Measuring how much is too much.

Redefining Progress www.redifiningprogress.org is doing some groundbreaking work in this area to measure the impact of our industrial civilization on the planet's carrying capacity. Basically they say that it takes the earth to one year and three months to restore what our global human civilization is using in one year.

Here's an excerpt from their "Sustainable Economics" program. http://www.redefiningprogress.org/newprograms/sustEcon/index.shtml

"The myth that environmental protection must come at the expense of economic growth is dead. Short-sided policies and approaches to producing the energy and other products we need can and do have harmful impacts on society and the environment. Pollution, traffic congestion, and health risks are examples of such impacts which often disproportionately effect communities of color and people living in poverty. RP’s Sustainable Economics Program works to develop and promote creative, market-based policies that protect the environment, grow the economy, and promote social equity."

They offer an ecological footprint analysis on this web page:

http://www.redefiningprogress.org/newprojects/ecolFoot/concepts/sustainability.html

For example here is the analysis for MY ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT:

Category Acres
Food 3.7
Mobility 2.7
Shelter 7.7
Goods/Services 7.2

Total Footprint 21 Acres

	IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
	IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.8 PLANETS.