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Make your footprint smaller
We all know that the Earth's resources are finite. But did you know that it is possible to quantify the impact of each person on the environment and to calculate the average number of acres (biologically productive space) currently needed to support each individual in the world? Redefining Progress (http://www.rprogress.org/) has devised such an indicator of sustainability, called the "ecological footprint."
According to recent data, an average of 5.3 acres is available for each person on earth, but at our current rate of consumption an average of 7.1 acres is needed to support each person on earth. In the United States, the average ecological footprint is 31 acres per person—reflecting the highest rate of consumption in the world (http://www.redefiningprogress.org/programs/sustainabilityindicators/ef/efbrochure.pdf).
The earth's resources are being depleted faster that they can be renewed. If everyone in the world consumed at the rate Americans do, we would need five planets the size of Earth to sustain ourselves. The Ecological Footprint of Nations 2004 (http://www.redefiningprogress.org/publications/footprintnations2004.pdf)
details the progress of selected municipalities to diminish the size of their footprints. It is possible for individual to calculate the size of their own footprints by taking the Ecological Footprint Quiz at (http://www.myfootprint.org/).
Many individuals are taking action on a community level to help reduce the size of the average ecological footprint in America. Christopher Lee, a professor at Canisius College, is one such person. Last fall, he initiated the Buffalo Freecycle Web site (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BuffaloFreecycle/), a place on the Web where individuals in the Buffalo area can offer to give away something for free that they would otherwise throw away. Reusing resources this way will help lessen the consumption of valuable landfill space and perhaps eventually diminish the need to manufacture quite as much. Registration with Yahoo is necessary to access the Buffalo Freecycle Web site.
A recent Buffalo News article describes the Buffalo Freecycle project (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040330/1050443.asp). The Buffalo Freecycle chapter is an offshoot of the worldwide Freecycle network (http://www.freecycle.org).
Another mechanism to help individuals reduce their negative impact on the environment is car-sharing (http://www.carsharing.net/). This neighborhood-based movement began in the 1980s in Switzerland and eventually came to the United States, starting in Portland, Ore. People pay for using a car on an as-needed basis, sometimes for just a couple of hours. This can reduce the need to own cars, can help cut down on traffic and pollution in urban areas and can contribute to a downshift towards sustainable mobility. One such enterprise in this country is Community Car (http://www.communitycar.com/aboutus/) in Madison, Wis., and another is Zipcar (http://www.zipcar.com/), operating in several East Coast metropolitan areas, including New York City. Progressive Madison also hosts the Red Bike Project (http://danenet.wicip.org/bcp/redbikes/), distributing red bicycles around the city for folks to pick up and drive to their destination and leave for the next person. There are cities around the world with community bicycle programs (http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/freebike.htm) that reduce car traffic and pollution.
Would you like to take action to make your ecological footprint smaller? Try checking out the links at Google's Environmental Activism directory http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Environment/Activism/ for ideas. Consider sponsoring or attending an Earth Day (April 22) event (http://www.earthday.net/). Finally, examine the UB Green Web site (http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen/index.htm) to find out how you can become involved on campus. Even a little toe counts.
—Nina Cascio and Rick McRae, University Libraries