Ecological Footprint Summary

The book definition of Ecological Footprint is "the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use; it is a measure of the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas."
During the Ecological Footprint activity, I learned a lot about the ecological footprint of the earth and of myself. Through participating in the Footprint Calculator activity, I found that in order to sustain my lifestyle, if everyone else on the planet lived like I do, we would need to have eight planet earths to be sustainable. As only one person, I need 37.5 global hectares to be sustainable. That is 47.3 tons of carbon dioxide! (A global hectare is a productivity weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the earth, and the demand on biocapacity.)
Even though these were my findings during the Ecological Footprint activity, they may not have been 100% accurate, but I cannot imagine my results coming back much differently had I changed the date. In order for me to live a more sustainable lifestyle, I must change the way I live, drastically.

References

Miller, G. Tyler. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections and Solutions. South Melbourne Etc.: Thomson Learning, 2004. Print.

"Glossary." Footprint Network. N.p., 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/#globalhectare>.