If everyone lived like you do, how many Earths would it take?
Most of us in Canada likely know that we are, for the most part, privileged with a high standard of living. Most also probably have some idea that we use a lot of resources in our day to day lives. But it’s easy to ignore that our lifestyles are not particularly sustainable.
That’s why the Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge issued by the District of Highlands is an interesting exercise. The City of Duncan is taking part, spearheaded by new councillor Jenni Capps. She recently used the quiz at www.footprintcalculator.org to figure out that it would take 1.4 planet Earths if everyone in the world lived like she does. Her fellow councillors will be doing the same.
Putting a number on it really brings the issue home. It makes us stop and evaluate how we pick up a plastic bag here, throw out something there and get a new one rather than replacing a part, purchase new clothing every season, consume foods that have travelled to our grocery stores from far off lands. We hop in our cars and heat our homes to boiling in winter, only to cool them to refrigeration in summer.
While not everyone in the world enjoys the lifestyle we do, most aspire to it or more. Canadians aren’t even the worst offenders. We would need 5.2 Earths if everyone lived like the average Australian, and five Earths if everyone lived like the average U.S. citizen. It’s sobering to realize that to achieve the goal of being universally well off in the Western sense as we currently understand and live it, would mean the destruction of our planet. No, this is not an argument to keep much of the world’s population in poverty for the benefit of the global elites. It is an argument for all of us in our privileged countries to individually and collectively take a hard look at how we live and how we can live more sustainably in the future.
Because our future depends on it. Our pernicious determination to consume the resources of our planet as if supply is endless and waste vanishes has us racing like lemmings towards the edge of the cliff.