How Many Planets Worth Of Natural Capital Do We Require For Everyone You Live Like You?

The theoretical surface area of the Earth is 196.9 million miles squared; however one must consider the Earth is not entirely land. When one accounts for the area that the oceans occupy the maximum habitable area is reduced to a mere 57.1 million miles squared; nevertheless, this value still includes all areas which are not habitable such as: Antarctica, the Gobi desert, etc. The remaining land must be further partitioned for food, production, housing, and the natural environment. One famous philosopher Thomas Malthus sums up the issue with our current methods of partitioning, “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.” (Malthus, 4). Here Malthus confronts the concept that the human race grows faster than the amount of food produced. The largest human factor stopping these two rates from equalling each other is the partitioning of land into distinct zones. However there is a way to balance these forces, there must be a re-integration of small scale farming in non-rural areas. If humans were to each perform small scale farming on their own the rate of human growth may finally parallel food

Have a guess now at the size of your footprint, and write it down in your journal entry. If everyone on the planet lived the way that you do, how many Earths would be required to support the entire population? This is one way in which

Instead of dieting, people should look to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In an effort to do so, I have turned to a plant based diet. With new studies informing the public about the dangers of red meat as a carcinogen and its link to heart disease, I felt it was best to leave the burgers behind. While not wholly vegan, I no longer consume eggs, dairy, honey, and red meat and instead have replaced these animal products with leafy greens, fiber rich berries, and whole wheat pasta. This transition has not been solely about health, however, as, after taking an Environmental Science course, I learned about the damaging environmental impacts of the meat and dairy industries. In the United States, agriculture accounts for 80% of our water usage -- and bovine meat is the largest offender, using 48x more water than vegetables. Land usage for livestock is another massive problem and as the consumer demands for animal products increases, our available land is slowly eaten away at.

For one pound of beef, it takes 1800 to 2500 gallons of water opposed to 220 gallons for one pound of soy tofu. Meatless Mondays can cut down our water use by thousands of gallons.

Some people may further choose to restrict their diet even further and become vegans whom exclude all meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and farm produce from their diet.

Earth has not yet, reached its carrying capacity. Many people believe that Earth’s resources are running out due to the human population exponential growth, and the linear growth of food supply. The document, “Has Earth Reached its Carrying Capacity?” by Julia Layton, points out the fact that if the human population does more to extend the amount of resources available to us, we can increase Earth’s carrying capacity. For example, On page one, Paragraph four, Layton writes, “...technological advancement... they(scientist) have argued that this human ability allows food production to grow exponentially, as well.” Many advances in technology have giving us a wide range of information. Some of which could help us, now or in the future, to create

The article describes the difference in green house emissions from changing two individuals diet from a high meat content to a vegetarian diet would be the equivalent of running a 10-year-old car 6,000 miles or for one person return flight from London to New York.

A global effort is required to aid the world in reducing emissions to a limit of 2 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels.

Let somebody else do it,” because it shows complete disregard for the future of our planet. The world is not made up of one being, but many beings that contribute to a whole ecosystem. “In 2014, America produced 16.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which was three times the global average of 4.9 metric tons” (Kinhal). The warming trend has a greater than 95% probability of being man made, which means humans are predominantly the cause of the carbon dioxide warming the earth. (NASA). Even if one person reduced the amount of carbon they produced, it would better the atmosphere in the

A vegan diet is the best possible diet because it inflicts less damage to the environment. According to Culinary Schools, “Nearly half of all water used in the UNited States goes to raising animals for food. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat. Vs. 1 pound of wheat takes 25 gallons. You’d save more water by not eating one pound of meat than you would by not taking a shower for 6 months” (“Veganism & The Environment: By the Numbers” par. 9-11). In other words, 50% of the water used by the United States as a whole, was used to raise animals that were going to be eaten later on. This quote shows that raising animals for food is a massive waste of water. That large amount of water is used to provide the animals with wheat and grains to eat and to

Vegetarianism and veganism have become a widely accepted and practiced lifestyle over the past couple years. “According to a Harris Interactive study commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, approximately five percent of the U.S. is vegetarian (close to 16 million people) and about half of these vegetarians are vegan” (Is 2014 the Year of the Vegan?). That means that the number of vegetarians has doubled over the past 7 years. Due to increased awareness, one can assume that this number is only going to continue growing. Many people ask “Why would I ever go vegan?” Choosing to go vegan is not only a way to better a person’s health, but also, to help the animals, the environment, and the people of the world.

According to the calculator, if everyone lived like me, we would need 5.1 Planet Earths to provide enough resources to sustain us all. More specifically, I produce 23.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year and my lifestyle requires 22.7 global acres of the earth's productive area. My footprint breaks down as follows: services that I consume account for 39%, food accounts for 27%, goods for 17%, shelter for 11%, and mobility for 6%.

Sarah Bryant states, "Although veganism as a movement has existed since the mid-1940s, the last ten years has seen the vegan lifestyle catapulted from niche to mainstream awareness as more and more consumers begin to replace animal products in their diet with plant-based alternatives." This shows that many people have often converted, or thought about converting, to veganism due to the trends on social media, or just wanting to live healthier lives. Though, having a vegan or vegetarian diet could lead to a longer life span and help climate change, there are many flaws to that

In order to be an integral part in saving the Earth’s environment and ensuring resources for future generations, the way individuals live needs to change. Being fortunate enough to reside in one of the nation’s most developed countries, I wanted to make sure the way I have been living has been meeting the standards set by sustainable living. Using the overall environmental footprint provided by Global Footprint Network, I was able to pinpoint the areas in my life that needed to improve in order for me to be more sustainable. I chose to use this Footprint calculator because it gives you a breakdown on how many resources from the planet are needed in order to provide for your living standards. Once you have input the information, the calculator provides a general ecological footprint explanation and gives real case scenarios in which you can do to reduce it. The results for my footprint were as follows: If everyone were to live the way I do, we would need 5.3 planet earths to provide enough resources. It would take 23.6 global acres of land for energy production, which would emit 23.6 tons of carbon dioxide, and the biggest impacts on my personal footprint included 36 percent of services, 21 percent food and 19 percent mobility.

To overcome this problem though sustainable forestry could be taken into consideration, where for every tree cut down one or even two new trees are planted. The best way of reducing the output of carbon dioxide is to reduce the amount of fuel which being burnt, by exploring other ways of producing energy such as using wind turbines or solar panels. Encouraging people to become more energy efficient helps too, by buying washing machines, refrigerators and other machines that are more energy efficient. Newer washing machines consume a third of the amount of energy compared to the models made 15 years ago.