I knew my feet were big but...

The fact that it would take about 4.4 Earths to provide enough resources if everyone lived like I do does not surprise me much; I know I don't do enough to have a lesser impact on our environment. What does surprise me is some of the reasons why my footprint is so large. I never stopped to think about how the animals I eat effect the environment in a negative way, like using up acres of land. Or that acres of land are also being used because I purchase products that require a lot of packaging and/or are not from recycled materials.

19.6 acres of the Earth's productive area would be needed to support my lifestyle, the majority of that being used for energy land, and about 45% of my total footprint is due to services that require that energy. Getting energy efficient appliances would definitely help out. My electricity bill is definitely more than it should be. I recently became aware of the amount of things I leave plugged in to electrical outlets at all times and the energy it uses to run that. My house does not have central heating and air, so we use space heaters and window air conditioning units to heat and cool. I know that these require tons of energy to run, and investing in central heating/air will reduce energy costs a ton. My house is old and needs to be weatherized to reduce costs as well.

Want to find out your ecological footprint and explore ways to reduce it? visit www.footprintnetwork.org/calculator. Compare your footprint to mine! You can also see how your footprint compares to that of your countries by following the links under the "Frequently Asked Questions" section that you can access after you are done taking the quiz.