> Well, that's a bit of a problem. So the question is, what would it
> take to get the meter down to one Earth? I suspect this is where
> James' comment about the calculations always supporting the idea of
> noble immiseration (or culturally colorful poverty) comes into play.
>
> As with all software, the results manifest programmatically
> encapsulated assumptions. It's those assumptions I'm now eager to
> dissect like a middle school lab worm.
I'd guess that some of those assumptions involve applying US national averages precisely to the sort of lifestyles where they are invalid -- I've gotten similar results for a rather more minimalistic lifestyle. There are plenty of ways to cut this: The Worldwatch Institute, as I recall, suggested that a sustainable lifestyle could with added efficiencies be maintained for everybody at a modest Western European QOL, which would be a step up for not a few Americans.
The problem is that trying boil a calculation like this to a handy-dandy web quiz is going to elide over too many complications, like the fact that parts of the American west are already even locally unsustainable in water use, regardless of whether every Chinese decided they wanted to golf in the desert.
But then I'm not sure how a web survey contributes to examining the problem much more than fretting about whether those pestilent FaceBook quizzes identify me as the correct Celtic deity, or what it says about noble immiseration.
-- Andy