THE BORE

General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: cloudwalking on December 11, 2008, 06:24:35 AM

Title: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: cloudwalking on December 11, 2008, 06:24:35 AM
http://www.footprint-wwf.be/footprintpage.aspx?projectId=69&languageId=2

answer the questions honestly and then post your results here.

my (and jarosh's too i guess) result:

(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n156/meganekko_pie/ecofootprint.jpg)

we're pretty eco-friendly: don't have a car, walk pretty much everywhere and take the bus/train sometimes, work nearby, apartment is well insulated and stays warm without cranking the heat, don't eat a lot of prepackaged stuff and buy organic, don't eat much meat.

we could improve things by making more of an effort to recycle, and to cut down on energy consumption.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: drozmight on December 11, 2008, 06:30:42 AM
2.0 Hectares.


I'm well below the American average.
I'm almost African.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tieno on December 11, 2008, 06:37:03 AM
3.9 ha.
-My mom and stepdad moved to South-Africa so I have a relatively big house to myself, but really well insulated and use heating (gas) very economically.
-Just learned how to drive but I used to use public transport and my bike all the time.
-Regarding food, depends. I'm a bit too lazy sometimes to go for fresh stuff, but I should do it more.
-Paper, I recycle paper but get lots of junk mail. Cancelled all the subscriptions (we changed to an online subscription of our newspaper)
-Wish there'd be more on recycling because almost 95% of our trash here gets recyled. General trash, PMD (plastics, metal and drink packaging), paper and greens.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tauntaun on December 11, 2008, 06:50:15 AM
2.6

Where's the asian average, racialists?

Asians aren't people.  :shh
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: drozmight on December 11, 2008, 06:50:29 AM
I don't have a car... eat meat 3-4 times a week... I eat out lot, but only use recycled paper and don't get any junk mail.  My apt's kinda small and the apartment manager put these really well insulated windows in that keep the place really reall REALLY warm just on oil heat alone.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tieno on December 11, 2008, 06:59:57 AM
South Africa is the new Spain for above average income Europeans. My folks have friends who live there, their dog barks at black people and they live in a fenced community.

My folks will prob move to Spain though, they don't like living fenced in. I doubt they will leave me a house to live in though  :'(

 :bow Tieno's
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Apartheid
[close]
Loving Folks who leave him a house  :bow2
My mom worked real hard to 'build' this house and had it tough to keep after the divorce (she was a teacher). Now with S-A she didn't want to sell for emotional reasons and also to have a fallback if things go bad in S-A. Step dad getting fired a year and a half ago was the best thing to happen to them!
They moved to George and they don't live in gated community. It's a 'wealthy' (European) neigbourhood at the edge of the city.

Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tieno on December 11, 2008, 08:44:23 AM
Based on when I'm at home:

- 7 people live in my home including me.

- I eat: mainly fresh food but also tinned and frozen.

- I eat meat everyday, a portion more than 200g (for the whole day).

- I live in a large detached house.

- My home is well insulated but I never use the heating system. (we're getting cooked as is)

- Heat works by elect.

- I (and others in my home) use electrical appliances wastefully. ಠ_ಠ

- I use only recycled papers, I don't receive junk mail or have many subscriptions.

- I use a car everyday between 50k and 100k on average.

- I almost never use public transport (I would if there were any decent ones).

- Usually on holidays I'm within 1000k by a car.

3.9 ha or 39,000 square meters.
Not much of an eco-bastard like I thought I was gonna be, I thought I'd get a higher result.
I wonder what makes all those Euros and Americans' higher, what answers would they choose differently.

3.9 ha.

Let's move in together.
You already live with 7 people!

Yesterday there was a news item here how a couple who heat their new house via electricity, electric accumulators, (They feel safer) got a 16 000euro fine for it. Yes, sixteen thousand euros.

Heating via electricity is very ecologically unfriendly cause so much energy goes to waste. First with the generation of electricity at the plant and then in the house.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Great Rumbler on December 11, 2008, 08:52:13 AM
3.1 hectares for me.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: DJ_Tet on December 11, 2008, 08:58:50 AM
3.1


I do a lot of stuff in the last couple of years trying to live cleaner (and cheaper.)

I didn't get the recommendation to cooking with lids on your pots, is that because of escaping heat adding to cooking time?



Some of the tips I do:

Cut my PC/monitor off when I'm not at home.

