Environmental footprinting is a technique that measures the impact of our lifestyles on the well-being of the planet. The two most common types of environmental footprints are “ecological footprints” and “carbon footprints.” There is, however, a considerable overlap between them.
Ecological footprinting, more commonly called “ecofootprinting,” is the broader term. An ecofootprint represents the amount of land and water that a society requires both to provide the resources that it consumes and to eliminate the waste that it creates. Ecofootprints are measured in hectares. One hectare is 10,000 square metres which in turn equals about 2.5 acres. A hectare is roughly the size of two and a half soccer fields.
The earth’s ability – its carrying capacity or biocapacity – to provide the resources to support our lifestyle and to eliminate our waste is limited. There are approximately 11 billion hectares of biologically productive land and water available to sustain the world’s population of 6.5 billion people – an average of about 1.8 hectares per person.
At present, the average per capita global ecofootprint is approximately 2.2 hectares. We are, therefore, as a planetary society consuming resources and creating waste in excess of the regenerative capacity of the earth – a concept known as “overshoot.” Our global ecological footprint has tripled since 1960 and it is growing rapidly.
Canada has the third highest ecofootprint in the world after the United Arab Emirates and the US. We require 7.5 hectares per person of the planet’s marine, freshwater and land resources to support our lifestyles. By comparison, Switzerland has a per capita footprint of 5 hectares, China is presently at the global sustainable level of 1.8 hectares and Bangladesh only requires 1 hectare per person.
Canada has, therefore, overshot nature’s biocapacity of 1.8 hectares per person four times. In stark terms, it means that if every person on the planet lived at our level of material consumption, we would need four planets.
A carbon footprint, on the other hand, measures the volume of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. These emissions result largely from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and oil products like gasoline. Emissions of the major greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) are converted to a carbon dioxide equivalent and carbon footprints are then calculated and expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Like our ecofootprint, Canada also has the third highest carbon footprint in the world. Our total output of greenhouse gases in a year divided by the overall population produces a per capita carbon footprint of 24 tonnes. By comparison, the UK generates 11 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person while China is far behind at 2 tonnes per person.
A more comprehensive carbon footprint measures not just direct carbon dioxide emissions, but also assesses life cycle emissions. For example, instead of measuring only the electricity that we use to prepare our food, an extended carbon footprint would analyze the production of the food and its delivery to markets. All consumer and capital products contain both embedded energy used and emissions.
A crucial factor often omitted from environmental footprint analysis is nature’s ability to absorb the steadily increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. The natural “carbon sinks,” such as the oceans, are close to saturation, forest cover is decreasing and fertile soils are eroding. Scientists estimate that we have overshot the earth’s ability to balance the creation and absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by 30 percent.
By any yard stick, our lifestyle demands have exceeded the sustainable limits of the biosphere and our ecological debt is surging. We are no longer living off nature’s interest; we are rapidly consuming our scarce biological capital. Like the executives at Enron, we are plundering the planet’s pension plan.
We are passing global peak productions in oil, fish and food and we have reached the physical limits of fertile land, freshwater and clean air. We are also close to a tipping point in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases which could catapult us into irreversible climate change within a decade. The combination of production peaks, inflated footprints and tipping points portend critical problems for the planet.
Furthermore, statistical footprints cannot measure some of the less discernible damage we are inflicting on the natural ecosystems. We are choking the oceans with plastic and poisoning our lakes and rivers with chemical toxins; leachate from garbage dumps is contaminating the subterranean water table. And the escalating -- and largely invisible -- decimation of countless species is unraveling the complex web of life which underpins human survival.
There are no magic bullets or technofixes that will reduce our environmental footprint and still preserve the comforts of our consumer lifestyle. It is delusional to think, for example, that seeding the oceans with iron dust to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide will slow global warming. Tinkering with nature will only exacerbate and expedite environmental degradation.
Behavioural change, largely in the form of curbing our consumption of resources, goods and services, is the only approach that will ensure a sustainable future for the planet. Modifying our behaviour is immeasurably less expensive than investing in technological innovations, just as conservation is far cheaper than consumption.
Most Canadians are aware at some level – intellectually, emotionally or intuitively – that our footprints have outstripped nature’s biocapacity. We know this in our heads, our hearts, in our gut – and in the very marrow of our bones. Awareness is widespread, the research is done, the risks are clear: it is time for action.
Although environmental footprints may be imprecise, they do clearly portray the threats to the health of the planet. Footprints also remind us of our personal environmental obligations. Listed below are a variety of carbon and ecofootprint calculators that you can use to measure your impact on the environment. Consider also undertaking the challenge outlined in our Kyoto New Year’s Resolution to reduce your own carbon footprint.
The global ecological and carbon targets for a sustainable planet are easy to remember: approximately 2 hectares of productive land and water and 2 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person. These are challenging targets for all of us – individuals, corporations and governments. It will take dedication and sacrifice to reach these targets, but, as individuals, we can slowly chip away at our personal consumption patterns and gradually modify our lifestyles. Living within the bounds of nature’s sustainable footprint should be our overriding goal.
