How and why to teach with the Ecological Footprint Calculator

• Students can calculate their footprints and learn more about the impact of resource consumption on the Earth.
• Students can compare their footprint with the average of their country, and other countries. They can learn about the different ways that people live around the world, and how that translates into different land use impacts.
• Ecological Footprint analysis can be used as part of a curriculum aimed at calculating the ecological footprint of a community – their home, school, or town. Students could collect the data through surveys, interviews, and library research. Students could also try out different changes and see the effect (e.g. recycling, changes in diet).
• Students could present the results of their footprint calculations to their community, and propose ways to lower the community’s footprint.

Source: Education for a Sustainable Future, a project of the Center for a Sustainable Future and Cobb County Schools.