Put my tv/stereo/videogames on a surge protector and I turn the surge protector off every time I'm not using my entertainment center.  My plasma uses power all the time, like many videogame systems and other tvs, so I just 'unplug' them by hitting the surge protector every time I sleep/leave the house.

I use two glasses when I brush my teeth, one filled with water to wet/rinse my toothbrush and one filled with water to rinse my mouth.  The only time I run the faucet is to rinse the toothbrush for the final time, or to wash my hands/face.

I filter water, and feed my cat left-over filtered water from the night before (he likes it room temp.)  I try not to waste any water (live in a draught area.)  So for showers I get wet, turn off the water, lather up my hair, rinse, turn off the water, lather up body, and rinse again.  None of this running water down the drain for 5+ minutes.

I drive about 15 miles a day (not possible for everyone obviously) and I do it in a civic that I can get nearly 40 mpg (non-hybrid.)

I also use rechargeable batteries and don't leave things plugged in that I'm not using (i/e leaving the phone charger always plugged in or a toaster you use once a month.)

I recycle all my newspapers (get one every sunday for the coupons,) magazines, junk mail, cardboard, glass, and cans.  I also recycle all the material at work that I touch that I can (bubble wrap, camera manuals.)



Hopefully others will share some good green tips.  I agree that the test wasn't as accurate as it could be, but the point is to just wake people up from their sleepwalking daily schedule.  There are steps that everyone can take to decrease their personal output.  


One thing that kind of gets me down sometimes though is thinking about how some corporations waste more water in a day than I save in a year, but you can only control what you can control.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Brehvolution on December 11, 2008, 09:00:30 AM
2.1 Hectares which is surprising for a family of 5.
The way the leaf deteriorated in the back round made me think it was much higher.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tieno on December 11, 2008, 09:02:56 AM
2.1 Hectares which is surprising for a family of 5.
The way the leaf deteriorated in the back round made me think it was much higher.
The more people you live with, the more you share in energy (heating, cooking, etc). I think this is your 'personal' footprint, not per house, right?
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Brehvolution on December 11, 2008, 09:04:23 AM
Ah, so it's my own personal footprint.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: tiesto on December 11, 2008, 09:18:29 AM
6.1 hectares - my commute is long as hell. Surprised that there isn't any questions about water conservation - I am pretty wasteful with water.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: DJ_Tet on December 11, 2008, 09:22:08 AM
6.1 hectares - my commute is long as hell. Surprised that there isn't any questions about water conservation - I am pretty wasteful with water.

How?

I said I had 9 people living in my house, waste electricity and east a shit load of meat everyday.

You need 1 person in a large house, not 9.


edit:  Got 14.2  :-*
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tieno on December 11, 2008, 09:24:19 AM
Btw, this thins is bullshit. I purposely put the worst answer in every question and only got 4.2, while the "average" American requires 9?

 :lol

Please
I get 14.6ha.
It's your personal footprint, so the less people you share your house with, the worse it is. Also electricity for heating is bad.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: dammitmattt on December 11, 2008, 10:17:16 AM
5.6

And I won't lose sleep over it.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Beardo on December 11, 2008, 10:24:41 AM
I'm too busy deforesting my backyard while turning on my hummer just in case i need to run across the street to grab a pack of gum later
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Eric P on December 11, 2008, 10:25:03 AM
i got a 4.2  i think most of that's from living in Manhattan

edit: i based it on my va lifestyle and it went to a 6.0
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tauntaun on December 11, 2008, 10:26:51 AM
You know what they say about people with huge ecological footprints right?  (http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/SlinkyT82/4g3swx.gif)
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: DJ_Tet on December 11, 2008, 10:27:19 AM
i got a 4.2  i think most of that's from living in Manhattan




Why would living in NYC increase your footprint on this particular test?  Seems like you would save a lot merely from public transportation alone?
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: muckhole on December 11, 2008, 12:43:04 PM
3.8. I expected it to be worse, especially living in the country where you you have to drive everywhere. I'm just not the destroyer of worlds that I thought I was.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Rman on December 11, 2008, 12:50:21 PM
3.4.

I never drive since I live in NYC.  That helped make my footprint smaller.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Eric P on December 11, 2008, 12:52:38 PM
i got a 4.2  i think most of that's from living in Manhattan




Why would living in NYC increase your footprint on this particular test?  Seems like you would save a lot merely from public transportation alone?

it was far smaller than i expected because i eat proccessed foods more than organic and so on and so forth
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: DJ_Tet on December 11, 2008, 01:29:29 PM


it was far smaller than i expected because i eat proccessed foods more than organic and so on and so forth


Ahh I see.  Yeah people underestimate exactly how much damage is done with every car ride.  In smaller cities without well-developed mass transit I anticipate this will be a big problem sooner rather than later.

Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: ToxicAdam on December 11, 2008, 01:41:25 PM
6.7


I was disappointed that I didn't get docked for owning 2 SUV's and for burning leaves/trash.


Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: muckhole on December 11, 2008, 01:46:20 PM
Jesus, what are you made of? Hemp?
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: DJ_Tet on December 11, 2008, 01:48:12 PM
Jesus, what are you made of? Hemp?

He's obviously african.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: demi on December 11, 2008, 01:49:56 PM
1.7

everyone owned?  seems so.

1.6
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Olivia Wilde Homo on December 11, 2008, 01:56:41 PM
1.2 hectares

I rarely drive (always use public transport), get little mail, buy local, and don't travel anywhere for vacations.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: G The Resurrected on December 11, 2008, 02:15:02 PM
wow 2.5 thats crazy considering my size and mass pull so much on the earth that our axis is slowing down 1 second every thousand years.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: demi on December 11, 2008, 02:23:30 PM
No wonder you dont get the ladies Demi, chicks like running water and electricity. Get back on the boat to Africa.

Good, I don't like girls
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: cool breeze on December 11, 2008, 02:39:50 PM
2.3
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Bildi on December 11, 2008, 03:51:13 PM
4.1.

They didn't even ask me about my environmentally friendly manual push mower. :(
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Tauntaun on December 11, 2008, 04:10:00 PM
1.2 hectares

I rarely drive (always use public transport), get little mail, buy local, and don't travel anywhere for vacations.

You're the unibomber?
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: xnikki118x on December 11, 2008, 04:10:29 PM
I got 2.4, which surprised me.

Our house is old and badly insulated. We drive cars and don't use public transit. Junk mail comes here a lot. We buy more frozen/canned veggies than fresh ones.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Beardo on December 11, 2008, 04:10:35 PM
1.2 hectares

I rarely drive (always use public transport), get little mail, buy local, and don't travel anywhere for vacations.

You're the unibomber?


AHAHAHAHAAAA
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: brawndolicious on December 11, 2008, 04:20:43 PM
2.2 hectares.  It's a very inaccurate test though.
don't eat a lot of prepackaged stuff and buy organic, don't eat much meat.
usually organic foods cost more resources to produce.  pre-packaged foods and meat use up a lot of energy though of course.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Propagandhim on December 11, 2008, 06:17:52 PM
(http://i37.tinypic.com/28t9yl0.jpg)

*breathes in the smug*

I'm not progressive, I'm broke.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Bildi on December 11, 2008, 06:49:31 PM
I got 2.4, which surprised me.

Our house is old and badly insulated. We drive cars and don't use public transit. Junk mail comes here a lot. We buy more frozen/canned veggies than fresh ones.

Hang on, that's me!  But I got 4.1?

I'm doing the test again.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Robo on December 11, 2008, 07:28:51 PM
4.7

My food habits are terrible and I drive quite a bit; those seem to be the worst things.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Olivia Wilde Homo on December 11, 2008, 08:30:22 PM
1.2 hectares

I rarely drive (always use public transport), get little mail, buy local, and don't travel anywhere for vacations.

You're the unibomber?


Close - dirty poor college student
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: ToxicAdam on December 11, 2008, 09:57:51 PM
I like how the enviromental movement has now gotten into controlling every aspect of our lives through guilt or proposed financial deterrents.

The air you breathe, the food you eat, the way you shit it out.

Everybody wants to rule the world.


Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: Fresh Prince on December 11, 2008, 10:02:01 PM
It's pretty much dead now; the environment is going to take second place to the economy.
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: The Fake Shemp on December 11, 2008, 10:29:26 PM
2.4!  Eat that Euro trash!
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: xnikki118x on December 12, 2008, 02:27:11 AM
I got 2.4, which surprised me.

Our house is old and badly insulated. We drive cars and don't use public transit. Junk mail comes here a lot. We buy more frozen/canned veggies than fresh ones.

Hang on, that's me!  But I got 4.1?

I'm doing the test again.

We have a small house and there are 4 of us living in it, so that's probably why. We drive every day but not very far because we live close to where we need to go. :D
Title: Re: What's your ecological footprint?
Post by: CrystalGemini on December 12, 2008, 04:12:06 AM
2.2 hectares or 22,000 square meters.