On the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death, his words are worth remembering:
“You first have to be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Ecological footprinting, more commonly called “ecofootprinting,” is the broader term. An ecofootprint represents the amount of land and water that a society requires both to provide the resources that it consumes and to eliminate the waste that it creates. Ecofootprints are measured in hectares. One hectare is 10,000 square metres which in turn equals about 2.5 acres. A hectare is roughly the size of two and a half soccer fields.
The earth’s ability – its carrying capacity or biocapacity – to provide the resources to support our lifestyle and to eliminate our waste is limited. There are approximately 11 billion hectares of biologically productive land and water available to sustain the world’s population of 6.5 billion people – an average of about 1.8 hectares per person.
At present, the average per capita global ecofootprint is approximately 2.2 hectares. We are, therefore, as a planetary society consuming resources and creating waste in excess of the regenerative capacity of the earth – a concept known as “overshoot.” Our global ecological footprint has tripled since 1960 and it is growing rapidly.
Canada has the third highest ecofootprint in the world after the United Arab Emirates and the US. We require 7.5 hectares per person of the planet’s marine, freshwater and land resources to support our lifestyles. By comparison, Switzerland has a per capita footprint of 5 hectares, China is presently at the global sustainable level of 1.8 hectares and Bangladesh only requires 1 hectare per person.
Canada has, therefore, overshot nature’s biocapacity of 1.8 hectares per person four times. In stark terms, it means that if every person on the planet lived at our level of material consumption, we would need four planets.
A carbon footprint, on the other hand, measures the volume of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. These emissions result largely from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and oil products like gasoline. Emissions of the major greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) are converted to a carbon dioxide equivalent and carbon footprints are then calculated and expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Like our ecofootprint, Canada also has the third highest carbon footprint in the world. Our total output of greenhouse gases in a year divided by the overall population produces a per capita carbon footprint of 24 tonnes. By comparison, the UK generates 11 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person while China is far behind at 2 tonnes per person.
A more comprehensive carbon footprint measures not just direct carbon dioxide emissions, but also assesses life cycle emissions. For example, instead of measuring only the electricity that we use to prepare our food, an extended carbon footprint would analyze the production of the food and its delivery to markets. All consumer and capital products contain both embedded energy used and emissions.
A crucial factor often omitted from environmental footprint analysis is nature’s ability to absorb the steadily increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. The natural “carbon sinks,” such as the oceans, are close to saturation, forest cover is decreasing and fertile soils are eroding. Scientists estimate that we have overshot the earth’s ability to balance the creation and absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by 30 percent.
By any yard stick, our lifestyle demands have exceeded the sustainable limits of the biosphere and our ecological debt is surging. We are no longer living off nature’s interest; we are rapidly consuming our scarce biological capital. Like the executives at Enron, we are plundering the planet’s pension plan.
We are passing global peak productions in oil, fish and food and we have reached the physical limits of fertile land, freshwater and clean air. We are also close to a tipping point in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases which could catapult us into irreversible climate change within a decade. The combination of production peaks, inflated footprints and tipping points portend critical problems for the planet.
Furthermore, statistical footprints cannot measure some of the less discernible damage we are inflicting on the natural ecosystems. We are choking the oceans with plastic and poisoning our lakes and rivers with chemical toxins; leachate from garbage dumps is contaminating the subterranean water table. And the escalating -- and largely invisible -- decimation of countless species is unraveling the complex web of life which underpins human survival.
There are no magic bullets or technofixes that will reduce our environmental footprint and still preserve the comforts of our consumer lifestyle. It is delusional to think, for example, that seeding the oceans with iron dust to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide will slow global warming. Tinkering with nature will only exacerbate and expedite environmental degradation.
Behavioural change, largely in the form of curbing our consumption of resources, goods and services, is the only approach that will ensure a sustainable future for the planet. Modifying our behaviour is immeasurably less expensive than investing in technological innovations, just as conservation is far cheaper than consumption.
Most Canadians are aware at some level – intellectually, emotionally or intuitively – that our footprints have outstripped nature’s biocapacity. We know this in our heads, our hearts, in our gut – and in the very marrow of our bones. Awareness is widespread, the research is done, the risks are clear: it is time for action.
Although environmental footprints may be imprecise, they do clearly portray the threats to the health of the planet. Footprints also remind us of our personal environmental obligations. Listed below are a variety of carbon and ecofootprint calculators that you can use to measure your impact on the environment. Consider also undertaking the challenge outlined in our Kyoto New Year’s Resolution to reduce your own carbon footprint.
The global ecological and carbon targets for a sustainable planet are easy to remember: approximately 2 hectares of productive land and water and 2 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person. These are challenging targets for all of us – individuals, corporations and governments. It will take dedication and sacrifice to reach these targets, but, as individuals, we can slowly chip away at our personal consumption patterns and gradually modify our lifestyles. Living within the bounds of nature’s sustainable footprint should be our overriding goal.
On the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death, his words are worth remembering:
“You first have to be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
