Introduction Activity 1: A review of key concepts Activity 2: Fair share Activity 3: Paradoxes and impacts of consumption Activity 4: Driving forces of increasing consumption Activity 5: Ecological Footprints Activity 6: What is sustainable consumption? Activity 7: Reflection
	Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
	The use of natural resources and production of pollution degrade the life-support systems on Earth. This causes natural cycles and ecosystems to be less able to perform the vital functions that support all life on Earth. Both high consumption or usage of resources, particularly in countries of the North, and population numbers contribute to our impact on the environment. The impact of all our activities can be likened to an imprint or 'footprint' on Earth. This imprint is referred to as our 'Ecological Footprint'.
	Just as we say that a computer has a big or small 'footprint', depending on how much space it takes up on our desktop, we can say that the lifestyle choices we make have a footprint on the Earth. Our Ecological Footprint is a measure of the human impact on nature - it shows how much productive land and water we use to produce all the resources we consume and to take in all the waste we make. Ecological Footprint Analysis is an innovative and rigorous way of measuring whether the impacts of our lifestyle choices are sustainable. Increasingly, we are coming to realise that we are using up more resources than nature can replace and producing far more waste than nature can safely absorb. So, it is sometimes said that the human Ecological Footprint is too large.
	The term comes from Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth written by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees in 1996. This book presents calculations which show that the human population requires at least 20% more biologically productive land than we presently have - and that we would need a total of three planet Earths to support us if all the Earth's inhabitants were to live at the standard as people in countries such as the United Staes of America, Australia or Canada. For example, the Ecological Footprint of the USA was 9.6 hectares (24 acres) in 1999. This is about the area of 24 football fields. In comparison, the average Canadian lived on a footprint about one quarter smaller (7.2 hectares/18 acres), while the average German required an area less than half the size (4.4 hectares/11 acres).
	These 'footprints' are greatly in excess of the 'fair share' area of 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) per person there would be if all the biologically productive land and sea in the world were divided equally by the total number of people in the world. However, humans are not the only inhabitants of the Earth. So, the figure of 2.1 hectares does not allow any space for the 'footprint' needs of other species. If preserving the 10 million other species on Earth requires at least 12% of the biologically productive land on Earth (as recommended by the World Commision on Environment and Development calculation), the available biologically-productive space would shrink from 2.1 to 1.8 hectares per person. We can calculate if there is enough land for our needs by multiplying the figure of 1.8 hectares per person by the total number of people in the world, and comparing the result with the biologically productive land available. Unfortunately, this shows that we are exceeding the Earth's capacity by 20%. In other words, we are consuming more than what nature can regenerate and, therefore, are eating up the Earth's stock of natural capital. Scientists call this situation 'overshoot' and say that the amount of land 'borrowed' from the future is really an 'ecological deficit'.
	Many countries greatly exceed the footprint of 1.8 hectares per person. Thus, the footprint overshoot in the USA, for example, is causing an 80% 'ecological deficit'. This means that they - and the people from many other countries - are 'borrowing' resources from the future and from elsewhere in the world without ever being able to pay back the debt. According to the Living Planet Report for 2000, published by WWF, the international conservation organisaton, 'If every human alive today consumed natural resources and emitted carbon dioxide at the same rate as the average American, German or Frenchman . . . we would need at least another two Earths'. Using Ecological Footprint calculations, the report argues that: The area needed to produce the natural resources consumed and absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by the average North American is almost twice the area required by the average Western European, and some five times greater than required by the average Asian, African and Latin American. It is the consumers of the rich nations of the temperate northern regions of the world who are primarily responsible for the ongoing loss of natural wealth in the tropics. Source: 'Needed - Two more planets', WWF Press Release, 20 October 2000.
	Q13: Investigate the Ecological Footprint of your country in relation to two other countries: (i) one with a similar footprint, and (ii) one that has a contrasting footprint. Q14: Contrast the ecological deficit of the countries that have the largest and the smallest Ecological Footprints. What pattern do you find? How can this be explained?
	Calculate Your Ecological Footprint It is possible to calculate a personal Ecological Footprint, using a 'Footprint Calculator'. A Footprint Calculator may ask questions about the way you live, the kinds of meals you eat, the modes of transport you regularly use, the amount of long-distance travel you do, the kind and size of house you live in, and so on.
	The Earth Day Network provides an excellent, multilingual online ecological footprint calculator that allows you to calculate your footprint for the country you are in. Other versions of Ecological Footprint Calculator include: Best Foot Forward Bigfoot Interactive (Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia) Mountain Equipment Coop (metric version)
	Q15: What is the size of your Ecological Footprint? Q16: How many planets would we need if everyone in the world had your Ecological Footprint? Q17: How does your Footprint compare with those of people in other countries in the world? Q18: What aspects of your lifestyle contributed the most to the size of your Footprint?
	Read more about Ecological Footprint analysis. Read about Ecological Footprints as an indicator of sustainability. Investigate the total size of the Ecological Footprints of people with different levels of income around the world. Investigate the concept of Environmental Space - a similar concept to Ecological Footprint - which is used by many researchers and policy makers in Europe. Read about ways that Ecological Footprint calculations can be used in class teaching.
	Q19: Identify three key concepts related to Ecological Footprints that you could integrate into a teaching unit for one of your classes. What example(s) could you use to illustrate each concept? And what type of teaching strategy or learning experience would be helpful for each one? Q20: If your class does not have easy access to computers, how could you use a paper version, the Ecological Footprint Quiz, in your teaching?