Evaluating Your Ecological Footprint

Introduction:

The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on Earth’s renewable resources. It is typically represented by the amount of land and water resources needed to provide the things we use and to absorb our wastes. Renewable resources can continue to provide services indefinitely if the resources are used sustainably. However, there is a maximum rate at which renewable resources, such as fisheries, agricultural land, forests, air quality, freshwater, and renewable energy sources can provide services. Currently, the pressure of human use on Earth’s renewable resources is equivalent to about 1.5 Earths. Obviously, that is not sustainable.

Furthermore, the impact of the “footprint” may be felt in a different part of the world from the demand behavior that puts pressure on renewable resources. For example, if your lifestyle requires coffee, the impact of your demand for coffee is transferred to the land used by farmers in tropical countries where coffee can be grown. If demand increases and farmers attempt to meet that demand, they may switch to unsustainable farming practices that lead to planting on unsuitable land, increased use of pesticides, or increased use of fertilizer that leads to water pollution.

There is a second aspect of the concept of an ecological footprint that recognizes that some individuals use much more than their fair share of the Earth’s resources, while others are able to use only a limited fraction of their fair share of Earth’s resources. The lifestyle of individuals in developed countries around the world is typically not sustainable but it is in a sense subsidized by the lower living standards of people in the less-developed countries.

Many organizations maintain websites that allow you to calculate your ecological footprint. These sites typically ask a series of questions about your lifestyle, which are then used to determine your ecological footprint, with certain assumptions built into the program. For example, there will be questions about transportation, housing, food habits, and purchasing behavior. Typically, the result of such an exercise is to produce a statement about how many Earths it would take to satisfy your lifestyle. The basic idea behind ecological footprint calculations is that resources are limited and some people have access to and use many more resources than others.

Procedure

1. Search the term “ecological footprint” in your search browser of choice.
2. Choose two different sites that allow you to calculate your personal ecological footprint.
3. Complete the two calculations and record your data on Table 1.1 on Data Sheet 1.1.
4. Compare the two sites you visited by listing strengths and weaknesses on Table 1.2. On Data Sheet 1.2.
5. Choose the one site that you felt was the most thorough and list 5 lifestyle changes you would be able to make and record these on Table 1.3 on Data Sheet 1.3.
6. Repeat the calculation on the website you considered to be most thorough but modify your responses to match the lifestyle changes you entered on Table 1.3. Enter the new ecological footprint calculation in the Size of Ecological Footprint with Modified Lifestyle column of Table 1.1.

Data Sheet 1.1

Table 1.1 Ecological Footprint

****This means you play around with the numbers. What can you do to lower your footprint? How low can you get it!? Please note, these units may NOT be the same and therefore may not be easily comparable.

Table 1.2 Comparison of Two Ecological Footprints Websites

(***You are comparing the two different websites vs. each other. Was one more user friendly? How about more/less accurate?)

Table 1.3 Lifestyle Changes You Could Make

Data Sheet 1.2

Analysis Questions

1. How effective were the lifestyle changes you selected at reducing your ecological footprint?
2. List 3 reasons why food habits are important to the calculation of an ecological footprint.
3. List 2 reasons why transportation was important to the calculation of an ecological footprint.
4. Why are the kind of housing and the number of people leaving in a house important to determining an ecological footprint?
5. Why are buying habits important to determining an ecological footprint?