[gg3]

For the record:

CATEGORY ACRES

FOOD 4
MOBILITY 1
SHELTER 5. 4
GOODS/SERVICES 4.4

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 15

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.3 PLANETS.

In summary my resource impact is 62.5% of normal for Americans, and Earth would be sustainable at this lifestyle with a population level of 1.97 billion.

This is fairly convergent with my point about a sustainable population of 2.5 billion on a reasonable lifestyle. In that case I would still have to reduce impact by about 27%. So this is a reasonable target to go for: a 27% reduction in impacts, which should be achievable...

Now if I make the changes I am already anticipating (move rural, high-mileage vehicle plus high-mileage motorbike, smaller house based on sustainable design, etc.), then what I end up with is:

CATEGORY ACRES

FOOD 4
MOBILITY 1
SHELTER 1.2
GOODS/SERVICES 1.5

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 8

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.7 PLANETS.

The planned changes produce a cutback from 15 acres to 8, or 46%, which is far beyond the target cutback level of 27%. Realistically, that's where I'm going to dig in my heels and not budge any further to accommodate the multiplying morons and consuming cretins.

Note also, these changes require not much more than ingenuity and community. They do not require freezing in the dark, doing without toilet paper or showers, or subsisting on roots & berries. The idea that sustainability requires abject misery is a crock of poo.

(Room temperature here is presently 60 degrees fahrenheit, with me warm & comfy wearing longjohns & a knit cap, and using a 50-watt heating pad under my sweatshirt rather than 1000 watts or equivalent to heat the room air.)

[EnergyUnlimited]

There are exceptions but they tend to prove the rule (for example, in a collapse scenario where the lawful order breaks down, prostitution will become a new growth industry).

Nice try, but you are mistaken here.
Prostitution will NOT become growth industry under collapse scenario.
Albeit number of prostitutes will be growing exponentially (until "natural resources" are completely exhausted...), there is no way, that they will be charging anything near, what they are attempting now...
The more prostitutes we will have around, the lower taking per go and lower turnover total of this "industry" is likely to be.

You should keep few packets of cigarrets for the time after TSHTF.
You may be able to get a decent (or rather decently looking) woman, per cigaret per hour...and for a can of peanuts she may stay with you for entire night.

Everyone is doomed under doom scenario...even prostitutes...

[dohboi]

So my goal for the New Year is to get close to the one earth replacement level. I am below 2 now, so it's not a huge step--the main changes are going from vegetarian to vegan and going from 10-100 miles a week in cars to under 10. I still need to continue on-going efforts to move my house to green design. What shocks my immediate and extended family most is my refusal to fly.

These changes are all good for me physically and spiritually, and it is a great relief to think that for once in my life I will not be hogging much more than my fair share of the earth's bounty.

Now if I can only convince the rest of my fellow Americans to join me...

[Vortex]

Location: middle of Sweden, town with 10 000 citizens in the core, another 10 000 in the surrounding area.

FOOD 1.4
MOBILITY 0.1
SHELTER 1
GOODS/SERVICES 1

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 3.5

[HamRadioRocks]

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction ... alculator/
IA, 1 person household, 2004 Honda Accord w/ automatic, 6400 miles per year, 4 short flights, 4 long flights, $25-$50/month 100% renewable electricity, $25-$50/month natural gas.
My impact is 4.75 tons of carbon dioxide per year, smaller than the 7.5 tons per year for the average American.
If I never flew, my carbon footprint would be cut in half to just 2.4 tons/year, much smaller than average.
For some reason, I get a MUCH higher figure from the Native Energy calculator.

[Davinci]

Interesting.

2005 Chevy Equinox, 20000 miles per year. $60 each for gas and electric, and I have a footprint of 19.7...and this is only 2 trips to warmer climates throughout the year, and one yearly jaunt to Europe...

I'm ashamed to even post this up here...but my job requires me to drive so much....if I just looked at my personal mileage, it still isn't pretty....14.25.

Either way...it only costs $240 per year to "buy" my footprint and bring it down to zero. Cheaper than converting my new home to solar/wind...cheaper than taking a bus...easier than walking and cutting back. I know what the responsible thing is, but for lots of us it's just easier to pay a premium for what some view as a convenience.

[pup55]

I only got 12.1, three times lhigher than HamRadioRocks, driving my ancient Mustang out here in Suburbia.

But there's no place on here for my boats, motorcycles, jet skis, pressure washers, weed whackers, chain saws or other gas powered gadgets that I run all the time.

I see that if I ditch the Stang and get a new Prius, I drop to 7.6. That's about the same as I would get if I drove half as much as I do. If I completely stay off of airplanes, and park the stang altogether, I can get down to 3.6 so I am thinking that the calculation is almost entirely transportation-dependent.

