Ecological Footprint

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Ecological Footprint
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• 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

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Ecological Overshoot

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

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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

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World EcologicalFootprint
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Components of the World's Average per Person
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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

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• 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

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• 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

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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
  AntarcticGreenland 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

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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

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• 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

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Regional Footprints
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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

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United States
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U.S. FootprintBy 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

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Cuban Footprintby Component
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Mexico

• Mexico has moved from using only 1/3 of its
  domestic biocapacity in 1961 to nearly 1 ½ times
  its own biocapacity in 2002

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Mexican Footprintby Component
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How Much Nature Does Your Lifestyle Demand?

• http//ecofoot.org/ -- Take the Quiz!
• 1. How often do you eat animal based products?
  (once or twice a week)
• 2. How much of the food that you eat is
  processed, packaged and not locally grown? (3/4)
• 3. Compared to people in your neighborhood, how
  much waste do you generate? (about the same)

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• 4. How many people live in your
• household? (2)
• 5. What is the size of your home?
• (1500-1900 sq. ft.)
• 6. Which housing type best describes your
  home? (Free standing with running water)
• 7. Do you have electricity in your home? (yes)
• 8. On average, how far do you travel on public
  transportation each week? (0)

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• 9. On average, how far do you go by motorbike
  each week? (0)
• 10. On average, how far do you go by car each
  week? (10-100 miles)
• 11. Do you bicycle, walk, or use animal power
  to get around? (seldom)
• 12. Approximately how many hours do you spend
  flying each year? (10 hours)
• 13. How many miles per gallon does your car
  get? (20-25 mpg)
• 14. How often do you drive in a car with
  someone else, rather than alone?
• (almost never)

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The Results

CATEGORY ACRES
Food 4.7
Mobility 1.0
Shelter 10.4
Goods/Services 10.4
Total Footprint 26.0
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What Does it Mean?

• IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
  IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER
  PERSONWORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY
  PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON
• IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU,
• WE WOULD NEED 5.9 PLANETS

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• If everyone in the world lived as we do in the
  United States, we would need over 7½ planets to
  live sustainably