Thursday, September 17, 2009

What's Your Ecological Footprint??

Most of us who are in anyway environmentally aware realize that the majority of the worlds resources are consumed by developed nations. We drive big cars long distances to work everyday, we take long, hot showers, we leave lights on when not using them, our food travels 3,000 miles before it reaches our tables, the list is never ending. I will not go on about that but since I have arrived in Lesotho my lifestyle has drastically changed in more ways than one. One of these ways has been my consumption patterns. I am happy to say I do not consume nearly half as much as I did in America. On average I use about 20litres of water per day (more if its a laundry day). I don't have electricity but I burn through 3 or 4 candles a week and sometimes I burn paraffin. I don't own a car and barely ride in them, mostly I'm on foot, but when I do ride in a taxi there is usually black smoke coming out the exhaust and strong fumes to contend with. I don't use a flush toilet. I have a "pit latrine" (outhouse), so all my shit goes into a hole in the ground. I don't have trash pick up and I don't recycle. I burn all my garbage. Oddly though it seems I never really have a lot to burn. Is that the reduced packaging? Anyway, I am sure that I am less of a consumer here in Lesotho than I was back in America, but am I "greener"? Does less consumption equate to a "greener" lifestyle, even though I am burning my garbage and shitting in a hole? Do these things balance each other out? I took the "ecological footprint" test and a lot of the questions did not to pertain to my lifestyle in Lesotho and a lot of the answers I had were not an option on the multiple choice options, but I did the best I could. It turns out my footprint was really low (2.04) but I'm not to sure how accurate those results were for me. Let me know your thoughts and check out your ecological footprint @ www.myfootprint.org.

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