PUP 190: Sustainable Cities Assignment 1.

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Assignment 1.1 by Brandon Shockley
What is an Ecological Footprint?
In a general sense, the ecological footprint, is the load or amount of strain a person has
on the environment. An environment / ecosystem has a nite carrying capacity, in which it can
sustain life by regenerating its resources. If the load goes beyond the carrying capacity of the
environment, the result will be an offshoot. The offshoot is the decit of the load versus the
carrying capacity. This will eventually lead to an environmental collapse if no action is taken to
reduce the load. You can also grow the carrying capacity to help alleviate the weight of the
load that the environment bears. The ideal is to have a reserve in the carrying capacitys equity.
What were the results of your test and what, if anything, did you nd surprising or
noteworthy?

I have always considered myself somewhat of a green person, however if every person
were to live in the manner in which I am accustomed to we would need 4.1 earths. I do believe
my estimate was fairly high, though because of the lack of options. For instance, there is no
mostly vegetarian option. I do eat meat, but the amount that I eat is very very little. I was also
unsure about some factors as well; like the materials used in building my apartment complex.
Nonetheless I do believe there are areas of great improvement I could make and will make in
the future.
What changes can you make in your life to reduce your Ecological Footprint?
I believe that the biggest improvements I could make in my ecological footprint would
be in the food category. I am a price oriented shopper and while I rarely buy pre-made I do not
usually buy food that is organic or shop in places like farmers markets. My goods and services
footprint is the next largest area that could use improvement. I rarely recycle because I do not
have convenient access to it. I am not sure if it is worth driving for me to recycle.
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PUP 190: Sustainable Cities Assignment 1.1
If everyone lived like you do, how many earths would be needed to sustain the
population, and what does that mean? (Why cant we continue consuming resources at the
current rate? What would happen if nothing were done?)
If everyone on earth lived how I lived, we would probably already be past the point of
collapse. 4.14 Earths is the break even point for the life that I currently live. I can only imagine
what it was some years ago, before I made a conscious effort to reduce my ecological
footprint. This is the rst time that I have used a calculator to estimate my footprint, however
and it shows areas in which I could vastly improve upon. Obviously even my load which is
signicantly lower in most categories compared to the rest of my countrymen, would lead to
collapse and certain doom. We can not continue sustainably on such a path.
What changes would you suggest to others to reduce their Footprint?
I think reducing the amount of meat that we consume is one of the biggest
improvements we could make as a society. I must confess that the idea is not merely my own
however. A TED talk by Graham Hill entitled, Why I am a weekday vegetarian truly
enlightened me on the subject. A quote from one of the smartest men who ever lived further
backed up my thoughts on meat consumption. Albert Einstein once said, It is my view that the
vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would
most benecially inuence the lot of mankind. Although Einstein was speaking to alleged
effects on persons temperament and not sustainability.
What is the relationship between changes in your consumption level and your Footprint?
(What happens to your Footprint as your consumption level changes?) Why is this
signicant?
It is important to understand the correlation between the amount that we consume and
the size of our footprint. The rate of consumption and footprint are directly proportional. That is
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PUP 190: Sustainable Cities Assignment 1.1
to say that the more that we consume the larger our ecological footprint will be. It is signicant
because in knowing the correlation we also know how to combat this issue.
What are the two most signicant categories of your Ecological Footprint and why?
The two most signicant categories of my ecological footprint are food and goods and
services. They are only slightly lower or equal to the rest of the population. This is troubling
because the average level is absurdly high to begin with. The reason that my levels are where
they are is because of convenience / laziness and / or access to platforms that could lower the
footprint. There are also monetary concerns. Unfortunately do what is best is not always the
least expensive or the easiest. I hope that I am able to reduce these areas however.
What adjustment would you make to these two categories to signicantly reduce their
environmental impact?
I would love to recycle more, although I do have reservations about recycling after
reading some papers and watching an episode about recycling on Penn & Tellers BullSh!t
which aired on HBO. I would also love to be able to eat more sustainably. These are the two
improvements which I believe that I could begin to make starting now.
What have you learned from working through this process?
This process has been very enlightening. It also shows me more specically not only
where I can make improvements in my own ecological footprint, but what improvements make
the largest impact on my footprint.
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