Day 8 of Daily Footprint Project. I have covered pretty much every aspect of my daily footprint, that I can think off.
Except for one glitch. In business, it’s called overhead. A mixed bag, where individual responsibility gets lost. In ecological footprint terms, it includes things in my house, such as, the fridge, the water heater, the heater, all the appliances that are plugged in 24×7, and the pool filter.
Going even further, and venturing into the field of environmental economics, I also need to look at my footprint contributions, as a consumer of external benefits. Included in that category are all the ‘free’ services I enjoy from collective entities. In most cases, I am paying for the services indirectly, e.g., city tax for public infrastructures such as street lighting, or merchant markup that covers store overhead costs such as heating. It is also clear, that I need to claim my share of the ecological footprint from such activities.
Daily Footprint Project Daily Log Day #8 Water personal: flush toilet 2 wash face 2 brush teeth 2 wash hands 4 two showers at the gym mom: rinse grapes communal: rinse dishes wash salad Electricity/gas personal: electric toothbrush 2 microwave tea 4’ microwave oatmeal 4’ laptop on all day mom: cook cream of wheat cook bacon communal: lights oven 325, 1hr 30’ Food personal: oatmeal with organic milk organic persimmon prosciutto from Italy tea organic milk mom: bacon from Canada cream of wheat with organic milk communal: baked organic chicken baked organic potatoes organic salad Waste personal: toilet paper sheets of paper 3 mom: paper towel to wipe off fat from bacon #5 plastic container from takeout chicken communal: 3 newspaper plastic wrappers plastic wrap for chicken 1 plastic bag Recycling personal: mom: communal: 2 papers Transportation personal: drive to appointment 5 miles drive to gym 6 miles drive to business meeting 5 miles mom: communal: Non food shopping personal: mom: communal:
La Marguerite 
This is a very interesting and REAL way to look at our daily intake/output.
NPR ran a story recently about a woman who carried all her trash to work, restaurants, cars… it was an eye opener as to how much trash she created in a very short time.
Nice story.
I just delved into the fascinating field of environmental economics. Lots of crossover with behavioral psychology actually. Now I know why I took those economics classes at the U of Chicago GSB . . .
Tomorrow I am also going to look at how family systems impact ecological footprint.
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