Work Out Your Eco Footprint

I don’t know if I should be pleased or not. I just carried out the Earthday ecological footprint survey and discovered that if everyone lived like me we’d need 1.9 Earths. Now, that implies that I’m living well beyond the Earth’s means. In terms of food, I’d need 1.5 global hectares, 0.2 for mobility, 1.1 for shelter, 0.7 for goods and services and my total footprint would be 3.5. That said, the average ecological footprint in the UK is 5.3 global hectares per person, whereas worldwide there are just 1.8 biologically productive global hectares per person.

That sounds terrible, of course, but compared with the dozens of other Westerners who have taken the test I fare rather well, others have reported values double that and one person claims even to need 29.6 earths! Most of those surveyed who live in India claimed we’d only need 1 earth if everyone lived in the manner to which they have become accustomed. I don’t think any of this is particularly serious, and I’m certainly not going to bother picking apart the significant figures in the hectare values, but it does raise awareness and if you find you’re using too many earths, it might be time to reconsider your priorities.