FOOTPRINTS & GLOBAL CHANGE

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

DEFINITIONS: Let’s begin with a review of the definition of each type of footprint you’ve calculated. [Remember: it is plagiarism to copy and paste from the web without putting the text in quotes and providing the URL source.]

Ecological Footprint (def): “A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares. Because trade is global, an individual or country's Footprint includes land or sea from all over in the world. Ecological Footprint is often referred to in short form as Footprint (not footprint).”

SOURCE:

Carbon Footprint (def.): “The Nature Conservancy's carbon calculator determines carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions for personal and household behaviors. . . . Carbon dioxide emissions are calculated from the weight of carbon. Other emissions, such as methane and nitrous oxide, are reported in carbon dioxide equivalents so that the emissions can be compared. Short tons (equivalent to 2,000 lbs) are the units used to report emissions in this calculator. . . . For this calculator, emissions attributed directly from individual behaviors, such as miles flown, as well as indirect emissions, such as the CO2 emitted in building airports, are included in the overall emissions calculation.” SOURCE:

Water Footprint (def): “Water footprint – The water footprint is an indicator of freshwater use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in terms of water volumes consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted per unit of time. . . . The water footprint is a geographically explicit indicator, not only showing volumes of water use and pollution, but also the locations.” SOURCE:

UNITS: Here are the units of measure in the 3 types of footprints you’ve calculated (NOTE: /cap = “per capita” or “per person”)

Ecological Footprint = Global hectares (gha) per year/cap (or global acres for U.S. calculations) Carbon Footprint = Tons of CO2 equivalent per year (CO2 eq/yr) Water Fooprint = Cubic meters of water per capita per year (m3/cap/yr)

More information about the concept of a “global hectare” used in the Ecological Footprint: (Source: )

global hectare (gha) : A productivity weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the earth, and the demand on biocapacity (the Ecological Footprint). The global hectare is normalized to the area-weighted average productivity of biologically productive land and water in a given year. Because different land types have different productivity, a global hectare of, for example, cropland, would occupy a smaller physical area than the much less biologically productive pasture land, as more pasture would be needed to provide the same biocapacity as one hectare of cropland. Because world bioproductivity varies slightly from year to year, the value of a gha may change slightly from year to year.

hectare : 1/100th of a square kilometre, 10,000 square meters, or 2.471 acres. A hectare is approximately the size of a soccer field.

Planet Equivalent(s) : Every individual and country's Ecological Footprint has a corresponding Planet Equivalent, or the number of Earths it would take to support humanity's Footprint if everyone lived like that individual or average citizen of a given country. It is the ratio of an individual's (or country's per capita) Footprint to the per capita biological capacity available on Earth (2.1 gha in 2005). In 2005, the world average Ecological Footprint of 2.7 gha equals 1.3 Planet Equivalents.

QUESTION #1:

In the bottom row of the COMPARISON TABLE below, enter the 4 footprints that YOU COMPUTED for yourself. (NOTE: use the websites on PAGE 1 to do your calculations)

FOOTPRINT COMPARISON TABLE

FYI –here’s a copy of the results graphs for the 2008 USA Average Ecological Footprint.

QUESTION #2:

For each type of footprint, write few sentences that (a) describes how YOUR footprint compares with the USA average and (b) suggests possible reasons for the differences between your own footprint and USA average. You can do this by reviewing the “behavior breakdown” charts for each of the footprints to see which actions contribute most to each of your footprints – see the example above for the USA average Ecological Footprint. The behavior breakdown charts are displayed differently for the Carbon & Water Footprints, but the information is provided.

Ecological Footprint:

(a)

(b)

Carbon Footprint:

(a)

(b)

Water Footprint:

(a)

(b)

QUESTION #3:

Now go back to the ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT QUIZ link:

Select one of the other countries available (but not Calgary – it’s a city in Canada, not a country) and compute your footprint again trying to answer similarly to what you entered for your USA footprint. (This may be a bit challenging because each country has different attributes, dwelling types, energy sources, etc. and some may be unfamiliar to you – but do the best you can – the conversion doesn’t have to be perfect, just a general idea. This will also give you some more practice with the metric system!

Speculate on why the country in which a person resides makes such a difference in the individual's Footprint.

Evaluate your future Ecological Footprint. Recalculate your own Footprint using answers you predict will reflect your life in 5 to 10 years (bigger income, larger home, kids(?), more travel, etc. etc.) – Try to be realistic!!

What is your estimated future Footprint? ______ (in acres) ______ (in “Earth’s” needed)

Briefly describe your predicted changes in lifestyle. Do they increase or decrease your Footprint? In which categories? How and why?

USA AVERAGE Ecological Footprint (based on 2008 data)