ecological footprint

what is our impact on the biosphere ?

What is ecological footprint ?

To provide the resources a human population uses

To absorb the wastes that population generates

How to use ecological footprint ?

Whether a place or a country developing in a sustainable way

We can make a plan for future development

A website that can calculate your ecological

footprint

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

Some special thing about footprint

limitations Appropriated carrying capacity City.factory.railway.farmland.make up the Footprint limitations.the footprint limitations can show us something we have brought to the earth. In short, footprint limitations for individual can be called:Per capita resources consumption

Footprint Limitation

Ecologists talk about the ecological footprint of individuals, of countries, and of the world’ s population. It is difficult, if calculate an exact footprint is possible , There’ s a new ideal. There is not yet a standard way of measuring footprint size. Also, footprints give only a “snapshot” of the resources used at a particular point in time.

Calculating an exact footprint is almost impossible, but this idea can be useful when comparing different population.

Question: do you know how to compare?

this picture is about ecological footprint in the world.

Question:Do you know how does the average ecological pootprint in America compare to the world's average?

• the average American has an ecological footprint of more than four times the global average

• [ Also , each person in the US uses almost twice as many as someone in England.]

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF DIFFERENT POPULATIONS

• different population will have different ecdifferent population will have different ecological footprint.ological footprint.

• question: a German shepherd dog's ecolquestion: a German shepherd dog's ecological footprint is 1.1hectare, an off-road ogical footprint is 1.1hectare, an off-road vehicle's ecological footprint is 0.41 hectavehicle's ecological footprint is 0.41 hectare , canyou guess the ecological footprint re , canyou guess the ecological footprint of a cat?of a cat?

• to calculate the ecological footprint of an entire country, researchers first calculate the footprint of an average citizen. Then they multiply that footprint by the population of the country.

• What is ecological deficit?• Ecological Deficit is the level of

resource consumption and waste discharge by a population in excess of locally sustainable natural production and assimilative capacity.

• What comes the ecological deficit?

• An area of the ecological carrying capacity is less than the ecological footprint, ecological deficit appears

What problems can suggest ecological deficit?

• Serious soil erosion – Loess Plateau in Shanxi, China.

• Serious desertification – Due to the effect of natural condition deterioration,

land salinity-alkalinity complex stress is high, even plants cannot survive

• Low forest coverage – Excessive cutting destroyed the natural forest, wind,

sand control, water retention, including raise water, purify air, protecting biodiversity and ecological system of spontaneous function gradually reduced

What problems can suggest ecological deficit?

• Natural disasters• Air pollution • Water pollution• ……

• Ecological debt day – To express the development condition of the

ecological deficit more clearly, scientists come up with a concept called “ecological debt day”

– It means the time point of capability and output resources the earth provide and human consume.