If everyone lived according to an African lifestyle this would be reduced to 0.2 to 0.5 planets. However, if all of us lived according to an American lifestyle, we would need six planets.
Imagine yourself as Robinson Crusoe on a desert island: What size would the island need to be (land, lagoon and accessible open sea) for you to be self-sufficient and to provide for your daily needs with regards to food, heating, raw materials, air, drinking water and the capacity to «absorb» your rubbish?
This theoretical surface represents Robinson Crusoe's ecological footprint. It's quite simple to understand that if our castaway's lifestyle draws on the Island's resources too greatly (e.g. if he were to light a huge campfire every single night) his survival would soon be compromised, as his ecological footprint would be larger than the size of his island.
This is exactly what is currently happening on planet earth!
In 1999, the WWF Living Planet programme & the UN estimated that at that time human exploitation of natural resources was 20% above the earth's biological capacity.
We all live in a system where development and consumption seem to have no limits, with increases in travel, GHG and CO2, over-consumption of energy and resources, mass production of consumer goods, rubbish and chemical products.
We are currently living on resources we are borrowing from our children and grand-children; and they are the ones who will have to foot the bill.
«Every day acts of green» is an invitation for each one of us to contribute to changing this situation. We are collectively responsible and therefore every single one of us has an important role to play.
Let's not wait for «others»: Politicians, industrials, future generations, the Americans, the Chinese, the rich, our neighbours, or whoever else. to start doing something about it.
