LWU: Lesson - Ecological Footprints (Topic 5.11) 📖
⏳ Estimated Reading/Watching Time: 12 - 14 minutes
Explain the variables measured in an ecological footprint.
Ecological Footprints
An ecological footprint measures how much of the planet’s natural resources are used to support a person based on their use of those resources. It also accounts for the waste we generate, especially the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere. The ecological footprint can be calculated for individuals, cities, countries, or the whole world. It can be compared to the biocapacity, which is the amount of nature that is available to regenerate the resources we use and absorb the waste we produce.
Calculating an ecological footprint gives you an idea of the level of human demand on the environment.
In general, people in developed countries have a higher level of resource use and waste production per person than those people who live in developing or underdeveloped countries. People in developed countries also tend to produce more waste per person than those people who live in developing or underdeveloped countries. As such, the ecological footprint of a person in a developed country is greater than that of a person in a developing country.
So, think of an ecological footprint as measuring both the demand on the environment and the supply available from the environment. As demand on the environment increases, the supply of things like clean air and water, usable land, and other benefits from the environment decline. After all, we’re not making new land, more water, or new air as these resources are finite, which means that they can be used up.
Calculating an Ecological Footprint
An ecological footprint is the only way we can measure how much of the environment we use versus how much of the environment we have. Once an average ecological footprint is determined for a person in a particular community or country, we can multiply that number by the total population of the community or country to arrive at the ecological footprint for that community or country.
The ecological footprint measures....
🍔 Food (click to reveal)
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- the amount of food consumed
- the type of food consumed
- how the food is produced, processed, and transported
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🏠 Housing (click to reveal)
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- the type of dwelling
- the size of the dwelling
- the energy and materials used to build the dwelling
- the energy and materials used to maintain the dwelling
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🚘 Transportation (click to reveal)
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- distance traveled for daily activities
- mode of travel used for daily activities
- fuel and emissions used for daily travel
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🛍️ Goods and Services (click to reveal)
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- Quantity of products and services
- Quality of products and services
- Resources involved in production and disposal
- Waste involved in production and disposal
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💧 Water (click to reveal)
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- amount of water used for drinking, cooking, washing, and irrigation
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🗑️ Waste (click to reveal)
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- amount of waste generated
- type of waste generated
- how waste is managed/disposed
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The ecological footprint is expressed as the amount of land and water required to make what we consume, and the amount of land needed to absorb the waste that is generated through that consumption in the units of global hectares (ha)/per capita. A hectare (symbol ha) is an SI unit for land area (the English unit for land area is an acre as a comparison) and is equal to an area that is 100 meters by 100 meters which equals 10,000 square meters.
We can talk in terms of the total impact of the human population on the environment by using a global hectare for expressing the world’s ecological footprint. One global hectare is the annual biological production for use by humans and the assimilation of the waste produced per hectare of productive land area and fishing areas.
Look at the graph to the right. Note the high ecological footprints of the United States and Australia compared to the low ecological footprints of Nigeria and Haiti. This is because the United States and Australia are more developed than Nigeria and Haiti. Much more of the environment’s resources are used by a U.S. citizen than a Haitian citizen, for example.
In addition, people who have higher incomes (developed countries) tend to use more resources and produce more waste. Thus, their ecological footprint will be larger than their counterpart in a developing country that cannot afford to use as many resources. Currently, the human population is using ecological resources as if we have 1.75 Earths!
Biocapacity
The term biocapacity refers to the biological productivity of an area.
Biocapacity declines as humans use up more and more of the natural resources in an area. Deforestation, aquifer depletion, pollution, overfishing, and other negative impacts lower biocapacity.
If resource use in an area exceeds the biocapacity of that area, that area runs an ecological deficit. An ecological deficit means that resources are being used up at a rate faster than they can be replenished naturally. If a country or region is running an ecological deficit, it must import resources for its human population.
If a country or region has a biocapacity that exceeds its ecological footprint, then that country or region has an ecological reserve. An ecological reserve occurs when a country or region uses fewer resources than what is supplied by the environment in that area. Currently, 80% of the world’s human population lives in countries that are running an ecological deficit and, overall, we have been running an ecological deficit on Earth since the 1970s.
What Can YOU Do?
There are several online ecological footprint calculators that you can use to calculate your own personal ecological footprint. The video below walks you through a hypothetical ecological footprint using one of these calculators.
Do you think yours is more or less than the person in the video?
If you do calculate your ecological footprint and are dismayed about the size of it, there are some things that you can do to lower it. Here is a starter list for decreasing your ecological footprint:
There are many other things that you can do so take some time to investigate the size of your ecological footprint. If it’s too large, investigate other ways to decrease the size of your ecological footprint. The War Advertising Council during World War II coined the slogan,
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
The intent of this slogan during the war was to decrease demand for resources while at the same time keeping prices for goods and materials low. For us, this slogan fits very well in lowering your ecological footprint. Taking small steps along with making deliberate choices in your life can help decrease your ecological footprint which, in turn, lowers the demand for resources and decreases waste production.
Ecological footprints compare resource demands and waste production required for an individual or a society.
An ecological footprint is expressed in the units of hectares (ha)/per capita.
You should know what goes into calculating an ecological footprint and be able to compare estimated footprints between different stages of the demographic transition, but you will not have to calculate an ecological footprint.
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