Why is This Important?
All human activities depend on the biological support of nature.  An Ecological Footprint is a tool designed to measure a population’s use of natural resources.  It measures the area of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and absorb the waste it produces.  When a population has a footprint exceeding the area available to replenish its resources, it draws down the natural inventory of those resources.  This is important for sustainability because this can impact the quality of life
of future generations.

The components of an Ecological Footprint include:

  • Natural resources used in production (crop land, grazing land, fishing grounds, and forest land),
  • Surface area of the earth (land and water) needed to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from energy use and production, and
  • Land required to accommodate human infrastructure (housing, transportation, industrial production, and other built-up land). 

What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where society’s demand upon nature is in balance with nature’s productive and regenerative capacity, and each person has access to the natural resources necessary to sustain his or her needs.

How Are We Doing?

  • In 2003, the global per capita Ecological Footprint was 5.5 acres, whereas the earth’s ecological capacity to produce and regenerate was only 4.4 acres per person—a 1.1 acre per person “overshoot.”
  • In 2003, the U.S. per capita Ecological Footprint was 23.7 acres, over four times the global footprint.
  • In 2001, the Ecological Footprint for San Mateo County was 20.9 acres per person, 2.8 acres less than the 2003 national footprint but still over three and a half times the global figure.
  • The largest component of the county’s footprint was energy, accounting for over 13 acres, or 63 percent of the total footprint.  This component includes not just energy we use to heat our homes and for transportation, but also the energy used in the production and transportation of the food and other products we enjoy as consumers.
  • The county’s total Ecological Footprint in 2001 totaled over 23,000 square miles.  Comparatively, the county itself encompasses only 531 square miles.

Data sourcse: Global Footprint Network and Redefining Progress

 

Data source: Redefining Progress

For more information on Ecological Footprints, please see the Global Footprint Network at www.footprintnetwork.org and Redefining Progress at www.rprogress.org.  To estimate your individual Ecological Footprint, see www.myfootprint.org.

See appendix page 73, CLICK HERE. Researcher: Joe Rois