ecological footprints

Sadly, my ecological footprint is about 20.0. If everyone lived the way i do, we would need about 10.4 earth's to be at the disposal of the population. My footprint is almost double the current number one country with the highest footprint average (United Arab Emirates with a footprint of 10.68 average). However I believe that the amount that I walk for and the energy efficient appliances that I use do infact make a difference in the long run because althjough it may seem like the amount of energy that it saves is quite small, it eventually adds up and can really make a difference. I find that for those who have the luxury of being more fortunate should be more responsible with their money and show their thanks by setting aside a little more money for more energy efficient products so they can show that the really do care about the world they live in. I think that to improve my footprint size, I shoud reduce the length of my showers because I have a bad habit of taking hour long showers. if i were to fix that up and lower it periodically to a goal of 10 minutes, that alone would help greatly. Another thing that I could do is snack less and spend less time on the computer because other then the sports that I play, I spend all my time either snacking, reading or spending large amounts of time on the computer. which brings me to my last point that i would like to mention. I have an incredibly large collection of books that although I do read often, it wastes paper and money if I can simply go to the library. If i can reduce the exageration of these things, I should be well on my way to improving my ecological footprint. I figure that since we're all imperfect, anyone who reads this could maybe share something that they could improve and maybe even challenge themselves to improve on it.

composting

Other than recycling, composting can be another way to be less wasteful when discarding things. The whole idea behind composting is to collect certain biodegradable materials and or products and confine them in a small space for insects and worms to break down these things into soil. There are a few general things that are commonly seen when composting that you should be aware of as they do not really pose any threat to contaminating the compost.





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• Paperboard or clean paper
• Dried-out egg shells
• Leaves, yard trimmings
• Fruits and vegetables
• Coffee and tea

There are a few ways to compost that I think are quite practical. There is the plastic storage composter, which essentially consists of containing your compostable materials in a plastic bin with the bottom cut out so worms can get to it and turn it to soil. Then there is vermicomposting which consists of dumping a certain amount of food waste in a small box/container
filled with about one pound of worms (generally red wigglers)
and adding small bits of damp newspaper on the top of the pile
every few days or so to attract the worms to their food and then
sit back and watch as they do all the work. Lastly, the lasagna method
consists of layering '' browns'' and ''greens'' on top of each other while
letting the pile grow, ideally in autumn so that the pile will have all winter
to turn to soil, so that when it turns into soil you can use this homemade
soil to plant your vegetables. here is a small list of a few things that can be
used for the lasagna composting method.

• Grass Clippings
• Leaves
• Fruit and Vegetable Scraps
• Coffee Grounds
• Tea leaves and tea bags
• Weeds (if they haven't gone to seed)
• Manure
• Compost
• Seaweed
• Shredded newspaper or junk mail
• Pine needles
• Spent blooms, trimmings from the garden
• Peat moss

Hopefully with these tips you might be able to give
composting a try and see if it makes a difference in your life.