Deseret Morning News Graphic
Posted on 06/28/2007 7:48:22 PM PDT by Utah Girl
An activist group says Utahns are living beyond their means, or beyond its "ecological footprint."
Deseret Morning News Graphic |
The group Utah Vital Signs examined the amount of the world's resources used by residents in a nine-month study. The study, "Utah Vital Signs 2007: The Ecological Footprint of Utah" was released on Wednesday. It is posted on the Internet at utahpop.org/vitalsigns.
Utah Vital Signs, which is a project of the Utah Population and Environment Coalition, released the report Tuesday during a press conference at This Is the Place Heritage Park, where a pioneer village re-creates the early days of Utah settlement when pioneers were self-sufficient.
The ecological footprint involves measuring the state's self-sufficiency. Among factors considered, according to the report, are capacity to grow food, grazing, forest products, fishing, housing and the ability of the land to absorb waste such as carbon dioxide that is converted to oxygen by trees.
"In 2003, the global ecological footprint was 14.1 billion global hectares, or 2.2 global hectares per persons," the report says.
In Utah, said Helen Peters, who helped assemble the report, "we are using 9.9 global hectares per person." This area was described as equal to about 20 football fields without end zones, needed to supply each Utahn's consumption of food, housing, energy, goods and services.
However, the report and presenters said, Utah's land supplies only the amount of goods produced on 8.9 hectares per person. The group calculated that Utah is in "overshoot" by the difference between those amounts.
In other words, the group contends, Utahns use 11 percent more than the state's land can provided on a renewable basis.
"Utah is using more of nature's resources than nature provides," said Peters. "We are drawing down resources that future generations make take advantage of."
"The state has gone into ecological default," said Sandra McIntyre, project director. "We are in an overshoot situation as of 2003."
Figures from 1990 show the state was living within its ecological means, the group said. But by 2003, the population of Utah grew from 1.7 million to 2.4 million. Members pointed to the 40-percent population increase as involved in the change of the state's ecological footprint.
Part of the increase was because Utahns had the highest reproduction rate in the country, the group said.
What wasn't mentioned was how in-migration from other states might affect Utah's ecological footprint, whether that change reduces the other states' footprints or if Utah should get an ecological footprint credit for taking in people from other states.
Also not clearly explained was why it's bad for a desert state to import much of its foodstuffs from places that are more suited to mass agricultural production, such as the Midwest or California.
A group member said it's better to have denser housing, like a close-living community with common green grounds, than a subdivision with large lots. When a reporter asked if New York City, with relatively little common greenery, is better than a Utah subdivision, one of the speakers said that was a complex issue.
What is more obvious to the group is that a change has occurred with Utah's footprint.
"It's important to think about how much we produce," said Wayne Martinson, a member of the UPEC board of directors, "how self-sufficient we are. ...
"I'd like to see major proposals take into account ecological footprint."
Ever notice how those on the left are ‘activists’ and those on the right are ‘extremists’?
Don't you have any hungry bears lurking about, looking for an easy lunch? ; )
“ecological footprint credit”???
Ah, it’s a protection racket. My condolences.
LOL. Great stuff. It looks just like the activists. :) And acts like them too. They’re like chickens running around with their heads cut off screaming “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
Of course THEY, the nutjob elitists will be living in what you are forced to "surrender" for the good of the community and state......driving their suv's......shopping at the grocery stores filled with chilled food.......but the ecological balance will be saved.....
The insaniacs are very very close to taking full power. Stand up in Utah and tell them they are nuts!
Just a thought, but does membership in the nut group Utah Vital Signs consist of 2.4% of the population? If yes, they should act, instead of sermonize. I understand Wyoming and Montana have foorprint "deficits".
If not, then their support is mostly delusionary, and they should go out and get real jobs, and stop being society parasites.
Unfortunately, we do. There is no food in the higher elevations, so the bears are coming down the mountains to search for food. A brown bear killed an 11 year old boy a couple of weeks ago, dragged him from his tent in his sleeping bag and mauled him to death. Gruesome. However it is the first death in Utah ever by a bear.
What’s ONOZ stand for ?
By the way that graphic is hillarious, I’ll have to save for future use.
We do. In the article it sounds as if they want us to live like the pioneers did, in log cabins. Then they would gripe about more air pollution because of all the smoke from the fires in the fireplaces in the log cabins. What they actually want to do is eradicate people from anywhere they can.
Utahns?
Giggle. I just noticed the graphic and the source is ?? So true.
Look at LA!!!!
Maybe the problem could be resolved by shipping all the environmental activists to New York City.
The world is nuts; it has to be when even the nuts are going nuts.
Well, since you ask, this map shows the GDP of each state as if it was compared to a country in the world:
As you can see, Utah is comparable to Peru in GDP. Utah has 84904 square miles; Peru has 496414 square miles, almost 6X the size of Utah. It's apparent that the "activists" need to be scolding the Peruvians on their excessive "ecological footprint"
“When in danger or in doubt,
run in circles, scream and shout”
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