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