Doing the hardest thing first and Bloomington policies

The ecological footprint works as a measure of how one's lifestyle fits into the services provided by our ecosystems. If everyone lived the way you lived, how would humanity fare? If everyone lived the way you lived, how many earths would it take to support the population? More specifically, the measure looks at the amount of land and water it would take to satisfy your needs and clean up your mess in hectares -essentially analyzing if your lifestyle fits within the carrying capacity of the earth's ecological systems, but this isn't as eloquent as saying “You have big feet”.

To see how many planets I need to appropriate in order to meet my hedonistic tendencies, I visited two footprint calculators (as many of them differ in their assessments). The first calculator I used was the Ecological Footprint Calculator hosted by the Center for Sustainable Economy. I liked this calculator because it asked detailed questions regarding my transportation, shopping tendencies, size of my home, etc. -Although it didn't ask my the type of car I drive, so as far as it knows I own a Hummer or a Smartcar. The calculator also tallied my rates as I went so I was able to see the weight of each behavior. My results are below:

The calculator rated my consumption according to four categories: carbon use (electricity and transportation), food, housing, and goods and services. In total, I require about 3.1 earths. It's nice to see that I'm below the national average, but given the lifestyle of most Americans that doesn't say much. I need to start pricing space ships.

The second calculator I used was with the Global Footprint Network. It was a more interactive model, and depicted the infrastructure needed to support the different aspects of my life (eg. grocer, bus system, powerlines). All in all, with this calculator I need 4 earths. While the questions were different from the previous calculator, it assumed more about my lifestyle than seems accurate. It didn't ask about individual personal behaviors, like composting or using low flow fixtures.

But even when I was able to see how those individual behaviors impact my footprint, it was also frustrating to see that all the little things I try to do to conserve (like recycling and carpooling) don't significantly reduce my individual impact. This was most apparent in the first calculator where I could see my number dropping as I selected conscious behaviors. - I recognize that small individual actions shouldn't be discounted, because millions of people engaging in these behaviors is certainly beneficial -. I've been chewing on the idea though that we focus too much on the low hanging fruit rather than attempting to make significant changes that really shape our ecological impact. The writer/artist Franke James discusses this in her visual essays. When she and her husband recognized their need to change, they decided to "do the hardest thing first" and sold their SUV. But not just their SUV, they sold the luxury of having a personal vehicle. Rather than buying a hybrid or a Smartcar, they tore out their driveway to build a garden (after a battle with their city and their zoning ordinances). While I'm a student who has a demanding schedule, don't own my own home, and manage to function on a very limited budget, James inspires me to find big ways I can change my imprint. Everyone has constraints with which they must work. It's about time I address the behaviors I have that are responsible for my need for so many earths.
       
The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability is currently considering policy initiatives on energy, water, and local food issues. Focusing specifically on the water policies, the commission approved an increase in the water pricing for the city, but is currently waiting for approval. It is surprising something that is fairly controversial in other regions would be passed without much noise. Perhaps this is because Bloomington residents aren't aware that water should be a policy priority in the first place. The commission recognizes a strong need to raise awareness regarding water conservation throughout the city and hope to make this policy initiative a priority.
  The current indicators being used to analyze water usage in Bloomington include the water usage as percent of average available water supply (which provides the ability to gauge the actual level of water and need for conservation) and water price as percentage of annual income (which may no longer be useful if pricing is raised to apply real value to water or the benchmark should be adjusted to meet the goals of this policy measure). Water contamination levels and number of local water bodies with fish advisory warnings are also indicators.