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economist sunffiibune environment thursday feb 28 2002 our ecological footprint is stamping out earths resources environmentalist warns bymikeadler- u staff writer i you may live iri a land of plenty but alex waters wants you to use and waste less his mission is to show you how to do that right in the middle ofvaughan at tfie kortright centre for conservation mr waters a toronto region conservation authority manager who has worked at the 360hectare site along the humber river since 1984 is the man charged with developing a new centre for sustainable living at kortright the centre is part of the trcas ambitious fiveyear living city campaign and draws inspiration from a canadian idea called the ecological footprint the area needed to produce the resources each of us use through what we consumeand what we throw away the average north american has a footprint covering 78 hectares but since there is now only about i5 to 17 hectares of arable land for each person on the planet wed need some additional earths if everyone lived as we do natural setting mr waters hopes the kortrights natural setting will be a good place for people to reflect on this and find ways to reduce those foot prints whether their motivation is to ensure a better world for their children or simprypreserve their own health how do we make a stronger link between informing people and actually makingthem take some form of action mr waters asked recently once they leave here they stop thinking about it because the kids are yelling iri the backseat kortright already displays some of the latest advances in renewable jenergy i the centre for sustainable living mr waters said will seek to i steer people to outside partners who can offer expert advice on things such as reducing their use of energy since the largest contribution homeowners will make in carbon dioxide is through their car mr waters said kortright may host reg- ular demonstrations of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells or hybrids running on electricity as well as a gasoline engine next time they go to a car lot they may actually look at that type of vehicle eventually kortright may also be linked with united nations- sponsored earth centres already operating in britain and planned in south america and elsewhere theyre part of a global effort aimed at sustainable living that entered mainstream thought in 1987 with the publication of our common future a groundbreak ing report by thennorwegian prime minister gro harlem bruntland the ecological footprint is a canadianmade twist on sustain- abiuty it was developed at the university of british columbia in vancouver by william rees and mathis wackernagel both commu nity planners we will show our intelligence if we cooperate to reduce our foot printsprof rees has written because our planets capacity is limited and a society driven mainly by selfish individualism has all the potential for siistainability of a collection of angry scorpions in a bottle an area around 287 times its geographical size is being used to support our current lifestyle in greater toronto and it is projected the gta will use space equal to 486 times its size to supply itself by the year 2014 according to eric krause a senior environmental policy analyst for the city of toronto who has devised a quiz to help people measure their individ- ual footprints were borrowing our resources from future generations mr krause recently told an audience in whitchurchstouffville people can realize through ideas such as the alex waters conservation authority manager in charge of new sustainable living centre footprint just how much they use and consider ways to use less he said what were really talking about is how to achieve sustairi- ability for humanity without reducing our quality of life volunteers who advise munici pal councils in york region have embraced the footprint as a new way to explain environmental mat ters to politicians and munici pal staff they recently dis cussed how this might be done at a summit of environ mental advisory committees in markham whitchurchstouffvilles eac has already begun urging people to reduce their impact on the environment by supporting local businesses since local products use far less energy to reach our stores and supermar kets and by such small actions as turning off taps when brushing their teeth and not allowing cars to idle for more than a minute how big are your feet can you calculate your ecological footprint policy analyst eric krause has designed this set of questions to help for each answer assign the points beside it to yourtotai score housing 1 how many people are in your household a one 30 b two 25 c three 20 d four 15 e five or more 10 2 how is your house heated a natural gas 30 b electricity 40 c oil 50 d renewable solar wind 0 3 how many individual faucets taps in your kitchen bathrooms laundry room and outside and toilets do you have in your house a less than three 5 b three to five 10 c six to eight 15 d eight to 10 20 e more than 10 25 4 what type of home do you live in a apartmentcondominium 20 b house 40 food 1 how many meals per week do you eat meat or fish a zero 0 b one to threelo c four to six 20 d seven to 1035 e more than 10 50 2 how many homemade meals do you eat per week including those you bring to schoolwork a under 10 25 b 1014 20 c 1418 15 d more than 18 10 3 when purchasing your food items does your family try to buy locally pro duced goods a yes 25 b no 125 c sometimes 50 d rarely 100 e dont know 75 transportation 1 if you or your family ownuse a car what type of car is it a motorcycle 15 b compact 35 c midsized 60 d fullsized 75 e suv or van 100 f pickup truck 130 2 how do you get to schoolwork a car 50 b public transit bus train 25 c school bus 20 d walk bicycle or rollerblade 0 3 how many trips do you make per week on public transit that you would have other wise used a car- a zero 50 b one to five 40 c six to 10 30 d 11 to 150 e more than 15 10 4 where did you go on your most recent vacation within the last year a no vacation 0 b ontario 10 c outside ontario but within canada 30 d the united states 40 e outside north america 70 5 how many weekends in the summer do you take weekend trips by car going to a cottage camping etc a zero 0 b one to three 10 c four to six 20 d seven to nine 30 e more than nine 40 purchases 1 how many large purchases tv comput er car furniture fridge etc has your household made in the past year a zero 0 b one to three 15 c four to six 30 d more than six 45 2 have you bought any energyefficient products in the past year light bulb fridges furnaces etc r i j a yes 0 bno25 waste 1 does your household try to reduce the amount of waste it generates buying bulk food refusing junk mail using reusable containers using natural cleaners etc a always 0 b sometimes 10 c rarely 15 djnever20 2 how many garbage bags do you leave i each week for pickup ffj a zero 0 im b one halffull bag 5 a c one 10 d two 20 e more than two 30 estimating your footprint if your total points are a less than 150 your ecological foot- pript is under four hectares b 150 to 350 between four and six hectares c 350 to 550 six77 hectares 78 is the canadian average d 550 to 750 7710 hectares e more than 750 greater than 10 hectares- join us aaistou v uts 4i2 b5e jwck up your calendar of activities at patipating businesses in the york region qy jarnmsessionirrw