Your Ecological Footprint

I just tried out a new online project designed to calculate your personal ecological footprint. Basically since the world has finite renewable and nonrenewable resources in the near future, how much is our personal consumption overshooting the available resources?

They calculate that the world's population is over-consuming at a rate in which we would need another half of the Earth to sustain it.

I took the quiz and had some bad news. First, on the good side, my ecological footprint was slightly less than the national average. Still, apparently we'd need a total of 5.33 Earths if everyone was to consume at my level. The national average is a shocking 6.35 Earths!

They explain some of the methodology and also provide resources on how one could reduce their ecological footprint in the different categories.

Try it out at Redefining Progress's Ecological Footprint Quiz.

The eco-friendly Christmas tree

Slate.com runs a piece on what is the best choice for the environmental-conscious consumer when it comes to Christmas trees. They look mainly at what materials are made in production and the amount of petroleum needed to transport trees. In their view, real trees narrowly edge out artificial trees. Of course, no trees or potted trees would be even better options.

For the last several years, we've gotten "sustainable" trees from the co-op. The trees are grown on a family farm just across the border in Iowa, near Decorah. (A couple hours' drive.) "Sustainable" in this context means no fertilizer and no mowing around the trees. This farm, as well as most tree farms, are sustainable in so much that they are renewable. Cut trees are replaced with newly planted trees.

• Slate's Green Lantern: Should I Buy a Fake Fir?

Also, the article notes that if you live in San Fransisco, you can rent a potted Christmas tree that will be retrieved after the holidays.