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Meeting - Ecofootprints
How big are your feet? Or, to put it another way, how big
are your ecological footprints? An ecological footprint is
the area of land and sea it would require to sustain your
personal consumption needs and absorb your waste. The Lewes
District Green Party are holding a public meeting in the Crown
Inn tonight in order to make people think about their own
personal accountability to the overuse of the world’s
resources.“Most people have heard about ‘sustainable
development’ or ‘sustainable lifestyles’,
but how do we know whether we are managing to live sustainably?
How can we measure it?” says Colin Tingle, associate
of the Best Foot Forward organization.
“Once we have a starting point to measure from, we can
begin to plan how to make a real difference to sustainability
in Lewes, indeed on the whole planet,” continues Susan
Murray, of the Lewes Green Party. “We need to know just
how big IS Lewes’s footprint? How can we calculate our
own personal ecofootprint? How can we learn to live within
the finite limits of the planet? And where can we put pressure
on ‘the system’ to try to help us to tread more
lightly?” To put things into perspective, the average
UK citizen’s footprint is 5.4 global hectares. US citizens
take size 10gha, while Madagascans leave a mark of 1gha. Aptly
enough tonight’s meeting is taking place in the Crown’s
wonderful conservatory. There is space available in the car
park behind the Needlemakers: we trust you won’t have
to use it. AL |
