Mama Earth

Whenever I hear the word “footprint” I obviously think of walking down the beach and seeing an indentation of a persons foot in the sand. I think it is safe to say that the majority of people think of an indentation a foot makes when they hear the word. Now, when I hear “ecological footprint” everything changes. I begin to think about how much of an impact I am making on Mother Earth. How many water bottles I drink a day, what I can recycle, but am too lazy to do so, how much I drive my car, how much meat I consume. After calculating my lifestyle in a footprint calculator, I discovered that if every one lived the lifestyle I do, we would need 4.6 planet earths, and 20.6 global acres of the earth’s productive area. Before knowing all of this, I thought I was leaving a small little footprint. Not taking crazy long showers, I am pretty good at refilling a water bottle numerous times, and I try my very best to recycle any time I can. Knowing what I now know, I better understand how people use a calculation like this to measure and interpret life choices. Like my mom always said: “wants and needs”. Do you want to fly to Europe, or do you need to fly to Europe? Flying causes serious damage. As of Wednesday, July 6 2011, I Megan Freel, will try my absolute best to decrease my ecological footprint. I found that my biggest issue is using products that are not natural. Eating a lot of foods that use less packaging, and or eat more food that comes in post-consumer packaging. Since that Wednesday, I have used one water bottle and have refilled it multiple times, I have searched for foods that come in post consumer packaging, such as water bottles.  I am still always trying to cut down on my driving and shower times, always turn the water off when it is not being used. I offer to take the recycling to the proper place, and I am trying my best to get my roomies involved. Together we can make the world a better place!