By Simran Sethi, NBC News
If everyone lived like me, we'd need another 1 1/2 planets to sustain ourselves.
How do I know? Based on my ecological footprint -- the imprint I make on the world as a result of how I live, act, and consume.
I'm five feet tall, weigh 96 pounds, and my shoe size is 6. But my ecological footprint is 11 acres: an average of the fossil fuels needed to power my life, the water needed to raise my food, & the land needed to absorb my waste.
Lest you think I'm living extravagantly:
- I walk practically everywhere and drive an average of 5 miles per week --
- I eat modest amounts of meat and try to buy local produce --
- And I rent a sweet little apartment in the Heartland.
The average ecological footprint of an American is actually 24 acres, which would require more than 5 planets to sustain.
What makes footprints so big? For me, it's getting on lots of planes & eating a fair amount of processed food. Although I can't forgo my flights, I can make adjustments in other areas of my life to offset that consumption, because when it comes to the environment, size matters. And no matter what they say about big feet, this is a footprint we should all shrink.
To find out how you measure up, take the Ecological Footprint quiz at:
http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/
Simran Sethi
NBC News, Environmental Correspondent
http://www.nbcnews.com
I love my Ultra Low Emission Honda Civic, And it gets 30 to 40 miles per gallon. It's also quite fast, powerful, and looks cool. Im doing my part. I also use energy saving light bulbs in my whole house. I wish everyone would do the same.