The Famous Eco-Footprint Calculator

The Ecological Footprint Calculator is used to determine how much land area is required to sustain a person's lifestyle, based on their choices and living conditions. These calculators operate by getting users to answer a series of questions related to their transportation choices, lifestyle choices, and energy use. I think this is a great tool for individuals to use to truly understand the magnitude of the impact they are having on the planet, under business-as-usual conditions. Based on my own experiences, however, these estimates seem very rough and seem to vary quite a bit between calculators based on the questions they are asking and the methodologies they are using.

Today, there are several of these calculators online, with differing methodologies and tactics for calculating the ecological footprint. One such calculator, which you can feel free to check out for yourself is found at:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

This particular calculator was produced by the Global Footprint Network, a non-profit organization founded in 2003, in part by a gentleman named Mathis Wackernagel. Interestingly, Mathis Wackernagel is also one of the co-creators of the ecological footprint concept.

Questions in this calculator seem to focus on three main areas - food consumption, energy use, and transportation. Food consumption is important because the types of food you buy and the places you buy them can have a large impact on your ecological footprint. This is in part due to the distance travelled to get your food from point A to point B. In addition, especially when considering meat or dairy products, the energy and resources required for the animals to be raised and/or harvested for human consumption must be considered. By asking whether you buy lots of locally grown organic food as opposed to imported processed foods, an estimate of the energy and resources used in preparing and transporting these goods can be calculated.

Energy use is often highly associated with the housing unit a person lives in. When completing this calculator I was asked questions such as ‘do you live in a free-standing house, a duplex, or an apartment? Is your house brand new, or 100 years old?’ The size of your house is directly related to the amount of energy used, and the age of a house is directly related to efficiency. More specific questions regarding weekly energy consumption are also asked, and sometimes the answers can be difficult to determine. This was especially the case in my situation, because I am renting a suite and I don’t actually deal directly with my heat or energy bills, they are simply part of my rent.

When looking at transportation important questions regarding vehicle use are asked. These include questions about your average mileage, fuel efficiency, and use of alternative transportation. These questions can help to determine what kind of impact your vehicle use is having.

According to this ecological footprint calculator, maintaining my lifestyle will require the use of 6.3 global hectares of land. In addition, my current consumption requires an area of productive land equivalent to 7.7 Canadian Football Fields! Clearly, if everyone were to consume at such levels, there wouldn’t be much left on this planet to consume! What is interesting is that I consider myself a fairly environmentally conscious individual. I try to live sustainably by using less electricity and more efficient appliances. I carpool when possible, and limit unnecessary trips. I purchase locally produced goods and services where possible.  Regardless, this calculator indicates that my lifestyle is pretty darn unsustainable! From my experience, this often is the case for individuals living in developed countries. Interesting!

The results also display the top three areas where my ecological footprint are generated, which are:

·         General Services at 35% - This includes government and military services, health care, restaurants, legal services, etc.

·         Shelter at 29% ; and

·         Mobility at 20%

The other areas considered included Food (at 12%) and Goods (at 4%). By understanding where the majority of your ecological footprint is being generated, this can help you to understand where changes can be made in your lifestyle in order to have the greatest effect.

I ended up trying another calculator which can be found at:

http://myfootprint.org/en/

 This website considers four footprint areas – your carbon footprint, food footprint, goods and services footprint, and housing footprint. Many similar questions were asked, and at the end a sentence appeared which has a lot of impact for me. It read:

‘If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need 3.14 earths’.

Put so simply, it gives me a clear understanding that I am not living within my ecological means, and this awareness is critical as society moves forwards, trying to create sustainable communities and sustainable lifestyles.
Finally, I will end this blog with a photo I took. Images like these remind me of why I must try to live within my ecological footprint, so there will be some beautiful space left for everyone, (and everything) else.

Photo taken at the Esquimalt Lagoon, 2011

What is Sustainable Development, Anyways?

 There are probably hundreds of definitions for the term 'sustainable development', and these definitions vary, depending on whom you are asking. Environmentalists, corporations, governments, and international organizations have all tried to provide a definition of what sustainable development means, but in the end a vision of sustainability is based on the things the country, the organization or the individual values the most.


I chose to study Environmental Science because when I really thought about the type of career I wanted, I knew I wanted to make positive change in the world. In addition, growing up close to natural wonders like Goldstream Provincial Park has instilled in me the importance of protecting these beautiful places, and living sustainably. Personally, I believe that sustainable development should be defined as:


Development that does not diminish the quality or biodiversity of the natural ecosystems on which we rely to sustain ourselves in a manner that considers implications from a local to a global scale, while maintaining rich cultural diversity and ensuring greater social equity.

As most of you may know, David Suzuki is a world-renowned environmentalist. What you may not know is that he is a professor at UBC, and he resides in Vancouver. He also writes a fantastic blog discussing several issues that relate to sustainable development, which can be found at:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/

In one of his articles, titled ‘New science looks at big picture for the future’, Suzuki states that “the terms sustainability and sustainable development get tossed around a lot, and it's often difficult to know exactly what they mean”. It is an interesting article that emphasizes how important the ever-emerging field of ‘Sustainability’ Sciences is becoming, where interrelated environmental problems and solutions are considered from a larger perspective.

The David Suzuki Foundation has a mission statement and vision, both of which seem to truly encompass the meaning of sustainable development. Their mission is “to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future”, while their vision is “that within a generation, Canadians act on the understanding that we are all interconnected and interdependent with nature”.

When trying to tackle issues of sustainable development, starting with a strong vision such as that used by the David Suzuki Foundation is a great basis for developing goals and a plan of action. In the end, whatever your vision, the way that you define sustainable development will ultimately be reflected in the goals you develop and the actions you take.

If you are interested in reading some more about the David Suzuki Foundation, including their top goals, visit:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/

Finally, I'm going to end this first blog with a picture that I took this summer, while driving down Vancouver Island. It is an image that reminds me and inspires me to continue to aim towards sustainable development - the way I think it should be defined, anyways!

Black Bear, spotted near Jordan River on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, summer 2011