Flowers of the FieldFlowers of the Field by Phil Porter by Phil Porter

Ecological Footprint: The area of land and water ecosystems required to produce resources that the population consumes, and to assimilate the wastes that the population produces.

Ecological Footprint & Sustainability

Environment Social Economy

Traditional view of sustainability: 3-Tiers

Ecological Footprint & Sustainability

EnvironmentSocial

Economy

Ecological footprint view of sustainability

Components of the Ecological Footprint

(6 human activities that require space)

1. Growing Crops2. Grazing Animals3. Harvesting Timber 4. Catching Fish5. Accommodating Infrastructure (housing,

transportation systems, industry, built up land…)

6. Absorbing Carbon Dioxide Emissions (burning fossil fuels)

The Bottom Line There are about 2.3 hectares of

biologically productive land and sea per person

BUT . . . set aside 12% to protect biodiversity = 2.0 hectares per person

Global Context

• United States – 9.7 ha/capita• Canada – 8.4 ha/capita

- NS - 8.1 ha/capita- AB - 7.9 ha/capita

• France – 5.3 ha/capita• Japan – 4.8 ha/capita• Zimbabwe – 1.3 ha/capita• Bangladesh – 0.5 ha/capitaGlobal Average: 2.3 hectares/capita

Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy, by Wackernagel et.al., PNAS, July 9, 2002

Who has the biggest footprint? Countries such as the United States,

Australia, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Sweden occupy footprints over 200% greater than the 2.0 ha available per global citizen.

This is dramatically contrasted to Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria with footprints of 1 ha or less per capita.

THE RICHEST FIVE:

account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures the poorest five 1.3%.

consume 45% of all meat and fish the poorest five 5%

consume 58% of total energy the poorest five less than 4%

consume 84% of all paper the poorest five 1.1%

own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet the poorest five less than 1% (UNDP, 1998).

WHAT CAN YOU DO? List 5 ways you might reduce your

ecological footprint. Go to

http://www.mec.ca/Apps/ecoCalc/ecoCalc.jsp to calculate your own ecological footprint.