Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

To be honest I don't think I have ever heard the term 'Ecological Footprint' before, only 'Carbon Footprint.' After reading the article Ecological Footprint I found out that the footprint is equal to the amount of land and water needed to hold the natural resources that we use. I had no idea that we use 1.4 times the amount of resources that the Earth has, meaning that we don't give the Earth enough time to recover. When I went to take the quiz I was pretty sure I knew the results would be bad. I try to be green but honestly I'm not the most environmentally friendly person. When I was taking the Ecological Footprint Quiz  I was really dreading the results because I knew I was giving "ungreen" answers. If everyone lived the same lifestyle that I do, we would need 5.5 Earths to supply the resources! My main issues were services and food.  The Carbon Footprint Calculator showed that I use 11.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is lower than average for the United States but is still higher than most countries. I then took the Carbon Footprint of Nations quiz and found that the U.S. 28.6 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent. This is way above the world average. I knew that the United States had a large carbon footprint, but I have never seen it compared with numbers from other countries. This really is something that we need to change. I will buy more locally grown food and products with less packaging. I will also carpool more often.