. Ecological Footprint
Estimating your overall impact on the environment is a daunting task when you consider all the variables involved. A tool for roughly estimating your environmental impact has been developed and it presents the information in a manner that is easily visualized despite the underlying complexities. It is known as an “ecological footprint”, and it describes the area of land needed to supply the resources used and wastes produced by each individual. Nature’s ability to provide resources and process wastes is known as “natural capital”, and the goal of sustainable living is to use resources wisely so as to avoid depleting natural capital, enabling it to be available to future generations. Ecological footprint analysis allows us to examine per-capita (per-person) utilization of natural capital (globally or by nation), the amount of natural capital available (globally or by nation), and the surplus/deficit in natural capital globally or in individual countries. We can then examine the impact of humans on the Earth’s natural capital on the whole or by individual nation.
Ecological footprints are calculated by examining the amount of land used for:
(a.) Cultivating food crops
(b.) Grazing livestock
(c.) Growing timber
(d.) Harvesting fish and other organisms from oceans
(e.) Housing, infrastructure (roads, bridges), transportation, shopping, energy production
(f.) Sequestering in trees the carbon dioxide produced by driving, electricity usage, etc.
By summing all of these land areas, an individual’s ecological footprint can be calculated. So how much natural capital is there per person? If we take the current global population and divide it by the number of acres (or hectares, in metric measurement) of biologically productive land, we find that there are currently 4.7 acres of productive land on the planet per person. Therefore, in order to live sustainably, each person on the planet should have an ecological footprint of 4.7 acres of less. While individuals in developing countries often have footprints at or below this value, citizens of highly industrialized countries often exceed it by sizable amount.
What is the connection between ecological footprints and biodiversity? In order for natural ecosystems to persist and support the diversity of other organisms on the planet, area must be set aside from development and utilization. As the human population grows and demands on resources become ever larger, the ability to preserve large areas of natural habitat become more problematic, and biodiversity initiatives suffer. In addition to preserving biodiversity, reducing humanity’s ecological footprint has a number of other positive results. A great source for learning about the ecological footprint is from the Global Footprint Network (
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/). Some of the pages you should look into are highlighted below.
About the Ecological Footprint
FAQ about the Ecological Footprint.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/frequently_asked_questions/ Ecological Footprint Accounts: Moving Sustainability from Concept to Measurable Goal
Information on ecological footprints with national values for footprints
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/download.php?id=509Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy (PDF) (157 KB)
Journal article examining ecological footprint of human race and available natural capital
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2002)
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/142033699v1.pdfGo to 2. Activity: Determining Your Ecological Footprint on the next page to complete the assignment.
2. Activity: Determining Your Ecological Footprint
In this exercise, you will utilize an online calculator to examine your ecological footprint, compare it to the average footprint in the United States and other countries, and critically examine ways to reduce it. We will utilize an online Ecological Footprint Quiz for our analyses. Link to the calculator using the URL below, and follow the directions provided in the Activity Sheet.
Ecological Footprint Quiz
Online calculator for determining your ecological footprint and making comparisons
Redefining Progress and earthdaynetwork
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/Calculating Your Ecological Footprint:
1) Begin by selecting the USA from the map. On the next page, enter the information about your age, size of your city, weather, and gender. Select the blue arrow to proceed to the next page. Proceed through the sixteen questions, choosing from the provided options. After advancing from the final page, you will be provided with your ecological footprint for food, mobility (transportation), shelter, goods/services, and your total footprint.
2) Be honest and don’t try to impress anyone! Once you complete the calculator, you will get a number of acres that it takes to support you.
3) Fill in the blank: Total number of acres need to support me _____________
4) To complete the table, you will have to “work backwards” to get the footprint area. Using the pie chart generated, place your mouse on each of the categories, and you will get a percentage of the total land area needed to support you for that category. For example, if you place your mouse on “food” and you get “18%, you will have to multiply 18% by the total area (20.4 acres in this example) to get the actual footprint for food.
Footprint Area (acres) Percentage of Total
Food (Example) (0.18 X 20.4 acres) = 3.67 acres 18%
Food
Mobility
Shelter
Goods
Services
Total Footprint
5) The average footprint per capita for the United States is 30.55 acres. (Go here to find average footprints for other countries. The footprints given are in hectares. To get to acres, multiply by 2.5.)
How does your Total Footprint compare to the US average? Did this surprise you?
6) How many Earths would be needed to support the human population if everyone lived like you?
Analyzing Changes:
1) Return to the Ecological Footprint Quiz and click “edit your footprint.” Make one reasonable change that would reduce your ecological footprint (for instance, drive less, or buy a more efficient car). To do this, position your mouse pointer over the area of the graphic you’d like to change Click “ok,” “show results,” “ok,” and then “return to quiz.” Describe the change and record the reduction in Total Footprint that resulted in the table below. After recording the change, click on “edit your footprint,” then return you values to the original and repeat the procedure for two additional changes.
Change Reduction Total Footprint (acres)
2) Seeing the reductions in footprint that occur as a result of these changes, would you be willing to immediately implement any of them? Explain why or why not.
3) We will now explore average ecological footprints for various countries. Go to the link
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/ecological_footprint_atlas_2008/ and in the second paragraph down, click “2010 Data Table.” An Excel spreadsheet will open up. Take a look at the table that shows “Humanity’s Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Through Time” to help gain an understanding of how the humanity’s footprint has changed over the last 50 years. Then, select the “National Results” found on the bottom left corner of the spreadsheet.
Compare your country to three countries with similar standards of living (compare U.S./Canada to countries in Western Europe) and three countries with different standards of living (compare U.S./Canada to developing countries in South America, Africa, or Asia). List the “Ecological Footprint of Consumption,” “Total Biocapacity,” and “Ecological (Deficit) or Reserve,” value for your country (in acres) and your six chosen comparison countries in the table below. REMEMBER THE DATA IS SHOWN IN HECTARES, SO BE SURE TO CONVERT TO ACRES (acres = hectares x 2.5)!
Country Ecological Footprint of Consumption (acres) Total Biocapacity (acres) Ecological (Deficit) or Reserve
(acres)
Yours: United States 8 x 2.5 = 20 acres 3.9 x 2.5 = 9.75 acres 4.1 x 2.5 = 10.25 acre deficit
Similar:
Similar:
Similar:
Different:
Different:
Different:
4) Choose at least one “similar” country and one “different” country from the table you just filled in and provide some analysis on how it compares with your country.
5) In today’s global economy, goods flow from one country to another like never before, allowing the natural capital from one country to be utilized in many other countries. Some have argued that it is unethical for developed countries to fuel their consumptive lifestyles by using natural capital from poorer, developing countries. Do you agree with this viewpoint? Why or why not?
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