Awareness: Ecological footprinting and my ethics
So, from my last post following my efforts to track and lower my own ecological footprint, we can clearly see that the earth is doomed and we are all basically going to hell. Just kidding. If I believed that I wouldn't really be wasting any time worrying about it.
But then, why do I worry about it? Why do I spend time writing about it?
| Product | Annual Expenditure | Social or Economic Goal | Additional Annual Investment Needed to Achieve Goal |
| Makeup | $18 billion | Reproductive health care for all women | $12 billion |
| Pet food in Europe and United States | $17 billion | Elimination of hunger and malnutrition | $19 billion |
| Perfumes | $15 billion | Universal literacy | $5 billion |
| Ocean cruises | $14 billion | Clean drinking water for all | $10 billion |
| Ice cream in Europe | $11 billion | Immunizing every child | $1.3 billion |
*from The WorldWatch Institute; State of the World 2004: Consumption By the Num
Since this is the most subjective part of the whole project, and I have no hopes (nor goal) to make anyone change their ethical beliefs or value system, I will forego any long lectorious writing. Instead, I will just say that I feel a need -no, a responsibility- to pay attention to my own consumption habits. Tracking my ecological footprint is simply a took that I hope will help me to reduce my consumption by setting future goals and accounting for current consumption in relation to those goals.
I have come to feel that it is a responsibility because I know the current trends, and I can't help but ask myself ethical questions. Of course, I don't have a list in my pocket, and the questions change depending on the situation, but here are a few that I have adapted from Radical Simplicity.
- Can the earth support billions of people living at the same level of consumption as I currently do? (we already know that the answer is no.)
- Do my consumption patterns negatively effect other people's (now or in the future) ability to meet their needs?
- Does the money I do spend have a net positive effect on the ability of other people (now or in the future) to meet their needs? Or, does it have a net negative effect?
- Do other species on the earth have a right to exist and meet their needs?
- Do I have an inherent right to use more resources, and deprive others of their right to meet their own basic needs, because of my race, gender, nationality, or social standing?
- Are wars fought over the resources that I consume? Would I be willing to die fighting in those wars myself? Or, would I want those wars fought in my hometown?
- Would I be willing to work in the same conditions, and for the same wages (figuring for the difference in value of local currency) of those who produce the goods I consume?
I'm guessing that the reader already knows how I would answer all of these questions. But how I would answer is really only important for me. It puts the current reality into perspective, as well as keeps me focused. The more I ask myself what I really value and believe, the more I live according to those values and beliefs.
I wonder what questions other people ask themselves?