Have you ever seen your ecological footprint?
Vancouver Island communities are not only being urged to take a look, they are encouraged to take steps to make it shrink.
City of Victoria and City of Colwood councillors are among those opting in to a challenge put forward last month by the District of Highlands to reduce their ecological footprint.
The Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge was sent out to all municipalities in the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities, and asks participants to measure their ecological footprint using an online calculator, and try to reduce it within a year.
READ MORE: Highlands challenging B.C. municipalities to reduce ecological footprint
The online calculator looks at factors like food choices, transportation habits and living conditions to determine how many planet Earths would be required if everyone on the plant lived a similar lifestyle to the quiz taker.The District of Highlands mayor and council all took part in the challenge and an average of their numbers was taken.
The results showed that 2.4 Earths would be required if everyone lived like an average Highlands councillor, 4.14 hectares of land and 6.94 tonnes of carbon dioxide would be emitted.
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The challenge will officially begin on Earth Day 2019 (April 22) and wrap up the following year.
To find out your ecological footprint, you can visit footprintcalculator.org
-With files from Shalu Mehta