My Ecological Footprint

My result on the my ecological footprint quiz was 5.49 Earths, meaning five and a half Earths are needed to sustain an entire population who live my lifestyle. I am dumbfounded by the result. My family tries to live within our needs by purchasing environmentally friendly products, buying organic foods, using minimal electricity, efficient appliances, and solar energy panels. This saddens me how much of an impact an average American family has on the global environment scale. After reviewing the results, I searched through the site to review ways to reduce my ecological footprint.
The site gives plenty of recommendations ranging from simple fixes such as using biodegradable products to higher end solutions such as purchasing energy-saving home appliances. Although these solutions will help lower America's impact on the environment, I still believe we will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity. A growing population and the increasing demand for goods will only lead to less resources and land available. While reading through the solutions page, I approached the issue with deeper, critical thought. The only solution to transforming our consumer lifestyle to a more sustainable lifestyle is to radically change our economic system. Our current system is powered by corporations who seek to make record profits and exploit the land for their own gain. We Americans, as well as other developed countries, need to stop our consumer addiction and become more educated on the negative impacts of the global economy. Instead of spending our income in Wal Mart, we need to focus on fueling our local economy and supporting our small businesses for goods and services. Localized economies will not only help the planet, but provide jobs for the community. Sure little changes can be done to help lower our impact on the environment, but we need to look at the big picture and transform our current flawed system that hurts us and foreign nations.