Just Your Average Guy

That's me, as average as they come.

I just took the Earth Day Footprint Quiz, answering such questions as how often I eat meat, how many people live in my house, what mileage my car gets and how much do I drive it. I admit, I was expecting to be a modern Atilla the Hun with a global footprint that would slay millions.

But I'm just a 24. And the American average is ... just a 24. That means it supposedly takes 24 acres of God's green earth to support me, and millions like me. Here's my breakdown:

Food: 5.4 acres
Mobility: 3.7 acres
Shelter: 5.9 acres
Goods/Services: 8.6 acres

Lest I be content to just remain average, the good little Greenies at Earth Day spoil all my fun by adding:

Worldwide, there are 4.5 biologically productive acres per person. If everyone lived like you, we would need 5.3 planets.

What the Greenies aren't acknowledging is that just about everyone in the world, especially those getting by on 4.5 biologically productive acres or less, would love to live like me. And unlike my Greenie friends, I would love for them to live like me.

Are we going to build up humankind, never letting our species' aspirations dim, or are we going to try to pick apart our accomplishments, lose faith in the inventiveness of humanity, and go the way of the Greenies?