This means that the soccer mom across the street, putting 20,000 miles a year on her Navigator is going to be even worse. I see that even if she stays off of all airplanes, her carbon footprint is 16.1.

But I still think I am a drop in the bucket compared to the giant industrial operations I go into all the time, with human dwarfingly large reactors, boilers, heat exchangers, furnaces of various types, material handling equipment that runs 24-7, huge storage buildings to be heated and cooled, and a massive truck fleet to haul raw materials in and finished goods out. Probably, distributed over the number of widgets that each of these monuments produce it does not come to too much per unit, but I have to think that as a society it would be much better to focus on these giant consumers of energy rather than us individual suburbanites, as energy gluttonous as we may be. In fact, you can make the argument that the giant operation has more to gain financially if they can cut back a little on consumption.

[eastbay]

1.95.

From April to October the number is greatly reduced to a rate of maybe 1.3 tons/yr because I'll ride to work on my 90 mpg scooter rather than by 40 mpg Civic.

Just for comparison I entered into the fields as if I still lived in California commuting Great Distances as so many do and the number was 12.6.

Looks like I've reduced my carbon dioxide footprint considerably. I add one ton per international flight and in '06 I stayed home, but generally I take one long flight.

[Loki]

Good one eastbay. Mine is 2.7, but I'm not sure about my fuel oil bill---if I choose the next highest level, my carbon footprint jumps to 4. My heating bill is lumped in with my rent. If I had my way, I'd use a lot less heat, but it's central heating and I have no control over it.

I plan on trading my current vehicle for a vehicle that gets much better mileage. With the "new" (still 10+ years old) vehicle, my footprint would drop to 2.1

[gwmss15]

why does this calculator not have a selection for areas other than USA and does not have an entry of Mass transit use. its seems to be very US basied.

It should have a selections
country
region of country (state/provice)
Urban vs rural
level of consummerism ie subisitance farmer vs rich business owner
Use of mass transit
Number and distance of trips taken on mass transit
Size and type of home
Construction type
Aircond use
Food and diet

Flights for non travel reasons eg. international migration or long term business travel (over 6month in one country) should not count.

[eastbay]

A search will reveal quite a few CO2 calculators on the net with varying degrees of complexity. Several are UK specific. This one is for the US. It doesn't really matter. I strongly suspect there isn't much difference in CO2 release whether driving in the US, UK, or Zimbabwe.

What they indicate best is how a change in lifestyle can affect ones CO2 contribution into the atmosphere.

[alpha480v]

4.5 for me. It doesn't take into account what we use and throw away that is made from plastics. That would have an impact on your carbon footprint.

[smallpoxgirl]

I got 15.9, but I think this thing is unfair. I travel a lot because I'm working at an abortion clinic in another state. I stopped at least 300 new consumers from being born in the last year. That should count way more in terms of emissions than my air mileage does.

[seldom_seen]

I stopped at least 300 new consumers from being born in the last year.

This is a valid form of carbon sequestration and should earn you substansial carbon credits. Feel free to fly around the world 12-15 times with a clean conscience.

[Ludi]

3.9

[dooberheim]

I got 1.5 - I've taken a lot of these carbon footprint tests and gotten between 1 and 6 tons/year. So much depends on what they ask.

My work is what sucks energy. I work in medical research (microbiology). Most of our reagents are oil based, and the boss wants all the hoods to run constantly (so they don't pick up dust). The daily electric drain from the hoods is three times that of my house even without the solar panels. I've talked to him about this but he insists...

He'll have a harder time of energy depletion than I will....

DK

[smallpoxgirl]

Maybe you murdered a person who would have come up with inventive ways to reduce carbon emissions.

Maybe, but seeing as we already have 6 billion people and none of them is doing a damn thing about it, I'd say the odds are pretty remote. In all likelihood they would have grown up to be 300 more SUV driving suburbanites. Seems to me they would have probably each produced the average 7.5 tons per year. My calculation then should be 15.9 - 300*7.5 = -2234.1 tons per year. Beat that hippies.

[rocket]

Hi - there are many web calculators which will tell me the impact of my personal travel and utility use.

Is there any way to estimate the impact of the goods and services I purchase? If I buy a new toaster, its manufacturing and delivery have some carbon impact. My car insurance company has some impact. Food deliveries to the restaurants I eat in have some impact. . .

Is there a way to get a more complete picture of the impact of my consumer decisions?

[Katuhaukka]

FOOD 0.7
MOBILITY 0.2
SHELTER 1.1
GOODS/SERVICES 1.5
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 3.5

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 8.4 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.9 PLANETS.