My Ecological Footprint

If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need:

= 3.40 Earths

Wow! This makes me extremely disappointed in myself as I am studying sustainability! Clearly I need to make some changes. My consumption requires 131.87 global acres, which is over three times the 43 global acres that is considered sustainable. The large size of my Ecological Footprint (EF) primarily derives from my food consumption and water/energy usage. Because I live in an apartment of an old house I cannot do much to improve insulation or efficiency of my appliances, but I can still make improvements in my routines. I found it shocking that my food consumption was almost the same as the national average because I really only eat meat when I eat out or I’m at my parent’s house, but I guess these occasions do add up. To decrease my EF, I am going to take steps in these three areas: 

1) Water/ Energy Usage: I am going to limit myself to 5 minute showers, and only wash my hair once a week (for which I’ll allow myself 10 minutes). I also am going to commit to unplugging appliances if they are not in use and when I leave the house.

2) Food consumption: I already almost always buy organic fruits and vegetables, but I am going to expand my expectations to choosing local options. This has always been a matter of price for me, because as a college student I have little to no disposable income. However, I think I can make this cut in one area of my diet. I am going to be starting a garden soon, so that is about as local as you can get for herbs and veggies. I also will commit to vegetarian options when eating out.  

3) Waste: This is something I have wanted to do for a while but have never thoroughly followed through with. To decrease my waste I will:
a. Compost. I have not done this yet because of the initial cost of a composting bin and being unsure of how to dispose of the composted materials after my bin is full. I will have to do more research on this, but I do a lot of cooking at home and a lot of what I throw away could be composted
b. Using reusable bags for fruits and veggies vs the plastic bags in-store. I always reuse these bags to dispose of cat litter, but I use a walnut-based litter and I am wondering if that might be compostable, or else I will find another way to dispose of it. Going along with this I want to reduce my use/consumption/purchases that include non-recyclable and plastic packaging.