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I
have always considered myself to be more or less environmentally conscious, and
believed that I go above the call of duty to reduce my carbon footprint. I use
energy saving light bulbs, my girlfriend and I purchased a low flow toilet, we
recycle and have two enormous Saint Bernard’s to eat our scraps along with
their already giant meals; this allows us to throw very little food away. We
frequently turn lights out, and try to keep unused appliances unplugged. Most
importantly we keep our purchases essential, infrequent and waste little
frivolously. Upon filling out a brief survey on myfootprint.org I discovered
that not only had I not been going above and beyond my “call of duty”, I had
not even come remotely close to achieving barley acceptable.
David Suzuki would punch me in the face if he
knew my ignorance to believe I was not part of the global degradation of the
planets resources, habitats, air, sea, and soil alike. The results of having
filled out the mentioned survey estimated that if every single human being on
the planet lived life the way I do it would require three planets to sustain
us. Three planets would be drained of their resources and filled with garbage
and waste to even be able to survive. That does not even account for population
increases; us polluters and wasters also love to procreate. I was surprised at
first upon receiving this result, and then immediately concerned; “How much
more can I realistically do?” and “Who is going to tell me and many people far
worse to smarten the Hell up.” I found myself irrationally mad at the survey.
This led to feeling helpless to even make changes, let alone ones that would
combat the countless amount of waste being created by neighbours, friends,
family and everyone else.
Luckily, the results of this test based on environmental sustainability will effect some changes in my day to
day. However, not unlike most people
like myself who have suckled on the tit on convenience, this will likely only
cut my footprint down to two and a half planets. The biggest effect this survey
will have on me, carrying forward into the future,
will be to encourage me to educate my soon to be born daughter on the
importance of preserving the environment, and doing things in a more
sustainable way. I would like this issue to be important to her and maybe she will
be able to make due with just one earth to call home.
