Ecological Footprint - How heavily do you tread upon the world?

“The ecological footprint is a measure of the load imposed by a given population on nature. It represents the land area necessary to sustain current levels of resource consumption and waste discharge by that population”, Wackernagel & Rees, 1996.

The concept of an ‘Ecological Footprint’ developed in response to wide agreement that the Earth’s ecosystems cannot sustain current levels of economic activity and material consumption, and put forward by Wackernagel & Rees in the  book 'Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth (1996).

The aim is to quantify our use of nature, and compare this with the carrying capacity of our ecosystems, so that we can measure environmental sustainability.  Protecting our home, the Earth, begins with understanding our personal and collective impact upon it.

How many planet Earths would be needed if everyone enjoyed our standard of living?

 The ecological footprint concept measures how much land and water is needed to produce the resources we consume; and how much we use to dispose of our waste.

 If you take the area of productive land on the earth and divide it by the population of the earth you obtain 1.8 hectares per person – “a fair earth share”. Our footprint in Ireland is about 3.5 times larger than this “fair earth share”.   If we leave only 12% of the biosphere for other species, there are less than 5 acres available per person - this means that we humans overshoot the mark by at least 20%.

How many people have smaller ecological footprint than the world average?

The answer is an amazing 73%, and very many of them don't have enough to meet basic needs.

How shall we learn to tread more lightly on the face of the Earth?

One answer is to calculate the impact that each and every one of us makes through our daily lives.

TRY http://www.myfootprint.org/

Ireland's ecological footprint is using between three and four times the worldwide average biological capacity available per person. 

Download the WWF report "Europe 2005 - The Ecological Footprint"

                                                        http://www.panda.org/downloads/europe/europe2005ecologicalfootprint.pdf

 National Footprint

The goal of sustainability is to make sure that people can live well within the means of nature, now and in the future. In order to get there, we need to know where we are and to be able to track our progress.

A nation's ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of productive land area needed to support that nation's consumption and waste.

 The following calculations are based on officially published and peer-reviewed data.

 Just as nations track their fiscal deficit, we need to track our ecological deficits.

 Ecological Footprint assessments are a 21st century tool to do just that. They allow individuals and governments to measure and communicate the impacts of natural resource use.  By showing us where we need to go, they can help accelerate a transition to a sustainable world.

 Humanity's Ecological Footprint is already over 30% larger than what the world can offer.

 This means we are overusing the planet and liquidating its ecological assets. Evidence of our overuse includes deforestation, collapsing fisheries, and the build-up of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere.

 At the same time, a significant percentage of the world's people do not have enough resources to meet basic survival needs, resulting in famine, poverty, epidemics, migration and conflicts.

 To overcome this sustainability challenge, we need to do a better job of budgeting our planet's limited resources.

 Each of us contributes to the devastating impact humans have on the planet, which means we can each be part of the solution through our daily choices.

 We can help turn things around by informing ourselves of environmental issues, and by engaging in personal, local, and global efforts toward a more sustainable relationship between humans and the natural world.

We can all be part of the solution.  Together, we can reshape the global economy in a way that will allow all people to meet their essential needs without destroying the limited capacity of our planet.

What can one person do to become more sustainable?

At Home we can:

•Avoid purchasing products with excess packaging, especially plastic packaging

•Compost our kitchen and garden waste

•Recycle - use our local bring centres

•Insulate the home – in the attic, walls, and double glazed windows

•Use more energy-efficient appliances

•Switch to low flush toilets

•Switch to forms of recreation and tourism which have a low impact on the environment and support a local holiday

•Grow some of our own food

•Use bicycles and public transport instead of cars

•Buy items made or grown locally, built to last and made from recyclable materials that can be repaired when broken

•Reduce consumption in general

At work we can:

•Encourage car pooling, bicycle use and public transport

•Switch to energy saving appliances and switch off equipment when not in use

•Install low energy bulbs and turn off lights at night

•Upgrade to low flush toilets

•Start recycling programmes at work

•Use locally available resources

•Use recycled paper and use less of it

•Switch to fair trade / organic coffee and tea

In our communities we can:

•Implement waste reduction systems

•Reduce urban sprawl by creatively increasing population density areas

•Promote affordable high density housing through housing associations and cooperatives

•Offer living, working and shopping spaces in integrated neighbourhoods

•Reduce road and parking space and increase access to public transport; plan for bicycles and walking

•Encourage the planting of trees and green spaces through community participation

•Introduce construction guidelines which minimise the consumption of resources