...now!)
I totally talk back to comments too. My e-mail is on my blogger ID page if you want to ever reply :) I need to get better on that stuff too.
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