An "ecological footprint" is the area of the earth's surface necessary to sustain the level of resources a person uses and the waste she or he creates.
An ecological footprint is, as scientists would say, "the load people impose on nature".
It's a measure of how much land and water are needed in order to keep a person alive. When you divide the usable land of Earth by the total population, it is found that there are 1.89 hectares for each person. Although there is only suppose to be 1.89 hectares per person, in Canada the average is 7.25 hectares per person.
55% energy land - use ~ heating, fuel, etc.; 16% - forest land use ~ paper, wood, etc.; 3% Pasture land - use ~ animal products; 5% Bulit Area - use ~ housing, buldings, etc.; 2% sea space - use ~ seafood, etc.
Ways to reduce your ecological footprint:
-Buy things with minimum packaging
-Don't buy extra food and then throw it away
-Always recycle
-Don't buy a huge house ~ especially if you have a small family
-Never waste electricity ~ turn off lights
-Water reduction (short showers)
-When possible, use a bicycle, when not, use a hybrid car
Ecological Footprint: An ecological footprint can be defined as a measurement of the area of land and water required to sustainably reproduce the amount of resources a given population consumes, while safely and sustainably absorbing wastes as well.
Ecological footprint is measured by first figuring out the amount of bioproductive land (biologically productive land: land that produces resources needed to stay alive) in question. This number is then divided by the population in question gives you your ecological footprint. Each person on Earth should be alotted 1.89 hectares of bioproductive land. This, unfortunately, is not the case. On average, Canadians each have 7.25 hectares per person. It is said that if everyone on earth lived the way Canadians do, we would need four earths to support ourselves.
The image below depicts the basic elements of the average ecological footprint. It was created to illustrate that each individual person takes up areas of land and sea they may never actually see. The fact that came with the picture stated an average ecological footprint per person for one country was 24 acres!
Resources:
Gardner, Robert and Lavold, Wayne. Exploring Globalization. Canada: McGraw Hill, 2007.
An ecological footprint is, as scientists would say, "the load people impose on nature".
It's a measure of how much land and water are needed in order to keep a person alive. When you divide the usable land of Earth by the total population, it is found that there are 1.89 hectares for each person. Although there is only suppose to be 1.89 hectares per person, in Canada the average is 7.25 hectares per person.
55% energy land - use ~ heating, fuel, etc.; 16% - forest land use ~ paper, wood, etc.; 3% Pasture land - use ~ animal products; 5% Bulit Area - use ~ housing, buldings, etc.; 2% sea space - use ~ seafood, etc.
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/state/reporting/sustainability/national.gif
This graph shows how wasteful certain countries are and it also shows the enormous inequalities between the first and third world.
Ways to reduce your ecological footprint:
-Buy things with minimum packaging
-Don't buy extra food and then throw it away
-Always recycle
-Don't buy a huge house ~ especially if you have a small family
-Never waste electricity ~ turn off lights
-Water reduction (short showers)
-When possible, use a bicycle, when not, use a hybrid car
http://www.buddycom.com/animal/envirimg/footprint/ecoftprt.jpg
This picture is of a very large footprint that is going to destroy the earth. It shows pollution, many buildings, and enormous use of electricity and water.
Jaimie Bird, Social Studies 10, First Semester, Period 2
Resources:
-Exploring Globalization textbook
-online encyclopedia
-http://www.mfe.govt.nz/state/reporting/sustainability/national.gif
-http://www.buddycom.com/animal/envirimg/footprint/ecoftprt.jpg
Rollend Scherger, Semsester 2 Period 2
Ecological Footprint: An ecological footprint can be defined as a measurement of the area of land and water required to sustainably reproduce the amount of resources a given population consumes, while safely and sustainably absorbing wastes as well.
Ecological footprint is measured by first figuring out the amount of bioproductive land (biologically productive land: land that produces resources needed to stay alive) in question. This number is then divided by the population in question gives you your ecological footprint. Each person on Earth should be alotted 1.89 hectares of bioproductive land. This, unfortunately, is not the case. On average, Canadians each have 7.25 hectares per person. It is said that if everyone on earth lived the way Canadians do, we would need four earths to support ourselves.
The image below depicts the basic elements of the average ecological footprint. It was created to illustrate that each individual person takes up areas of land and sea they may never actually see. The fact that came with the picture stated an average ecological footprint per person for one country was 24 acres!
Resources:
Gardner, Robert and Lavold, Wayne. Exploring Globalization. Canada: McGraw Hill, 2007.
Ecological Footprint: Overview.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=footprint_overview
6/5/08.
Tupper, Jonathan. Ecological Footprint.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/tupp0008/environment/2008/02/
6/5/08.
Updated By: scherger-rundle