It seems like there are a million "calculate your footprint" quizzes online, and more every day. The latest is from the Global Footprint Network, which is a fairly upstanding source of global footprint information. Nevertheless, its footprint calculator manages to get things wrong, just like all the rest.
The problem is that all of these calculators fundamentally assume that you're a "regular person" who isn't doing anything to reduce your footprint at the moment. Whenever one of these calculators makes the rounds, there are always people protesting that it isn't accurate. And this always comes down to, "I'm doing things to reduce my footprint, but the calculator doesn't take that into account."
Even though I realize that this is a pretty childish thing to say, I'm going to say it too. I guess I want a gold star for my efforts and sacrifices just as much as everyone else.
For example, I cut meat out of my diet a year ago. And I still eat eggs and cheese, but I get the cheese from a local (20 miles away) dairy, and the eggs from the pet chickens in my yard. Surely that should significantly reduce my footprint! There's the greatly reduced transportation, for one thing. Instead of having my eggs shipped across one or several states, I just have to walk out there (sometimes, yes, in the rain) and get them.
This is one of those oddball things that no online quiz is going to account for.
Another thing that always gets my goat is that I heat my house exclusively with a wood stove. According to the agency Al Gore used to source his numbers for "An Inconvenient Truth," wood heat is carbon neutral. My understanding is that home heating is one of the biggest sources of Americans' carbon footprint, and to have that reduced to zero is a pretty big mark in my favor (if you ask me).
But this isn't going to be on an online quiz, either.
In a broader sense, the reason these lapses are frustrating is that we want the quizzes to show us the way. Suggest alternatives. And for pity's sake, be somewhat accurate. If a quiz isn't asking specifically what you use to heat your home, then how accurate can it be? This particular quiz seems to assume that you heat with either electricity or gas. And please note that there is no "I don't use gas" option, just an "I don't know" option.
Then again, this quiz also assumes that you either live in Calgary, the United States, or Switzerland.
Every time I run across one of these quizzes, I threaten to create an "I'm Better Than You" quiz. One which asks what you use to heat your home - electricity, gas, wood, or nothing? Are you a meat-eater, a vegetarian, a vegan, or a vegetarian who secretly goes to the McDonalds drive-in once a week? Do you drive once a day, once a week, once a month, or once a year when you're piloting a parade float on Earth Day?
Now that's a quiz I can get behind!
The problem is that all of these calculators fundamentally assume that you're a "regular person" who isn't doing anything to reduce your footprint at the moment. Whenever one of these calculators makes the rounds, there are always people protesting that it isn't accurate. And this always comes down to, "I'm doing things to reduce my footprint, but the calculator doesn't take that into account."
Even though I realize that this is a pretty childish thing to say, I'm going to say it too. I guess I want a gold star for my efforts and sacrifices just as much as everyone else.
For example, I cut meat out of my diet a year ago. And I still eat eggs and cheese, but I get the cheese from a local (20 miles away) dairy, and the eggs from the pet chickens in my yard. Surely that should significantly reduce my footprint! There's the greatly reduced transportation, for one thing. Instead of having my eggs shipped across one or several states, I just have to walk out there (sometimes, yes, in the rain) and get them.
This is one of those oddball things that no online quiz is going to account for.
Another thing that always gets my goat is that I heat my house exclusively with a wood stove. According to the agency Al Gore used to source his numbers for "An Inconvenient Truth," wood heat is carbon neutral. My understanding is that home heating is one of the biggest sources of Americans' carbon footprint, and to have that reduced to zero is a pretty big mark in my favor (if you ask me).
But this isn't going to be on an online quiz, either.
In a broader sense, the reason these lapses are frustrating is that we want the quizzes to show us the way. Suggest alternatives. And for pity's sake, be somewhat accurate. If a quiz isn't asking specifically what you use to heat your home, then how accurate can it be? This particular quiz seems to assume that you heat with either electricity or gas. And please note that there is no "I don't use gas" option, just an "I don't know" option.
Then again, this quiz also assumes that you either live in Calgary, the United States, or Switzerland.
Every time I run across one of these quizzes, I threaten to create an "I'm Better Than You" quiz. One which asks what you use to heat your home - electricity, gas, wood, or nothing? Are you a meat-eater, a vegetarian, a vegan, or a vegetarian who secretly goes to the McDonalds drive-in once a week? Do you drive once a day, once a week, once a month, or once a year when you're piloting a parade float on Earth Day?
Now that's a quiz I can get behind!
Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user ezioman