What is Ecological Footprint?

Calculating Your Ecological FootprintObjective:In this exercise you learn about the concept of ecological footprint, study the underlying principles of calculating ecological footprints of various nations and individuals, calculate your own footprint and explore ways to decrease own footprints.What is Ecological Footprint? According to Redefining Progress, a public policy think tank dedicated to sustainability and smart economics, Ecological Footprint is a complex sustainability indicator that answers a simple question: How much of the Earth’s resources does your lifestyle require?The concept of “ecological footprint” was first created by Dr. William Rees in 1992 to calculate the impact of human populations on ecosystems . Per capita ecological footprint (EF) is a means of comparing consumption and lifestyles, and checking this against nature’s ability to provide for this consumption. The tool can inform policy by examining to what extent a nation uses more (or less) than is available within its territory, or to what extent the nation’s lifestyle would be replicable worldwide. The footprint can also be a useful tool to educate people about carrying capacity (Links to an external site.) and over-consumption (Links to an external site.), with the aim of altering personal behavior. Ecological footprints may be used to argue that many current lifestyles are not sustainable (Links to an external site.). Such a global comparison also clearly shows the inequalities of resource use on this planet at the beginning of the twenty-first centuryDefinition: Total area of land and water needed to produce the resources a given person or population uses, together with the total amount of land and water needed to dispose of their waste. Ecological footprint is often reported as hectares per person. ** 1 hectare = 0.01 square kilometers = 2.47 acres**Calculating Ecological Footprints: Go to the following website; go to the link. Take the quiz. Calculate your current footprint. If you live in the dorms and don’t know critical information, like electricity charges, then use your family’s or friend’s household information. Remember, worldwide there exist 1.6 biologically productive hectares (i.e., arable land) per person. Therefore, at the current global population if everyone used only 1.6 hectares the planet would be ecologically sustainable. If people consume more than the equivalent of 1.6 hectares per person more planets would be needed to support the population and therefore would be living unsustainably.In Table 1 below write down your footprint for the amount of hectares that you consume for your:Answer these questions for your assignment.Question 1. Create Table 1 and fill in your numbers for Scenario 1. Do you find your consumption level surprising? How do you feel about it? Now redo your ecological footprint and determine what things you could easily change in your consumption patterns to reduce your ecological footprint. Once you have made some changes to your consumption patterns, write down your footprint for the amount of hectares that you consume related to carbon, food, housing and goods/services.Table 1. Table of Ecological Footprint Results Footprint for:Scenario 1 Your Normal ConsumptionScenario 2 Your Decreased ConsumptionScenario 3 Different ScenarioCarbon (tons)Food (hectares)Housing (hectares)Goods (hectares)Services (hectares)Mobility (hectares)Total Footprint (hectares)Number of Planets NeededQuestion 2. Fill your numbers into the table for Scenario 2. What did you change to decrease your footprint? Do you think making these changes are realistic for you? Why or why not? Question 3. How do your consumption patterns translate to pressures on the environment? How are your consumption patterns connected to ecological, social and economic factors? Come up with a new scenario and explore the footprint. For example, if your first two scenarios were from the perspective of a relatively affluent lifestyle, run the footprint calculator for a person with a different lifestyle (could be a parent or grandparent), or someone with an very extravagent lifestyle (pick your billionaire). As an alternative, you could focus more on a company or industry like Amazon, or an institution like the University of Michigan.Question 4. Fill in the table for the third scenario. Explain the scenario you chose and reflect on how the results are different from scenario 1 and 2.