Why City Living is Better than Country Living for the Environment

From an environmental standpoint, living in a city is better. With all the recent news reports on global warming, carbon footprint and ecological footprint are terms being discussed. What are these footprints exactly?

According to www.carbonfootrpint.com, "a carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide." The Global Footprint Network (www.footprintnetwork.org) defines ecological footprint as "a resource accounting tool that measures how much biologically productive land and sea is used by a given population or activity, and compares this to how much land and sea is available."

To support my opinion that city living is better for the environment, I calculated my sister's monthly carbon footprint as well as her personal ecological footprint and compared both to mine. She lives in Upstate New York, and I reside in Chicago. The calculators can be found at www.carbonfootprint.com and www.earthday.net/footprint/.

CARBON FOOTPRINT
Information was entered to account for primary and secondary footprints both of which make up the carbon footprint. The primary is direct emissions while the secondary is indirect emissions.

The results were reported in a unit called tonnes. I wondered - Is tonnes the same at tons? No, it is not. With a little help from www.thefreedictionary.com and www.onlineconversion.com, I learned that a tonne is a metric form of measurement equal to 1,000 kilograms, which is equal to 1.102 tons.

ME - PRIMARY
Electricity 64 USD
Natural Gas 230 USD
*Footprint 1.452 tonnes of CO2 (about 1.6 tons)

SISTER - PRIMARY
Electricity 137 USD
Natural Gas 540 USD
*Footprint 2.388 tonnes of CO2 (about 2.632 tons)

ME - SECONDARY
Food Preferences: mainly fish
Organic Produce: always
In Season Food: try to buy
Imported Foods and Goods: prefer to buy goods produced close to home
Fashion: buy new when needed
Packaging: buy only little or no packaging
Furniture: buy new and keep more than 5 years
Recycled: most
Recreation: occasionally movies, bars, restaurants
Cars: 1 (shared)
Finances: standard
*Footprint 3.066 tonnes of CO2 (about 3.379 tons)

SISTER - SECONDARY
Food Preferences: mix of red and white meat
Organic Produce: sometimes
In Season Food: try to buy
Imported Food and Goods: prefer to buy goods produced close to home
Fashion: regularly shops
Packaging: try to buy little packaging
Furniture: like to have latest home fashions
Recycled: some
Recreation: often movies, bars, restaurants
Cars: 4 (1 for her, 1 for her husband, 1 convertible for the summer, 1 for work)
Finances: standard
*Footprint 9.69 tonnes of CO2 (about 10.681 tons)

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Global Footprint Network recommended the calculator found at www.earthday.net/footprint/ for individual calculations. Sometimes, the site does not respond properly limiting country selection, but reloading seems to fix the problem.

ME
Food 3.2
Mobility 0.5
Shelter 6.2
Goods/Services 4.4
*Footprint 14

SISTER
Food 4.2
Mobility 2.7
Shelter 6.4
Goods/Services 8.4
*Footprint 22

Granted, our lifestyles are different, but city living makes it easier for me to adopt eco-friendly ways. Food, goods and services can be obtained without a vehicle by using public transportation, walking or riding a bicycle. City dwellings are generally smaller than country homes, thereby using less energy to heat and cool. Tap water is often well protected and sanitized within city limits as oppose to people living in the country who rely on well water and purchase bottled water to be safe. Still, there remain skeptics. How big is your footprint?