Your ecological footprint do the quiz :)

[Deelight]

Thought people might like to see how their actions directly effect the global world we live in and how their choices contribute to the changing face of our climate. Do the quiz post your results if you dare and see where you can make changes to make he world a better place .

Ecological Footprint


At the end you can make goals to lessen your footprint on the world. Climate change is a serious problem but if everyone does their part we can make change happen . It is not to late...yet

I love this quiz it really puts your actions into perspective and makes you accountable for them (also a great resource for teachers of SOSE).

GL see my results below ~ I know I can do better (without a doubt)

 

[Maisie]

Here is mine

 

[sumbride]

Bigger than it should be, but smaller than those around me... too much packaged food and not enough mass transit, which is ironic since I travel over 160 miles on a train a week.... but I should work closer to my home, I suppose. I''m TRYING.

 

[musey]

Mine.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Deelight, I love these quizzes! My fiance and I are both pretty ecologically conscientious, but after seeing both yours and Maisie''s scores, I''m wondering... do each of you live in a closet? Have each of you taken in a haitian refugee family of 7 into your studio flat? Do you not have electricity? Maisie, how on Earth did you get a housing score of .5???

Because I eat meat pretty much every day and have electricity in my multi-room dwelling, colonization of both Mars and a sliver of Europa would be required, despite my fuel-efficient automobile and use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs....

All said, very enlightening. A slightly different one was featured on one of the morning programs in the U.S. earlier this week, it''s also kind of enlightening: http://www.earthlab.com/ . This one focuses a bit more on recycling and carbon footprinting; on the morning show, they said most Americans should aim for a score of 275-300.

 

[musey]

HOLD the phone.

Why, on Deelight's & Maisie's results, does it say:

->"Worldwide, there exist 1.8 biologically productive acres per person."

But on Sum's and mine, it says:

->"Worldwide, there exist 4.5 biologically productive acres per person."


Whosey whatsy?

 

[musey]

Fleur, I think that quiz is a lot better/more comprehensive. Here are my results.

I''m doing better than the suggested goal. I like that they keep track of you so you can re-take the quiz later and see your progress. Good motivator

 

[sumbride]

Date: 12/14/2007 12:41:53 PM
Author: musey
HOLD the phone.

Why, on Deelight''s & Maisie''s results, does it say:

->''Worldwide, there exist 1.8 biologically productive acres per person.''

But on Sum''s and mine, it says:

->''Worldwide, there exist 4.5 biologically productive acres per person.''

Whosey whatsy?

Actually, theirs say "hectares" and ours are "acres". Just different types of measurement I assume because of different countries. I do think it kind of skews the results because it looks like they are a lot different but some of it is in the conversion.

 

[Selkie]

Oh man, I need 3.5 planets. Does the fact that I''m an environmental scientist working on water resource issues offset that at all?? Or does it just mean I REALLY should know better? I live in LA for cripes sake! There is no public transportation here that goes where I need to go!

Ah, liberal guilt raises it''s ugly head again.

 

[Selkie]

Date: 12/14/2007 1:40:23 PM
Author: sumbride

Date: 12/14/2007 12:41:53 PM

Author: musey

HOLD the phone.


Why, on Deelight''s & Maisie''s results, does it say:


->''Worldwide, there exist 1.8 biologically productive acres per person.''


But on Sum''s and mine, it says:


->''Worldwide, there exist 4.5 biologically productive acres per person.''


Whosey whatsy?

Actually, theirs say ''hectares'' and ours are ''acres''. Just different types of measurement I assume because of different countries. I do think it kind of skews the results because it looks like they are a lot different but some of it is in the conversion.

Yeah, one hectare is just under 2.5 acres. Deelight and Maisie are in (I think) Ireland and England.

 

[sumbride]

yeah, I think I should get a little buffer room too because my house is recycled (1920s rowhome, renovated). I took the other quiz and I couldn''t check "I use an electric or manual lawn mower" because actually I don''t use ANY at ALL. We have a patio... of course that probably means that I''m not helping the world because I don''t have a lawn. but somehow I''m not sure. I also don''t send ANYTHING to the drycleaner, ever. that''s got to count for something.

 

[musey]

DUH - thanks Sum. That''s what I get for not reading closely enough

 

[Mara]

haha mine is worse than sumbride''s!

i read this interesting article in a mag recently that had 3 comparisons of 3 lifestyles. interestingly enough, the one who felt that she was most eco conscious was NOT, she walked and rode public transport everywhere, hardly flew, ate totally organic and from local, turned off lights, used the right bulbs, etc etc...but the one thing she did that made her WORSE than the other 2 lifestyles (who were more ''typical'', like drove most places, flew a few times a year, ate whatever/wherever they wanted) was she drank bottled water almost exclusively. i had no idea that flying all that bottled water over was so bad! we are huge bottled water users so that''s a drag. our water is HORRIBLE where we are.

 

[Fly Girl]

I ended up at 28 acres. My flying habit accounted for 12 of those. Sigh.... I''m sure they were thinking big jets, and not little planes, but I''m not sure it that would have helped much.

