happy earth day!

we all know there are small and large ways that each of us impact the earth and its resources, but it's hard to figure just how much damage we each do. to find out what your own ecological footprint is (and how you can reduce it), just take five minutes or so to use this handy footprint calculator! you may need to zoom in on the screen as the type is a bit small but otherwise it has some fun little graphics and straightforward questions to show how our lifestyle is directly linked to how much strain is put on our planets resources.

and in the interests of honesty, here are my own results:

i've got to say, i was really surprised by the results! i thought my impact would be much less because i live rather simply (a nice way of saying i'm dirt poor, haha) and do not even own a car. our apartment does have a lot of old appliances though that are not energy efficient and i have a habit of indulging in taxis instead of taking the bus to work. our salvation is really that we try to buy lots of local food at the farmer's market and that we recycle almost all of our plastics, glass, and paper waste. I reduced my footprint from 3.7 to 3.3 at the end by commiting to buy more products made of recycled material and to hop on my bike instead of cabbing it to work ;) i hope you find some ways that you can help too!