Making the Most of Your Environmental Footprint

We love simplifications.  Seeing the world through one particular lens helps us to make sense of that which is too complex for us to understand.  So please forgive me in advance for simplifying a problem which is actually very complex.  And yet...

I sometimes see the world as being divided into several types of people. 

1. Scientific Believers: this first type sees the earth as the source of infinite resources which can never be exhausted so long as scientific progress continues at its current pace.  Science, they believe, will continue to solve the world's resource problems as they arise, thus we need not worry about global warming, deforestation, political instability and lack of water.
2. Religious Fatalists: these folks believe that humans are completely at the mercy of God and, regardless what they do, God will sort it out -- either by taking some subset of the population to heaven or by making it all better here on earth.
3. Doom and Gloomers: these are people who believe that nothing can be done to save the world and, therefore, he who dies with the most toys wins -- at least in the short run.
4. Ostriches: these are folks who would fall into one of the three previous categories but are afraid to take their heads out of the sand.
5. Responsibility Takers: this is a small, yet growing, group of people who believe that, regardless of the eventual outcome, they need to take personal responsibility for their own ecological footprint -- and their own community's survival.  Driven by different motivations, these people may be "Preppers", Permaculture enthusiasts, or simply back-to-the-land, do-it-yourselfers.  These are the people who give me hope.

According to CarryingCapacity.org, the ecological footprint of one, average, American is about 12 acres.  To be clear, that's the amount of land currently necessary to sustain one average American individual indefinitely.  That includes food, fiber and other resources, including disposal -- I do not believe that this includes motor fuel.

So you and I are each responsible for the continued use of 12 acres.  A family of 4 Americans is responsible for approximately 50 acres that must be reserved for growing our food and dumping our waste.

In 2010, the Stanford (University) News reported that most new farmland comes from cutting tropical forest.   This article also commented on the release of carbon into the atmosphere through this deforestation.  For people who care about the environment, this is not news.  Of the top ten drivers of deforestation, the top 4 are related to inefficient food production.  And the saddest part of this equation is that this land is not farmed sustainably and, within a short span of time, will be turned into unproductive wasteland, requiring further deforestation of virgin forest.

So what can you do to stop this trend?  Unbelievably, it has been demonstrated that the necessary calories to feed a person can actually be produced on 1/2 acre of land or less.  Here is a model for a family of four to produce all of their own food on only 2 acres.  However, very few people will do this for themselves and, if they did, they would need to spend all of their time doing so and would have almost no time remaining to earn money to buy computers or to blog about all of the neat things they were doing.  :)

Toby Hemenway wrote a neat article about the myth of self-reliance and I feel that he really hit the nail on the head.  As the organizer of Providence Permaculture, I, too, have never met anyone who has become completely self-reliant on a two (or a 100) acre farm.  And, quite honestly, who would want to?  Community is one of the greatest assets we have and, without it, life would hardly be worth living.  Historically, communities have often been self-sufficient on limited resources.  One modern equivalent to these historic communities is outlined in the philosophy and practice of Permaculture.

Permaculture studies how to maximize fertility and yield while optimizing your environmental footprint.  Farming can actually be done in a way that sequesters carbon, improves the soil, improves the landscape and enriches the community.  If we direct our focus on building connections with others, building responsible communities, enriching our soil and reducing our environmental footprint, we can reduce the acreage needed for our own survival, sequester more carbon, grow more food and live without worrying about carrying capacity and carbon footprints.

Appropriately, this kind of movement only grows from the ground up.  Government won't plant our lawns with food instead of grass.  Government won't provide positive role-models to your neighbors who spray pesticides and send their compostable "waste" to the landfill.  We are living in a time of unlimited waste, and "waste" is simply "unused resources".  American society provides virtually unlimited resources for those who are willing to use them -- and by doing so you can start reducing your own footprint, as well as that of your neighbors and friends.

So connect and barter.  Share your surplus and buy locally, responsibly produced foods.  Eat less meat.  Wear more hand-me-downs and thrift shop clothes; bike more; reuse and compost; research Permaculture.  You will find this lifestyle to be not just more efficient, but also more empowering and more fun.

If we are to thrive as a species, we need to make changes.  We can go there kicking and screaming or we can take the reigns.  So ask yourself, what kind of person are you?