foot print

Footprinting is now widely used around the globe as an indicator of environmental sustainability. It can be used to measure and manage the use of resources throughout the economy. It is commonly used to explore the sustainability of individual lifestyles, goods and services, organisations, industry sectors, regions and nations.

Ecological footprint analysis

Ecological footprint analysis approximates the amount of ecologically productive land and sea area required to sustain a population, manufacture a product, or undertake certain activities, by accounting the use of energy, food, water, building material and other consumables.

It is a way of determining relative consumption for the purpose of educating people about their resource use and, sometimes, triggering them to alter their consumption. It can be combined with overpopulation concerns and stated as "the number of Earths it would take to support every human living exactly the way you do.". Ecological footprints have been used to argue that current lifestyles are not sustainable. A number of NGO websites allow estimation of one's ecological footprint (see Footprint Calculator, below).

Changing consumption patterns

Contrary to many assumptions, it is human use of renewable resources, not of non-renewable ones, that poses the real sustainability crisis.^{citation needed]} Nature can restore renewable resources at a certain rate. Humans consistently and increasingly consume renewables faster than ecosystems can restore them.

This state of excessive ecological burden eventually threatens those very ecosystems by not allowing them sufficient time to "recharge." Furthermore, humans can clearly live without nonrenewable resources such as metals or fossil fuels, as we have done in the not-so-distant past. It is the renewable resource base on which we and all species depend. The ecological footprint approach can introduce the concept of resource recharge and the rate at which we use resources as key elements in more sustainable human societies. This time element helps us understand that it's not just what we use, or even how much, but how fast, and over what period of time. This meshes with other movements to "slow down" human consumption and help people disengage from that acceleration of actions and expectations that has been a crucial feature of industrial societies.

Criticisms

Calculated footprints can be inaccurate due to simplifying assumptions. Many factors of the calculations are based on crude estimates and the numbers may not be applicable to all places (the method is biased to Northern Hemisphere lifestyles). Also, the model generally does not count multiple uses of land: a forest is a carbon sink and the same area is not counted for food production.

The bioproductivity-based Ecological Footprint method rewards the increase of high-productivity monocultures by assigning a higher biocapacity to that region. The bioproductivity-Footprint has to be complemented with a biodiversity-Footprint.

The per-person nature of footprinting is questionable. For example, the model favors households with more children: A large house with ten children has a smaller per-person footprint than a house half its size with only one person. This is a perverse result, since having more children adds to global overpopulation, with high ecological costs in the future.

To counter these uncertainties, the models of ecological footprinting are constantly being refined. However, not all criticisms can be resolved (van den Bergh and Verbruggen, 2000).

References

• William Rees (1992) Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out Environment and Urbanisation Vol 4 no 2 Oct 1992
• Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers. ISBN 0-86571-312-X
• Lenzen, M. and Murray, S. A. 2003. "The Ecological Footprint - Issues and Trends". ISA Research Paper 01-03
• Chambers, N., Simmons, C. and Wackernagel, M. 2000. Sharing Nature's Interest: ecological footprints as an indicator of sustainability. Earthscan, London ISBN 1-85383-739-3 (see also http://www.ecologicalfootprint.com)
• J.C.J.M. van den Bergh and H. Verbruggen (1999), Spatial sustainability, trade and indicators: an evaluation of the ‘ecological footprint’, Ecological Economics, Vol. 29(1): 63-74.

See also

• Carrying capacity
• Carbon footprint
• Deep ecology
• Ecological economics
• Ecology movement
• Environmental impact assessment
• Georgism
• Green conventions, meetings & events
• Overpopulation
• Simple living
• The Natural Step
• Urban economics
• Wilderness

External links

General

• Global Footprint Network Ecological Footprint : Overview
• WWF "Living Planet Report", a biannual calculation of national and global footprints
• Ecological Footprinting at the University of Sydney, Australia
• Best Foot Forward Ecological Footprint experts
• Ecological Footprint Analysis, Footprint of Nations etc
• The Earth Charter Initiative
• Big Picture TV Free video clip of Mathis Wackernagel, co-creator of ecological footprint analysis
• Ecological Footprint Cartogram
• Footprint Trust
• ecoLogical Home Ideas Magazine with suggestions for a smaller home footprint
• Energy footprint of U.S.manufacturing sectors
• third::direction Student Organization promotes carbon credits and education to reduce your ecological footprint.

Calculators

• Australia's Ecological Footprint Calculator
• Calculate your carbon footprint and then reduce it
• Redefining Progress - Earth Day footprint quiz
• Eco'tude - for Australian schools
• Ecocal - for UK households
• MfE (NZ) - for New Zealand households