Ecological footprints

This test clears my conscience, even though I'm far from a great, super-consumer. It measures your ecological footprint, with regards to what you eat, how you travel and live and the size of the waste you produce. This is expressed in biologically productive land and ocean areas necessary to maintain these services. My total footprint is 3.5 global hectares, where as the average for Finns is 8.4 hectares per person. Nonetheless, the test results reminds me: IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.9 PLANETS! Auch! I thought I was doing good at cutting down on waste production and using public transport and my bicycle instead of my car.

And while I'm at the topic of consumtion and population, I'll mention that according to the Population Reference Bureau, there will be an estimated 9.276 millions of us in the world, in 2050. Today, there's 6.3 millions. But who's to say? A lot can happen in 46 years. Epidemics might devastate entire regions, family planning may break through, and when women get a chance to educate themselves, the birthrate tends to go down.