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The True Path to Freedom, One Step at a Time : Calculate Your Own Ecological Footprint on Our Planet Earth and Reduce the Size of that Footprint

By Andis Kaulins

The "True Path to Freedom" may be a somewhat different one than the politicians envision.

Is it really the "other" guy who always holds the key to the true path to freedom on this planet, or do you also hold that key?

At the Path to Freedom website you can calculate your own personal ecological footprint on our planet Earth, as there are links there to various ecological footprint calculators, including the

Earth Day Footprint Quiz.

We took that test and got this final result:

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 5.7 GLOBAL HECTARES

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 4.7 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.2 PLANETS

Take a look at that test and the other personal ecology tests. Regardless of your country or political persuasion, we think the path to freedom is clearly outlined. Instead of more, we need less.

In this vein, since humor (Br. humour) sometimes makes the point better than anything else, here is a related piece, sent to us by a white ecological friend with a capacity for self-criticism:

"Indian Chief, ?Two Eagles,? was asked by a white government official, ?You have observed the white man for 90 years. You?ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You?ve seen his progress, and the damage he?s done.?

The Chief nodded in agreement.

The official continued, ?Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong??

The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied. ?When white man find land, Indians running it. No taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water; women did all the work, medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night making love.?

Then the chief leaned back and smiled.

?Only white man dumb enough to think he can improve system like that.?"

There is some truth to that, indeed, and the True Path to Freedom surely requires us to find ways to mesh modern life with more sensible planetary living. We ourselves hold the key.

Do your part to make this planet a better place. Take the Footprint Test above, find out your HONEST score, and then see how much you can reduce that score in a year by more sensible living. YOU and YOUR PLANET will both surely profit. We will be reporting in 2009.

Full post as published by LawPundit on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).