My foot size for a pair of shoes is a women's 9, but my ecological foot size is much bigger then I expected. I took an ecological quiz at the IUHPE Ecological Footprint website. I wasn't expecting such alarming results, but unfortunately thats what I got. According to this quiz, if everyone lived like me, it would take 6.5 earths to provide enough resources. My first reaction was to think that something must be wrong with the quiz, and there is no way my results would be that high. Then I started to think about the way I live, and I think there are many things I can improve upon.Food resources is an area that I can improve the most. This is an area that I can make small changes with, one step at a time. Buying foods that are in season, or trying to buy a couple things a week that are local would help reduce my footprint! Mobility is another area that I need to improve upon. This is an area that I struggle to think of ways to improve. I travel a lot with hockey, and our rink is not located on campus, so we must drive down. We do car pool whenever we go to the rink, and other then that I bike to school, and many times we just walk to the grocery store because it is only a block away. Perhaps this is something I can improve more upon once I have graduate from University. Other areas I know I can improve upon are doing simple things around the house. Turning off the lights when they are not being used, using reusable bags instead of plastics bags, and recycling even more then I do now!
My ecological footprint is too big for my liking. There are little things I can do to shrink my footprint, and I am dedicated to doing it! Sometimes we don't realize how easily things can add up when discussing the size of our ecological footprints. If you have never taken an ecological quiz before, I strongly suggest you do because the results might surprise you. Small steps but big differences!
Small steps do make a difference!!! If we can get 10 people to make 10 small steps with us, think of the changes we can already start. Once others see what we are doing, they too may follow suit. We need to walk the walk and talk the talk. By doing so, we CAN make a BIG difference.
ReplyDeleteI think most of us have footprints that are too big for our likings, I also just need to work on the little things to improve my footprint, every little bit counts!
ReplyDelete