dEFinitely could use some work

As I punched in the different monthly totals for the separate categories of my ecological footprint, I could hear my heart pounding. The feeling was inevitable: I was nervous. I was nervous to see if my efforts to be eco-friendly, including the subtle changes I have made in my lifestyle over the past few years, had paid off. After not using plastic bags, solely committing to my reusable bottle water, dismissing packaging for products where ever possible and reducing the amount of clothing and products I bought within the past few months, I felt as though my lifestyle might more eco-conscious than my fellow Americans. 23.5 was the number I had to beat.

The number I actually came across from my calculations was 38.6. The biggest contributor to my large ecological footprint was the Goods and Services section. I began looking at the components that made up the Goods and Services sector and realized that the cost of my education is what led to my ecological downfall. Well does this mean I should stop going to school? The way that I kept envisioning Merkel’s lifestyle was a lifestyle of isolation. He probably had an education at a university many years before that he did not calculate into his monthly stocks at the age of 30 which helped his EF seem extremely low compared to my own. If I had calculated my ecological footprint just a year earlier, my total footprint would have been much lower as I went to a public high school and my education there was paid by others’ tax dollars. This began to frustrate me: my ecological footprint was higher now than any other point in my life thus far. And although Merkel had warned that an ecological footprint does change over a lifetime, I felt like no matter how hard my efforts to be eco-friendly were, the cost of my education would force my EF to increase.

As I contemplated more on this issue, I began to think of my ecological footprint in terms of the short term and the long term. Sure, my ecological footprint currently was high. But down the road, after I had paid off my education costs, my ecological footprint will hopefully be lower than the average American’s. I will not only be out of school, but I will have the knowledge about how to have an eco-friendly lifestyle – how I should utilize solar and wind energy, how I should design a “green” house, how I should keep track of my consumptions to make sure I am not buying outlandish material goods.

I did also realize, though, that even though I believe that my current EF is not exactly a true reflection of the efforts I make in my life now, I can still set goals for myself in order to lower my ecological footprint. I set my goals into distinct categories as follows:
Short term goals: (within the next quarter)
In the next year, I will try and focus on what I eat. Eating lower on the food chain and eating less meat will help reduce my EF. I know that it takes a lot to learn about how to become vegetarian, so this is why I am not committing to vegetarianism completely. I will try to eat less meat, though, and to eat more organic and locally grown food. This includes buying from farmers’ markets
Medium term goals: (1-2 years)
Within the next 1-2 years, I will try to focus on my water usage. 2 years from now, I will own my own apartment and possibly have to pay a water and electric bill. This will really quantify the amount of water I use and will help me see what I can do to reduce.
Long term goals: (2 years+)
In the long term, I will focus on living in a sustainable environment. Hopefully by the time I am ready to buy a house, sustainable living will be incorporating into houses when contractors build the houses. I will work on buying eco-friendly appliances and growing my own products whenever possible.

I think that such changes will reduce my EF overall. All of these components work together; if I buy organic and consume less meat, my cost for produce and meals will decrease; if I decrease live in a more sustainable house, I will use less electricity. In the end, I know I can reduce my footprint greatly even for the time being.