Certain things about living here bother me because they impact the environment in such a significant and negative way. I calculated my ecological footprint today and it is just as I feared..I am an earth destroying, resource consuming beast while I live up here. My consumption rate while I live in Webequie is 10.3 global hectares. This is compared to the average Canadian's 5.8 global hectares. In order to sustain my lifestyle as I have been living it for the past ten months, I would require the equivalent land of 12.7 Canadian football fields a year!!
There are a number of things that contribute to my huge impact that I have no control over while living here:
-I must fly in and out of the community
-I must purchase food that is flown in and not locally grown or truck transported
-I cannot recycle cardboard (it gets burned) or cans/bottles (they go to the dump) as there are no facilities
-I have oil heating in my house and I CRANK it in the winter because it's -45 outside
-All the resources I use in my house and at work have been flown in, including the materials to make the buildings themselves
-I live in a two bedroom house alone
Below is the chart tracking my consumption:
It will go way down when I move back to Hamilton, but then sky rocket again when I move to the Middle East. More flying, more food flown in, and a LOT of desalinized water for consumption, bathing, swimming, cooling.
Kinda sad, but I guess I will have to go live in a tree in the Niagara escarpment for a few years when I get back to make up for it!
New poll is up!
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