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PAST ISSUES

      If everyone in the world lived they way I do, we would need two and a half planets. I took a quiz online to measure my ecological footprint and apparently I need four point seven global hectares to sustain me. Unfortunately are only one point eight biologically productive global hectares per person.

     If your surprised by this or even disturbed I suggest you visit http://www.earthday.net/footprint/, you'll be surprised how quickly things add up, stuff you don't even really think about, like whether or not you eat packaged or processed foods, if you buy local or imported produce, even if you eat meat.

     Now, my mother raised me to be environmentally conscious, to recycle, to compost, to drink filtered water instead of bottled so I was shocked to realize that I was far from living a sustainable lifestyle, even a little embarrassed. I think this test shows us that even if we don't think we're part of the problem, we just might be wrong. Perhaps we could all take the preservation of our planet a little more seriously, it's the only one we have and it appears that if we don't down size our life styles then our life styles just might down size us, as a species.

     So next time you throw a party why to you designate a trash bin just for bottles and cans. Did you know that using recycled glass uses 40 percent less energy than making products from all new materials. Imagine how much of a waste it is to throw away a glass bottle. We’re lucky enough to live on campus where dedicated students run a recycling program for us, all we have to do is bring it down to the nearest laundry room.

     Recycling isn’t the only way to reduce your ecological foot print. Even something as simple as eating less meat could help a lot. I'm not saying you should write off meat all together but Americans tend to eat meat two or three times a day when protein needs to be 10% of your diet and vegetarian protein like nuts or seed can fill that need with a much lower cost to the planet.

     I'm not trying to preach. As I told you at the start I’m far from perfect myself and need to work on reducing my own ecological foot print. Perhaps we can work on it together.

How big is your footprint?

Test your ecological footprint online.