I think you're missing the point. It claims that those of us with fairly 
resource sparing lifestyles are still well above the average 'for your 
country' So if my 1,200 sqft townhouse (with all new Energy*Star 
hardware), 100 miles a week in a Honda Civic and 10 hours a year on a 
plane puts me 50% above the US national average, I don't think its 
unreasonable to question the calculations involved.

I've spent my life working with numbers, and I'm sickened by the 
bombardment of junk numbers from activist groups. I don't care if its 
Exxon or Greenpeace, until they provide their numbers, equations and 
properly source both, I simply refuse to care. For example, one of the 
primary papers behind the Kyoto Treaty was recently shown to have all 
sorts of rookie data errors, and some curious decisions in carrying out 
the calculations. These errors aren't an issue of interpretation, they 
were things like putting the right number in the wrong column, 
mislabeling data series, using incomplete or extrapolated data, etc. - 
pretty basic stuff.

Now if the myfootprint.org want to open up their source code and 
research so we can all see where the calculations are coming, and that 
they have been correctly implemented, I might be willing to take them a 
bit more seriously.

--rick


David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> "Matthew S. Hallacy" <poptix at techmonkeys.org> writes:
> 
> 
>>On Fri, Nov 07, 2003 at 09:07:01PM -0600, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
>>
>>>Um, which part of their estimate do you think is incorrect?  
>>>
>>>Or are you suggesting that because they're "zealots" it's all bad,
>>>even if no particular part of it is actually incorrect?
>>
>>The fact that I live in an apartment complex, don't fly much at all (5 
>>hours in the past 3 years), I consume products that were mass produced,
>>as opposed to something that took up land in a back yard, etc.
>>
>>I'm not saying I'm the epitome of 'green' living, but I'm certainly in the
>>far low-end for consumption and waste, yet it still seems to think I'm 
>>a wasteful person.
> 
> 
> You live in the richest country of the world with the most
> resource-intensive lifestyles in the world.  Is this really news to
> you?  You shouldn't be surprised that a relatively modest American
> lifestyle is still pretty resource-intensive by world standards.


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