Donate Now!

Donate Now!
Buy a membership or koozies to help!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

What type of Foot Print are you leaving?

I found this an interesting test. {edited to add} Found the link from Walk Slowly live wildly.

Earth Day Foot Print Quiz

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 4.2
MOBILITY 0.2
SHELTER 1.5
GOODS/SERVICES 1.2
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 7


IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.


IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.6 PLANETS.



I then took the test again with my future green designed house. It didn't change. Looks like I need to change my food habits. Yet what am I doing that is so wrong according to them? I eat meat. It takes more resources to grow livestock than it is to grow corn based products. I spent 6 years of my life as a vegan. When I became pregnant with my second son, I craved pork sausage. The craving was overwhelming. None of the vitamins I was eating helped. I broke and ate a big plate of Sausage, biscuits and gravy. I ended up with a migraine and heavy guilt. But why should I feel guilty? My body demanded something that I was not obviously receiving in my diet. My vegan friends were mortified, would you eat dirt if that's what you body craved? Give me a break, but I had to answer truthfully, I would try to find an alternative to stave off the craving. So then why hadn't I done that with this other craving. I had! Nothing worked. And then I was called later that night, one of my vegan friends had to confess that she was eating eggs. She felt so horrible about it, but her body {she was pregnant too} was demanding the eggs.

I became a vegan because of the treatment of animals in feed lots, the wastefulness of excess meat, and the mass slaughters. Not that I thought eating meat was wrong. I just had no other way to show my disgust. So vegan I became. Now that I own my own land, I raise my own food, and there is meat on my table.

But here is yet another quiz telling me that I should change my diet. Unlike some of the others, this one simply says reduce your consumption. That’s a lot better than some I have ran across, that proceeded to tell me how horrible of a person I am for eating meat.

I raise my own, I do not mass slaughter, and I eat what I kill.

end that rant for the day.

Did you take the test? If so, what was your footprint total?

on a different note, Billymac on Critique my blog is hosting a contest. It is a popularity contest, and I have no idea what the prize is, ok I assume the prize is being named the most popular blog. Not really my cup O' tea. But the plus side is that when you go searching for my blog to leave a coment on, you will find other blogs that will interest you. The email I recived states;

Everyone out there who has a blog has some steady readers. The object is simple. The blog with the most comments by the end of December will be named the named THE MOST POPULAR BLOG OF THE YEAR. You can direct family members, friends, coworkers, your kids...whoever you know who has access to a computer can find your link on my blog and comment in the comment section under your post.
Here's the catch. You must also ask your friends to visit some other random blogs from Critique My Blog and place a friendly comment on their blog as well. The nicer the better because at the end of the contest the top 3 blogs with the most comments will be judged by their peers via a poll as to who they think is the most popular blog. So if you let the other bloggers know who is sending traffic their way then in the end the bloggers with the lesser comments will be inclined to vote for the blog that sent the most readers their way. The judging will begin on the 20th of December and last until the end of December. The winner will be announced on January 1rst!

I am not to give you the direct link to my critique, you will have to look for it.
If you do head this way, remember to tell them A Homesteading Neophyte sent you. We can at least support Billymac and his blog.

10 comments:

owlhaven said...

I did this quiz and we got a 16. We live out in the country and drive a big van because of our large family. your number is awesome!

Mary, mom to many

Cheryl said...

I still find it extremely comforting that I wasn't the only pregnant vegan defector!
I scored a 4.6 on the quiz. Not too bad, but it could still use some work!

Teri said...

The fact of the matter is that not all land is suitable to grow crops. Some land is perfectly designed to raise animals. I never take these quizes because they are always slanted towards a particular point of view. I've got no interest in going vegetarian. Tried it before and I even still like tofu. I do not have any philosphical problems with eating meat and I don't feel that those who don't eat meat are somehow "superior" to those who do. It's just a personal choice. (I'd probably score low due to the fact that I live in an area without mass transit and have to drive to work!)

Anonymous said...

Who is Teri Pittman and why is she so smart? (this is the second time in two days I've followed a very intelligent comment of hers).

Against my better judgement, I took that quiz and got a 3.3 (?!). I drive 4,000 miles a year, grow my own food, heat with wood that we cut off our own land, etc. I'm sure the meat thing contributed, but perhaps also a 1,000 sq ft home for two people? Overall, I feel annoyed by my results. grrr. ;)

Stephanie Appleton said...

My husband took this awhile back. I forget the exact number, but it was high. We got penalized because of haveing 4 kids, the eating meat thing and because Tim drives ALOT! He does route sales and can drive up to 400 miles a day. We just shrugged it off and also felt that it is slanted.

BTW I am with Liz, who is Teri Pittman? She left a comment at my place and the blogger profile is unavailable. Let us know how we can visit you!

Phelan said...

Mary, I was shocked that mine was so low. I drive a large truck, but my husband rides motorcycles.

Cheryl, one thing, you live in town. The quiz seemed to be aimed more towards those types. but 4 is an awesome score.

Terripittman, oh I agree, I just choose to stick with one rant for the day. One thing about the test was that it did not allow for things such as country living, or availability of public transit. I take this test in stride, think of them as conversation starters more than actual awareness of ones self. that comes with dialog not some test.

Liz, terripittman found me through the essay I wrote for Get rich slowly. I too enjoy terri's comments. The meat would have been a big factor in their test. I looked through the site, and they really wish you would not eat meat. I have 6 people in a 1,200 sq foot home. ugh

Stephanie, I don't know how to reach terri. of course it is slanted. What group isn't pushing their beliefs onto others. I know! Maybe we should come up with a homesteaders quiz, then we could push our own propaganda. oh wait, homesteaders are too diverse of a group for that.

BurdockBoy said...

I scored a 10. Wow. However the test is so vague I feel that it doesn't take into account many things. I have electricity, but buy it through a co-op that buys it from renewable sources. I almost completely buy used. I eat meat, but a lot of it is local fish and deer and buffalo (all which use less resources than cows). The driving is hard on my score as well, but I have no mass transit options.

Anonymous said...

Of course, I've been thinking of this silly quiz too much, so I took it again. And again. ;)

What I found most interesting was how for the same answers, my score changed dramatically if I claimed residency of different countries.
US -- 14 acres, or 3.3 planets
Canada -- 4.5 hectacres, or 2.3 planets
UK -- 2.9 hectacres, or 1.6 planets

It definitely makes assumptions about the "American lifestyle" and lumps in those of us who aren't living that way.

Also... if I had three kids, my footprint would go down to 8 acres (1.8 planets). Hmm... I guess we oughta get busy. Or take in some boarders. ;)

Wendy said...

My footprint was a whopping 10 acres! I could hardly beleive it! I guess it would be really hard for my family to be completely self-sufficient on our quarter acre :).

My only consolation is that we've made a great deal of progress in the last year, and the eggs I eat are from my own chickens, and all of the dairy (milk, cheese, cream...) my family consumes is from a local farm.

I think the thing that hurts me is my driving habits, but with our one car-free day per week, we're making progress in the right direction :)

Parlancheq said...

My footprint was 14 and I need 3.1 planets! In my defense, I think I would do slightly better if exact figures could be input. For example, I drive maybe 20 miles in a typical week (I don't drive to work), but the lowest category was 10-100 miles.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...