Everyday Lifestyles and Sustainability The Environmental Impact Of Doing The Same Things Differently

The impact of humanity on the earth overshoots the earth’s bio-capacity to supply humanity’s needs, meaning that people are living off earth’s capital rather than its income. However, not all countries are equal and this book explores why apparently similar patterns of daily living can lead to larger and smaller environmental impacts. The contributors describe daily life in many different places in the world and then calculate the environmental impact of these ways of living from the perspective of ecological and carbon footprints. This leads to comparison and discussion of what living within the limits of the planet might mean. Current footprints for countries are derived from national statistics and these hide the variety of impacts made by individual people and the choices they make in their daily lives. This book takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach by calculating the footprints of daily living. The purpose is to show that small changes in behaviour now could avoid some very challenging problems in the future. Offering a global perspective on the question of sustainable living, this book will be of great interest to anyone with a concern for the future, as well as students and researchers in environmental studies, human geography and development studies.

1. Introduction Fabricio Chicca, Robert Vale and Brenda Vale2. Africa Fabricio Chicca, Dashakti Reddy and Brenda Vale3. Asia Fabricio Chicca, Jacqueline McIntosh, Yukiko Kuboshima, Jestin Nordin, Tri Harso Karyono and Brenda Vale4. Europe Adele Leah, Hannu I Heikkinen, Han Thuc Tran, Ludwig Geisenberger, Stefan Opfermann and Brenda Vale5. North America Fabricio Chicca, Silvio Marco Costantini, Abbie McKoy, Ana Paula Pagotto and Brenda Vale6. Oceania Fabricio Chicca, Sarah Nabyl-Calliou, Nilesh Bakshi and Brenda Vale7. South America Emilio Garcia, Fabricio Chicca and Brenda Vale8. Calculating the ecological footprints of the stories Fabricio Chicca, Robert Vale and Brenda Vale9. Comparing the footprints Fabricio Chicca, Robert Vale and Brenda Vale10. Food Fabricio Chicca, Robert Vale and Brenda Vale11. Travel Fabricio Chicca, Robert Vale and Brenda Vale12. Energy Brenda Vale, Robert Vale and Fabricio Chicca13. Dwelling Brenda Vale, Robert Vale and Fabricio Chicca14. Consumer goods Brenda Vale, Robert Vale and Fabricio Chicca15. What the stories show us Brenda Vale, Robert Vale and Fabricio Chicca

Fabricio Chicca is a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Brenda Vale is a professorial research fellow in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Robert Vale is a professorial research fellow in the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.