Monthly Archive for October, 2006

I was told about an interesting site for comparing global impacts in real time, called Breathing Earth, this calculator uses real time data to calculate and animate the births, deaths and CO2 emissions of every country on earth. Watching the USA and China flash red every 5 and 9 seconds respectively, as they release 1000 tonnes of CO2, is an eye-opener.

To see that little old Australia takes 1.5 minutes is a little heartening but then seeing that Brazil with nearly 10 times our population takes 1.7 minutes makes us look obscene.

This is an easy way to compare countries, and based on information gleaned from an online version of the World Fact Book (CIA) will be helpful in arguments.

Breathing Earth is a great resource for looking at international effects on the globe, to compare the haves with the have-nots etc.

But if you want to check your own Ecological footprint;

The area of land required to provide the resources consumed by an individual, city or nation.

then the Powerhouse has developed 2 calculators based on Australian information.

The first, called Eco’tude, is a substantial resource for schools. With a suite of supporting documents to get students engaged in the facts of climate change, Eco’tude is being used by large numbers of schools and local governments to change student behaviour.

Our second calculator, Bigfoot, is simple to use (just 15 questions) and gives a personal footprint.

Both these resources are freely available through the net and ideal for use to create your own benchmark for change.