Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Senegal's Eco Footprint

Despite clear developmental and environmental issues, such as the lack of a waste management program, Senegal has a decent eco-footprint.

EcoFootprint: the amount of global hectares it takes to support your lifestyle/standard of living. Take the test here to see how you measure up.

My current life: In Senegal, my life needs about 7.15 global hectares. If the world's population lived at this level, we would only need 0.45 earths to support us. I'm still living a step above the Senegal standard, which averages 5.5 hectares/person.

USA: The average American needs 99.77ha to live. That would mean we need 6.35 earths to support the world's population, which is clearly unsustainable.

Anyway, take the test, its quick and interesting. Plus, as Americans, we have the ability and options to reduce our footprint. Just my environmental hippie coming out...

--
Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment