Lecture Notes: Understanding the Ecological Footprint

Introduction

• Human Activities and Resource Consumption
  • Human activities consume natural resources.
  • These activities also produce waste.
  • Nature must have the capacity to meet these demands.

Ecological Footprint

• Definition
  • A measure of human demand on nature.
  • Represents the impact on nature from individuals, households, cities, businesses, or countries.

Contributors to Ecological Footprint

• Factors
  • Food
  • Energy
  • Transportation
  • Goods & services

Measurement

• Expression
  • The ecological footprint is expressed as the amount of land and water needed to:
    • Produce what we consume.
    • Absorb the waste we generate.

Importance of Measuring Ecological Footprint

• Assessment
  • Helps assess the pressure our lifestyle puts on the planet.
• Management
  • Aids in managing ecological assets wisely.
• Action
  • Encourages personal and collective action to reduce footprint.