Can the Planet Afford me and my Lifestyle ?

PART ONE.

The others are / will be in the spring out menu from ‘Q’ under the ENSISA list.

Do your own carbon footprint test on the wwf footprint calculator (http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/)  and record your results: in terms of number of planets and CO2 produced.   Does your result surprise you, shock you, challenge you or are you unconcerned? …. And WHY?

• Audit your life HONESTLY and for each part of it award yourself a mark on 10 where

10 = perfectly sustainable
9 = almost  …………………….
8 = Excellent level of sustainability
7 = very good level………………..
6 = pretty good level…………
5 = average level……………
4 = approaching average
3 = rather poor……….
2 = very poor
1 = dreadful………..
0 = ZERO sustainability

The parts of your life you should consider must include the following,

but you should add others as necessary and appropriate:

1. TRANSPORT. Do you use the most sustainable forms of travel practically available to you?
2. PURCHASING:

• Do you look where it comes from?
• Do you buy locally?
• Do you use your local market – do you even know where / when?
• Do you shop exclusively at supermarkets?
• Do you buy eco/bio/ fair trade (commerce equitable)?
• Have you ever actually done a thorough price comparison between locally produced v supermarket and  eco/bio v mass-produced?
• Do you always look to buy ‘new’ or do you regularly buy second-hand?

 3. RECYCLING: Do you recycle everything possible and all the time?

4. ENERGY.

• Do you reduce your heating and wear a thick sweater if feeling cold?
• Do you switch off lights when you leave the room even for a short time?
• Have you replaced all your bulbs with LED / Low energy consumption ones?
• Do you meticulously switch off all your electrical equipment or do you leave some on stand-by?
• Short shower or deep bath?

5. SELF-SUFFICIENCY & CARE

• Do you repair clothing and other products or just throw them away and replace them?
• Do you actually produce anything you eat or use? (Clothes / fruit / veg etc)

6. WASTE:

• How much do you waste?
• Is your attic or cellar full of stuff you aren’t using but you won’t give to others?

7. HOLIDAYS

• When you are thinking about a holiday does the idea of your impact upon the environment and cultures ever enter your consideration?
• Does the polluting effect of the varoius forms of transport bother you?
• When you are on holiday do you tend to stay in international / western accommodation?
• Do you make a point of escaping the hotel/resort compound to actually discover local culture and tray to speak enough of the’ local language to be able to converse?

NOW, with the above information, calculate your average score.  How do you feel about it?

1. What are the things you could relatively easily improve and how?
2. Will you really try to do this?

• INHIBITORS:  what exactly is stopping you from doing better on the other measures?  Develop your answer here in bullet point form…. We need detail here (If you can say exactly what things are preventing you then we can turn them around and produce solutions!).

• Solutions: what needs to happen / change to enable you to perform better?

1. ‘Carrots’ / incentives – to persuade and practically assist you
2. ‘Sticks’ / law, regulation, pressure….  to force you because you still haven’t responded to the ‘carrots’