Economically, ecosystem services provide us with assets that we would otherwise have to produce ourselves. The simplest example is water treatment, which is done for free by our aquifers. It's possible to directly measure the equivalent cost of a water treatment plant for a given set of wetlands or aquifer, which means you can exactly quantify the value of many ecosystem services. Pollination is another hugely important ecosystem service, which is provided largely for free by bees.
_________________ Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:24 pm Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
So, this year I have been trying to get close to the "one world" goal. The main changes I've made are in diet and travel. I have gone pretty much vegetarian. This wasn't too hard as I was close to this already. Vegan has been harder to reach. I pretty much gave up an going without eggs. When I have succeeded in greatly reducing my dairy intake, I have noticed improvements in health, but not enough to keep me at it.
I was pretty successful at keeping my car use below 10 miles a week, but came under enormous pressure form relatives to go to a family reunion some 600 miles away.
I am also getting increasing pressure from loved ones to jump in planes for visits, which would really blow any chance of getting close to "one world."
If there's a lesson here, it's that you need to bring your support circle in on your effort. This is much harder than you might think, as even relatively enlightened Americans feel quite offended at the idea that air travel, for example, is something they may have to reconsider if they want to live in a sustainable world.
I would be very interested in the problems and successes others have had in trying to reduce their impact and to power down.
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 1185 Location: Richmond, VA, Pale Blue Dot
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
dohboi wrote:
This is much harder than you might think, as even relatively enlightened Americans feel quite offended at the idea that air travel, for example, is something they may have to reconsider if they want to live in a sustainable world.
dohboi, this is exactly what I find so troubling. Energy use is cultural at this point. For over 100 years per capita energy use of the now "developed" nations has been growing out of control, but only because the energy comes out of ground on its own (with some help from water and gas injection). The paradigm shift will come though. We are moving from an era of increasing energy use to one of decreasing, and it will affect the culture of energy use. It just won't be tasteful to expect your 3rd cousin to fly 1000 miles to be at your mothers funeral (I'm exaggerating, but the point is made I think).
Therefore, I think your goal will be easier to reach when the declining energy era requires everyone to view their own energy use differently. We Americans have the furthest to fall and it's not going to be easy. For now, I would give PO/GW/Sustainable World information as gifts to try and create the support circle, which as you mentioned is hard to develop but vital to one's effort.
Stay with it. It's a good fight. _________________ "If you are a real seeker after truth, it's necessary that at least once in your life you doubt all things as far as possible"-Rene Descartes
"When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth"-Sherlock Holmes
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
turmoil wrote:
" It just won't be tasteful to expect your 3rd cousin to fly 1000 miles to be at your mothers funeral (I'm exaggerating, but the point is made I think). "
The point is very well made. In fact I don't find it tasteful now, but I think it will take a lot of education to get that point through. Even as peak oil really starts hitting and prices go way up, I doubt that most people will see it as anything other than a financial issue whether or not to take a trip. Even with record extreme droughts and flooding that is way off the charts in the same state (Minnesota), few if any are connecting this to global warming or seeing it as a reason to radically or even incrementally change their behavior. As you say, it is now cultural in the US to expect cheap fossil-fuel-powered travel, and to discount or completely overlook the costs to the world's future.
Thanks for the support and ideas. I'm a bit hesitant about sending out heavy books on these subjects, but I guess I shouldn't be.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:00 am Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
FOOD 0.9
MOBILITY 0.5
SHELTER 0.4
GOODS/SERVICES 0.8
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 2.6
I don't think the quiz is too accurate because of the only few and too round questions. Still it gives a hint of how much we have to give up after economical collapse. Mostly worried about food myself..
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
Did anyone notice that the folks over at redefining progress have updated their website? I like it. According to this one, I'm down to 1.3 earth! I figure that if they factor in that my wife and I have only had one child and that late in life, that would put me below one earth. Not that this matters much, since most of my compatriots are still consuming like mad--though the economic crunch is surely curbing some of the excess.
I also see a lot more footprint websites, and they give startlingly different results. I got over three earths on another site. Who knows?
Joined: Nov 03, 2007 Posts: 195 Location: cascadia
Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:51 am Post subject: Re: Ecological Footprint Quiz
I just took the quiz at Redefining Progress, and get 2.69 Earths. I think they are reporting the values differently than before, because the category breakdowns seem to be different from what most folks posted. Anyway, they were:
Carbon: 45
Food: 8.9
Housing 26.1
Goods 24.6
The thing with these calculators is that they are making all sorts of simplifying assumptions. I know I am using way less electric than the typical American household because I have actually done a very detailed energy analysis. I've been doing them for years, and once a few years back I made a list of all the things I owned that had electric cords on them and tabulated the amperage and estimated usage patterns to come up with a composite estimate. I was so disgusted that I threw out or sold 95% of the crap, and ironically, I barely noticed the loss.
One very notable omission in the quiz is whether you own or rent. A lot of things that could reduce footprint, like getting solar panels, better insulation, having a good garden, or fashioning a water catchment system are much more challenging if not impossible for renters. To a large degree, renters are dependent on landlords to invest in energy saving devices/technologies, but where is the motivation for landlords to do that? I think in the coming years, this will be a bigger problem, as energy costs skyrocket and a collapsing economy and foreclosures increase demand for rentals. Given there are roughly 35 million rental units in the US, it seems to me there are real conflicts of interest related to energy reduction that cannot easily be addressed under the current situation.
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