Potential steps to reduce my ecological footprint.

Lately I have been thinking about how to reduce my ecological footprint. According to a CO2 footprint calculator (http://www.ecologicalfootprint.com), if everybody had my lifestyle we’d need 2.3 plant Earths to sustain us all, and this is without even taking into account water consumption (I like taking long showers) or purchase of non-edible goods. So I thought it would be a good idea to start taking steps to minimize my impact on the planet.

What could I change in my lifestyle? That’s pretty easy: I could completely stop exercising. Just look at what happens when I go for a nice run around the Seawall: just for the futile joy of being outside and enjoying a good time I unnecessarily consume a few hundreds calories, which then need to be replaced. This means increased food consumption, which involves (in my case) buying food that requires water to be grown and/or requires some sort of energy source to be transported to the store. Running also wears out my running shoes (that need to be replaced about once a year), and in fact I would never have to buy running shoes (shipped to Canada by fuel-consuming, CO2-generating means of transportation) anymore if I stopped running. And not only shoes, but also socks, T-shirts and shorts-what a waste it is to buy and eventually replace all that gear!
Talking about running gear, I haven’t even started to seriously consider water. Every time I go running, a pair of socks, a T-shirts and a pair of shorts go into the laundry basket. Altogether, my running clothes probably account for an extra 10 loads of laundry a year, and each load of laundry implies water and detergent consumption. Finally, after a run I take a nice warm shower… more water consumption.
In summary, my use and consumption of goods would dramatically decrease if I simply stopped running, which is only one of the types of exercises that are part of my lifestyle. But wait, the best is still to come. Exercise is frequently said to increase one’s life expectancy, even if only by a few years. Therefore, by not exercising, I can increase my chances of dying earlier, which would tremendously reduce my ecological footprint (jn fact, it may be the single best way to dramatically reduce my impact on the planet)!
What would be the costs of stopping all forms of “purposeless” exercise? Well, I may be a little less happy, but who wouldn’t trade a bit of their own happiness for the greater good.

Now, what other measures could I take? The first one that comes to mind is to eat scraps, so that no additional animals or plants would need to be grown and taken care of to let me produce my daily dose of ATP. The simplest solution that I can think of is to eat only processed foods made of scraps, such as for examples certain brands/kinds of burgers and hot dogs. I believe that this is a brilliant idea for a number of reasons, one of them being that, at least according to popular belief, a diet based on “scrap foods” is not very healthy, and may increase the chance of premature death (which, as already mentioned, is one of the most dramatic contribution that an individual can make to the well being of the planet).

Will I follow through on these brilliant resolutions? Not likely. However, in the future I’ll look at all the self-proclaimed “couch potatoes” out there with a great deal of newly found respect. A heartfelt “thank you” for putting your lives on the line to the benefit of our planet, my friends! (And trust me, there is no sarcasm in here) ☺