Conservation Issues - Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability Chair: Barbara McLean
Sustainability Chair: Barbara McLean
Barbara McLean photo
I’ve been a Sierra Club member since 1984 and chair of the Sustainability Committee for two years. I believe it is vitally important for American citizens to begin now to make lifestyle choices that will sustain the natural resources of the planet for future generations of all species. To do anything else is to believe that future generations do not have the right to exist.
Local and state governments as well as corporations are attempting to operate in “greener” more sustainable ways. Citizens can hasten this process by chosing politicians as well as products that help to conserve rather than deplete earth’s resources.
I, along with Jim Maskus, the website developer, have created this on-line resource for people who wish to lower their ecological footprint. Taking the ecological footprint quiz will calculate how many acres it would take to support your lifestyle and then how many earths it would take to support that lifestyle. My footprint is 3 and three-quarters earths; in other words, if everyone on earth lived my lifestyle it would take almost 3 more earths to support them. My goal is to reduce my eco-footprint to one earth or 4.5 acres which is the current amount of arable land available for every person on earth.
I know I will have to take public transportation or ride my bicycle more and drive my car less. I need to insulate my house better, begin to grow vegetables in my garden, waste less food and buy organic produce more consistently as well as buy food in bulk. I need to remember to bring a cloth bag with me to the grocery store. I’m trying to reduce my consumption and not buy anything new; use and maintain what I already have.
I’m attempting to be the change I wish to see in the world and it’s a struggle, but worth the effort, I think. Please visit the Feedback page and e-mail me if you want to join the Sustainability Committee, tell me about your efforts to live more sustainably, or have feedback about the website.
Good luck and thanks for making the effort to live a more sustainable lifestyle!
Barbara
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NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center photo by Reto Stöckli
Sustainability is an economic/cultural state where the demands placed upon the natural environment by all species and particularly human beings can be met without reducing the capacity of the natural environment to provide for future generations of all species.
The result of not living in a sustainable manner means that the capacity of the natural environment to provide for future generations of living species will be reduced. Some species will not be able to persist into the future because their requirements for life, i.e. habitat, food, air, water will be so diminished, polluted or degraded that this species will not be able to survive. This may include the human species.
Our goal is to encourage all individuals and families to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle and reduce their ecological footprint. The Columbia Group’s Sustainability Campaign focuses on five areas of living that have a major impact on our environment and natural resources.
We have put information on this website to give you ideas, resources and the motivation to achieve sustainable changes in your lifestyle. Will your lifestyle make it impossible for future generations to live?
Calculate Your Ecological Footprint
The Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates how much productive land and water you need to support what you use and what you discard.
Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz and see what you get.
Will it take more than one earth to support everyone on the planet living at your lifestyle? If the answer is no, congratulations, you’re already living a sustainable lifestyle. If the answer is yes, how many extra earths would it take to support everyone living like you?