 

[Selkie]

**Musey!** Where did you get that awesome little "lips zipped" emoticon that you put in that recent thread which shall not be named? I love it, and must have it now! Apologies for the threadjack.

 

[sumbride]

Mara - have you tried a Brita pitcher or a pur filter? The problems with tap water is usually the taste, not the safety. Usually.

 

[musey]

Date: 12/14/2007 3:20:23 PM
Author: Selkie
**Musey!** Where did you get that awesome little ''lips zipped'' emoticon that you put in that recent thread which shall not be named? I love it, and must have it now! Apologies for the threadjack.

You mean this one??

Nail-biter!

 

[Maisie]

Date: 12/14/2007 12:40:29 PM
Author: fleur-de-lis
Deelight, I love these quizzes! My fiance and I are both pretty ecologically conscientious, but after seeing both yours and Maisie''s scores, I''m wondering... do each of you live in a closet? Have each of you taken in a haitian refugee family of 7 into your studio flat? Do you not have electricity? Maisie, how on Earth did you get a housing score of .5???

Because I eat meat pretty much every day and have electricity in my multi-room dwelling, colonization of both Mars and a sliver of Europa would be required, despite my fuel-efficient automobile and use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs....

All said, very enlightening. A slightly different one was featured on one of the morning programs in the U.S. earlier this week, it''s also kind of enlightening: http://www.earthlab.com/ . This one focuses a bit more on recycling and carbon footprinting; on the morning show, they said most Americans should aim for a score of 275-300.

Your post made me giggle Fleur! It was the Haitian refugee family of 7 bit.... There are 7 of us living here! We have a very small house, not sure if that made the difference. I do have electricity though!

 

[Selkie]

Date: 12/14/2007 4:20:22 PM
Author: musey

Date: 12/14/2007 3:20:23 PM

Author: Selkie

**Musey!** Where did you get that awesome little ''lips zipped'' emoticon that you put in that recent thread which shall not be named? I love it, and must have it now! Apologies for the threadjack.

You mean this one??


Nail-biter!

Yeah, thanks! I didn''t see the little bits of nail flying off. Heh.

 

[Mara]

sumbride, i dont think the brita would work for our water, seriously it''s gross, i can drink tap water at other people''s house but ours is nasty and i actually get a stomach ache when we have to drink it aka out of bottled.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 12/14/2007 4:42:11 PM
Author: Mara
sumbride, i dont think the brita would work for our water, seriously it''s gross, i can drink tap water at other people''s house but ours is nasty and i actually get a stomach ache when we have to drink it aka out of bottled.

I can believe the stomachache thing... the water in my university town had so much calcium in it (you could see it floating in your glass) that everybody took about 3 days to readjust when the new semester started... it tasted good once we got used to it, but it was hard on the body.

If it really tastes THAT bad, then the bottled water thing is reasonable. My parents are in the water industry so I know the ins and outs of city water and always laugh when the waiter tries to sell me water. I think it''s funny how much griping there is about the price of gas considering what people pay for small bottles of water!

 

[Deelight]

Date: 12/14/2007 4:28:43 PM
Author: Maisie

Date: 12/14/2007 12:40:29 PM

Author: fleur-de-lis

Deelight, I love these quizzes! My fiance and I are both pretty ecologically conscientious, but after seeing both yours and Maisie''s scores, I''m wondering... do each of you live in a closet? Have each of you taken in a haitian refugee family of 7 into your studio flat? Do you not have electricity? Maisie, how on Earth did you get a housing score of .5???


Because I eat meat pretty much every day and have electricity in my multi-room dwelling, colonization of both Mars and a sliver of Europa would be required, despite my fuel-efficient automobile and use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs....

All said, very enlightening. A slightly different one was featured on one of the morning programs in the U.S. earlier this week, it''s also kind of enlightening: http://www.earthlab.com/ . This one focuses a bit more on recycling and carbon footprinting; on the morning show, they said most Americans should aim for a score of 275-300.

Your post made me giggle Fleur! It was the Haitian refugee family of 7 bit.... There are 7 of us living here! We have a very small house, not sure if that made the difference. I do have electricity though!

I really giggled at that The footprint is really designed to assess certain aspects of your lifestyle and help you evaluate change, the worst I have seen is something like 20+ planets but it is a good way to see what you do right and what you can do better . It fairly interesting to do with high school students within a planned unit, once at the start and again at the end to see how things have improved.

I did the earthlab one very impressed I know there are things I should do better (like eat less packaged food and buy more local produce)

...one step at a time. Hrmmmm I score better then most Australians which is somewhat comforting or disturbing

 

[Deelight]

Date: 12/14/2007 4:42:11 PM
Author: Mara
sumbride, i dont think the brita would work for our water, seriously it''s gross, i can drink tap water at other people''s house but ours is nasty and i actually get a stomach ache when we have to drink it aka out of bottled.

Hrmmm have you had your pipes checked? depending on how old your house is that could be causing some problems, our water was icky until we fixed one of our pipes (and hot water system ) it is 100% improved