Tracey Martin is a Sustainable Lifestyle Leader and author and has been a certified Transformational Life Coach as well as health, life and wellness advisor for more than 25 years. Tracey’s mission is simple, to protect our natural resources, planet, and our most precious resource: humankind. She is sharing her knowledge with us in this weekly column and this week Tracey talks about our consumption and the impact it has on planet Earth.
It has been said that if the world populations lived like Americans, we would be in a lot of trouble. Meaning, we have a rapacious appetite for consuming and with our mindless use of natural resources, we would need 5 planet Earths! Well, we haven’t found any, other than the one we inhabit now. Does this mean that we are in a sense “bankrupting” the Earth and all the natural resources? I would say, YES! We are in an ecological debt.
Today’s world is moving faster than at any other time in history. Every aspect seems to be on fast forward. We blink and it seems like another year has gone by. How much work do we all need to do in order to keep Mother Earth in the “green”? Literally!
There is a great tool that has been around for quite awhile. It is called a Footprint calculator. What this great little tool does is help you calculate how much of an impact you are having on the world. For instance, there is a timeline for reference called the “Earth over shoot day”. This means that we should use enough resources to take us to the end of the year, December 31. However, most of the time we fall short and instead we hit our limit about mid August. That means that we are about 4 months in the red for our use of natural resources.
Go to footprintcalculator.org to find out what your carbon footprint is. This will include food, fuels and consumer goods. As well as the carbon our human activities put out. Think of airplane travel and autos… We are usually in a deficit because what we use exceeds what the Earth’s ability is to renew it’s resources.
Don’t be discouraged. Once a mind is stretched it cannot go back to its original size. That means you know too much now. You have no alternative but to take a long hard look at your impact and begin to be more mindful of how you consume. Begin to create a more sustainable way of living.
Sustainably Yours,
Tracey xo
If you have comments or questions you would like to see addressed in this column, please send them to info@fabulousarizona.com.
For a private one on one with Tracey text 602.568.4124.
Great article! Love the focus on sustainability.
Thank you very much. It is such an important life practice