May 1, 2008...4:56 pm
What would the world look like if everyone lived like me?
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apparently it would take three mother earth’s if everyone lived my lifestyle. The American Public Media jumped on the 2.0 and the green bandwagon at the same time and ended up with this site, to help you calculate your impact on the earth. I don’t buy-in to their algorithm, but it’s a good guilt trip for those of you who are eco-conscious and want to be reminded that we can do better.
Seeing that I walk or take the zero-emissions bus, share an apartment with three other people, and eat mostly organic meals, I can’t imagine the score of my mid-west counterparts who shuffle around in SUVs. Try it out, they even let you make your own avatar.
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May 8, 2008 at 4:23 pm
The alogorthims for these websites are questionable…but thats understandable given that they are generally limited to asking less than 20 questions and there is massive heterogeneity in the emissions caused by food, public transport etc.
It may seem surprising but eating organic food may actually contribute more in terms of GHG emissions depending on what kind of food you eat. For example free range, organic meat may end up doing more damage than indoor raised meat because of the fact that animals don’t use up energy walking around, and because of the fact that more grazing land is required which may contribute to deforestation. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7389678.stm)
However, I do find it unsurprising that if everyone had a lifestyle like yours 3 earths would be required. Bear in mind that you still probably consume a lot a lot of electricity, have hot showers, and fly across the world at least once a year. Mine would probably be even higher given that I live in cold London, and have heating on in my home for almost half the year.
As we are seeing in China and India, increasing incomes is putting a massive strain on energy supplies and food supplies (mainly because of increased demand for meat). I’m guessing that the carbon foot print of the average person in China, India or Korea for that matter is much lower than yours or mine.
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