What Size is Your Footprint?
How heavy of a life do you live? What kind of impact do you leave on the people, plants, and animals around you?
The argument is often made that the grains being fed to cattle could instead go to third world families, and that the land could go to homes for those who have none. This thought has always been hard for me to wrap my mind around though. While on vacation this weekend, however, my uncle (who has been a vegetarian for longer than I have been alive) put this in words that I could relate to:
Part of being a vegetarian, he told me, was living light on the land. I had previously heard of the carbon calculators, but as I do not own a car or house, I was unable to find ways to change my impact on the earth through this site.
Think of all the work that goes into the preparation of meat products - growth of grain and feed, care (or lack there of) for the animal, slaughter, butchering, cleaning, cooking, preparation. Now think of the work that goes into vegetable prep - growth, cleaning, optional cooking.
Animal prep leaves more pesticides in the land that will run into our water; more pollution from factories and such; and creates more waste in general.
A motto I learned in Girl Scouts was “leave only footprints, and take only photographs.” I am, however, leaving the lightest footprint possible in life because if we all stomped around, pounding our feet into the ground as we went, the earth would inevitably wear away. We have to respect what we have been given - no matter who we believe gave it to us.
So I ask you again, how heavy of a life do you live? What kind of impact do you leave on the people, plants, and animals around you?
August 20th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
For US residents, the calculator at http://www.begreennow.com/ may be a better choice for estimating your carbon footprint. If you have 12 months of electric and gas bills, subtract the reading from 12 months ago from the most recent reading to quickly determine a years usage. It’s also helpful to know that 100 cubic feet (1 CCF) is approximately 1 therm.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:38 am
Thanks, Susan! I couldn’t find a U.S. one at all.
September 13th, 2007 at 9:10 am
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