Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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OtleyLad
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Whats my fair share?Last night (over a bottle or two of wine) we were trying to think what amount of energy/resources it is 'reasonable' or 'sustainable' for us each to make use of.
There must be a limit to what the earth can (sustainably) produce per year (food, energy, metals, wood, etc) and if we divide that by the number of people on the planet, that would be an individuals 'fair' share. And of course as the population grows, that fair share must go down.
If you could somehow work it out it I reckon our fair share would not amount to much (2 planks of wood, 5 buckets of water and a handful of spuds per year?)
At the moment nobody thinks like this and we are all competing to grab more for ourselves. It can't go on for ever, can it?
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Jonnyboy
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You're mostly right, but I actually think that lots of people think like this.
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Northern_Lad
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It can't, and it doesn't, which is another reason why people live together - to share resources.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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carbon footprinting whilst not answering your question directly does at least work out what you actually use to support your family. There are charts (or there were in my OU course) that compare the footprint of a westerner compared to say someone in a developing country which is a useful insight in to those who don't live in a vast consumerist society like we do.
It would be tricky to work out what you need, ie the other way round, since it would depend entirely on your circumstances, family size and other demographics as well as cultural/social/dietary needs. For example it would be fairly meaningless to try and work out how much sea you'd need to provide your family with enough fish to live on.
As NL said there are also pooled resources, you could divide the world up fairly but since some areas don't support food production (the lucky lucky person who gets Mount Everest for his smallholding!) and some land is needed for communal usage like hospitals or schools etc etc it wouldn't be easy.
I don't think there is a simple equation
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Ian33568
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Sadly there is nothing fair about being part of a species that by its very nature is unfair........it is our instinct to surround ourselves with things that sustain life.....the hunter/gatherer instinct. Clump that together with greed, power, control, agression, cruelty.......
I agree 100% that the earth and its inhabitants cannot continue in the way we are..........the first challege will be to recognise that those fortunate enough to live in a wealthy economy must give up possions in order that those living in poorer economies can channel thier energies into sustaining their own communities. It is not going to happen.......IMHO, life and living as we know it is doomed....maybe not in my lifetime but within the next 150 years certainly.......sorry to be such a pessimist. 
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JB
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There are a fair number of sites out there (sorry, don;t have URLs to hand) which will calculate a literal 'footprint' in terms of how many hectares of planet you would require for your personal use (or household which makes more sense). So from that it's quite easy to calculate what a fair share is. Part of the problem is that doing it the other way around is almost meaningless. If one household uses 90 planks of wood that's fine as long as not everyone does but if you work out that everyone is allowed one and half planks of wood then noone would do anything with that.
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