9/1/2011

Ecological Footprints

How much forest is needed to provide oxygen, clean air and water as well as paper and building materials?

This depends on your lifestyle!

Chinese peasant farmer lives on the equivalent of $80 a year

While a globe trotting businessman with a large home and three cars, squeaks by on million annually

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Estimates how much productive land and water you need to support what you use and what you throw away

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We use Natural resources when we

If the ecological footprint indicates that more natural resources are used than the Earth supplies

Consume, pollute, and discard garbage

Than this is not a sustainable lifestyle

Why is it important for all of us on Earth to live a sustainable lifestyle?

So that the planet is in good shape for future generations to enjoy and prosper

On average, each of us needs between 10 and 12 acres of ecologically productive land to provide for our consumption

Ecological Footprint measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes under prevailing technology That is, it measures the extent to which humanity is using nature's resources faster than they can regenerate

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So Where are We At?

The footprint is a resource accounting tool that can help us plan for a world in which we all live well, within the means of our one planet But today, humanity's Ecological Footprint is over 23% larger than what the planet can regenerate It now takes more than one year and two months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year

Ecological Overshoot
When humanity's ecological resource demands exceed what nature can supply, we reach ecological overshoot The effects: collapsing fisheries, carboninduced climate change, species extinction, deforestation, and the loss of groundwater The human footprint has more than tripled since 1960

Humanity's Footprint 1961-2003

How many Earths were needed to meet the resource requirements of humanity for each year? Ratio between resource demand & Biocapacity Demand = population times per capita consumption Biocapacity = 1planet

World Ecological Footprint

Components of the World's Average per Person

Some Definitions
CO2 is carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas CO2-e is the equivalent in CO2 of all greenhouse gasses including methane and fluorocarbons Bts is the weight of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere as billion tonnes metric ppm is the ratio of the number of greenhouse gas molecules to the total number of molecules of dry air as parts per million IPCC is the UN International Panel on Climate Change

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Predictions
Recent research shows that there is a ten percent risk that we will pass an irreversible tipping point in the next five years Greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere now stand at around 430ppm CO2-e, compared with only 280ppm before the Industrial Revolution Our industrial life-style has added 2,300 Bts over 200 years each year at increasing rates Output in 2050 will be around 87 Bts The total CO2-e in the atmosphere will then have accumulated to 5,300 Bts, which is over twice today's amount

A child born in a wealthy country is likely to consume, waste, and pollute more in her/his lifetime than 50 children born in poorer nations

Rising Sea Levels

Sea levels are predicted to rise more than 5 metres as temperatures get over 2 C, principally from melting ice from Greenland and the Antarctic Greenland could be losing more than 80 cubic miles of ice per year A 1 mm rise in sea level causes a shoreline retreat of about 1.5 meters In the past 50 years, sea level has been rising 1.8mm a year - which is ten times the average for the past 3,000 yearsin the last decade this has increased to 3.1mm

Temperature & Sea Level

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The Impact
A one-meter rise in sea level would inundate half of Bangladesh's rice land, and would seriously flood Viet Nam, China, India and Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Egypt And inundate parts of hundreds of cities, including some of the worlds largest such as London, Alexandria, Bangkok, and Shanghai
As CO2 is taken up by the oceans, the pH level is reduced, which causes the water to become more acidin the past the amount being absorbed and the amount being emitted were in balance Today changes in sea water affect the yield of fish, marine bird populations Yet a billion people around the world depend on fish for their main source of protein

Regional Footprints

National Footprints
A nation's consumption is calculated by adding imports to and subtracting exports from national production Today most countries are running ecological deficits In 2003, humanity's Footprint exceeded the Earth's biological capacity by over 25 percent

United States

U.S. Footprint By Component

Biocapacity varies each year with ecosystem management, agricultural practices (such as fertilizer use and irrigation), ecosystem degradation

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Cuba
Cuba suffered from the disintegration of the USSR in 1989 Cuba adapted to live more in line with its own natural capacity

Cuban Footprint by Component

Mexico
Mexico has moved from using only 1/3 of its domestic biocapacity in 1961 to nearly 1 times its own biocapacity in 2002

Mexican Footprint by Component

Our productive ecosystems and farms are being converted into subdivisions,

Parking lots

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Shopping Malls

Highwaysour ecological wastelands

And those values are being pushed on all those developing countries with tiny ecological footprints

If we recognize our connection to the land

We might be able to create a more sustainable lifestyle

If population continues to grow

By the middle 21st century we will need 6 to 12 planets in order to prevent rapid deterioration of the planet

So what can we do?

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How to Reduce an Ecological Footprint ?

Consume less
Reducing waste of energy Reducing the amount of water we use. Changing our diet so we use less land Making our houses more eco-friendly Reducing our reliance on transport Reducing pollution we create Reducing waste we generate Encourage people to recycle Protecting plants and animals

Danny OCallaghan

Kingdown School Warminster

HOUSING Eat organic locally grown food

They do not rely on non environmentally friendly transportation They don't use pesticides which are harmful to your health Factory fed cows require large amounts of natural resources such as water, grain, produce a lot of waste, and are treated inhumanly Living in a smaller space requires less energy for electricity, climate control, and cooking Smaller homes require fewer natural resources and material to construct

TRANSPORTATION

CONSUMPTION
Recycle limits the amount of landfill and reduces the amount of natural resources required Buy things with little packaging Stop wasting energy, water and other natural resources Purchase efficient light bulbs, low flow toilets, energy saving showerheads, cars

Bicycles are the most efficient mode of transport use little natural resources and carry people good distance Drive smaller hybrid cars Use the bus because they carry many people at one time