Climate change may be the most significant environmental disaster facing humanity, but it is not the only one. In fact, humanity is already facing five of the nine total end-of-life scenarios. Every time we cross a threshold, we put the Earth's ability to self-regulate at risk.
This concept of planetary limits is useful for scientists, but not so much for the rest of us. Understanding one existential crisis at a time is hard enough, but dealing with six others, from biodiversity loss to microplastics? Maybe it's best to just give up.
There's no need to rush, Christophe Girardier told TechCrunch, whose startup Glimpact is developing a new app called MyGlimpact that it hopes will help people understand not only the magnitude of their environmental impact, but also why they shouldn't feel guilty about it.
The idea was to “make the public understand that it's not just climate change, but a systemic environmental crisis,” Girardier said. “The real cause of the environmental crisis is partly, but not entirely, the public. The first responsibility lies with the state, with political decision-makers and with companies.”
The free app, which can be used without an account, asks you questions about your lifestyle, ranging from how you commute to what you eat, how you heat and cool your home, to how many clothes you buy in a typical year. You have two options: you can answer a few simple questions for each category and then fill in the details so the app assumes certain things, or you can choose to answer more detailed questions that leave less room for guesswork.
The MyGlimpact app takes that data and runs it through the company's cloud-based software to assess an individual's impact in each of 16 categories.
So on the backend, it runs essentially the same calculations that Glimpact provides to large corporations, and the results are used to generate environmental reports required by various governments and regulators. On the front end, the results in the app are simplified for the average person, showing the equivalent amount of planetary energy needed to sustain life. TechCrunch had exclusive early access to the app ahead of its release on Thursday.
According to the app, if everyone lived like me, we would need the resources of 2.93 Earths. My footprint could be a little smaller, because the app didn't ask how much renewable energy I use at home (we have a community solar plan). MyGlimpact offers tips on where you can make changes to reduce your footprint, or lobby politicians for change.
If anything, the app reminded me just how much environmental impact is woven into the society and economy I live in. I've spent the better part of the last decade trying to live as eco-friendly a lifestyle as possible. We drive an electric car, we don't commute to work, we take public transport whenever possible, and we eat meat sparingly. Our home has thick, well-insulated walls and is heated and cooled by an efficient heat pump. And yet, I'm barely living on the size of three planets.
The idea of an environmental footprint, not just a carbon footprint, has been around for a while. MyGlimpact takes the idea and makes it more personal. The app could guide users a bit more on how they can change their lifestyle, or how they can encourage politicians and corporations to make changes. But as a first version, it's a powerful tool for anyone wanting to understand their place in the world.