I am surprised by the results of the quiz in three ways; first, that I am so far above the US national average. I consider myself a fairly typical mid-westerner and to be over six times the national ecological average footprint is startling. Second, it terrible to think that the US population uses 67% of the planets ecological footprint. Third, It is very troubling to learn that I am overusing the environment to the extent of 4.5 planets.
My family and I have become more ecologically considerate over the last year. We have begun recycling from the home, carpooling my son to school and sporting events with three other families, even biking on nice days when we run small errands like going to the library or picking up small things from the store.
I would like to use public transportation, but there is a significant lack of convenient public transportation from my area of the burbs. I have been working on a local AIA design competition to improve public transportation in Columbus that has really reinforced that fact. I would definitely support legislation and become an advocate for the improvement of public transit in my area.
I have two children who are nearing the driving age. I am concerned with the idea of having a car for each person in the household, but with every one's busy and conflicting schedules I could see it happening. I would rather be able to get by with one car for long trips and rely on public transit. I just read in the newspaper that you can rent a car on OSU's campus to use on an as-needed basis. Maybe with such rising energy costs we will see more trends in that direction.
I haven't made the switch to compact florescent light fixtures yet and probably should. I could perform an energy audit on the appliances in my home and see if there are any that could be replaced with more efficient alternatives.
We definetly have more house than we need. There are four rooms in our house that we only use to "store" furniture. It might be a tough sell to the family though to move into a smaller place.
6 comments:
Tim, I think your eco-quiz image is the wrong screen shot? It says your footprint is 7.6 and uses 4.2 planets... just thought I'd mention it.
I'll try it again. Thanks.
Tim... I echo your sentiment concerning the reluctance to having to drive everywhere.... Downtown Bangor is the coolest, quaintest little city.. I would love to move down there and be in a position to walk or bike to work.. but between increased housing costs, and my sick desire to have a lawn and gardens and a bunch of green leafy crap that I barely have the time to tend to, I am forced to live a life of solitude 10 miles outside of town.. and then theres the two huge dogs I have... I keep telling myself that, when the dogs are gone, and my daughter has made it to high school, we are moving into downtown...
It is a shame to wait that long. You need to vacation in a place like downtown Bangor. Really live there for a week to see what you are missing. But, it is hard to imagine making such a lifestyle change.
Rick,
I must have clicked a metric option. That explians why I had to convert everything, lol. My comparisons and percentages should still be correct. We should all be metric anyway.
metric?! gah! I'd have to learn something new... bah humbug! hehe
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