Ecological footprint

Aadesh is on a sandy beach, and he notices how the sea washes away his footprints. It’s like he was never there. Then he remembers how he once stepped into fresh cement on his way to school, and how his footprints are still there. Just like we leave footprints when we walk somewhere, the way we live leaves a mark on planet Earth. This mark is more like Aadesh’s footprints in concrete than those on the beach: it doesn’t go away so easily.

Everything we do, from producing electricity, to producing clothes, food and furniture, has an impact on the planet. One way we can estimate this impact, is by measuring the amount of natural, usually renewable, resources required to produce all these things. These resources include land used for crops and livestock, built-up areas, forests, fisheries and areas of nature that can absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. We can measure how fast we use up resources and generate waste, then compare this to how quickly nature can recover from our impact. This gives us a value which we call an ecological footprint.

We can measure the ecological footprint of individual products, individual people, or individual countries. The ecological footprint of individuals is usually related to food, travelling, energy used in households and things we own, for example clothes. The ecological footprint of countries usually tells us how its citizens consume resources. And also about the type of industry and energy production of that country. It’s practically impossible to live without an ecological footprint.

But people around the world have different ecological footprints. The choices we make regarding food, transport, travelling and consumption of goods, all have an impact on our ecological footprint. The biggest impact comes from eating and travelling. No one can live without eating though, and for many of us travelling is necessary too. Our friends or families might live very far away, or we might need to travel for school or work.

But different types of food we eat have different impacts on the planet. For example, eating fruit that doesn’t grow locally, means that fruit had to be transported from a distance, which creates waste and carbon dioxide emissions. So trying to eat more locally produced food can lower your ecological footprint. Eating more plants and less meat is a good way to lower your impact on the planet too. This is because livestock farming requires much more land and resources, than growing crops.

The way we travel nowadays can be a problem because it releases a lot of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. So using public transport as often as you can, and flying less are two effective solutions. Finally, producing brand new things takes up precious resources. So shopping less, using what you already have, and exchanging things with friends can also lower the size of your ecological footprint. Aadesh is thinking about his own ecological footprint.

He’s vegan, and he usually bikes to school, so he feels like his ecological footprint is rather small. But then he remembers that he likes buying new jeans and t-shirts very often. Maybe he’ll try exchanging them with some friends instead... How about you? How big do you think your ecological footprint is?

Do you have any ideas on how to make it smaller?