Footprints

The issues we discussed at the end of today, human population growth and overconsumption, are also neatly summarized in the idea of an 'ecological footprint.' I think this idea is discussed in Campbell but there are several websites that develop this idea. First proposed in 1992 by William Rees, a Canadian ecologist, ecological footprint analysis approximates the human impact upon the environment by calculating the ecologically productive land and marine area required to sustain a population, manufacture a product, or undertake various activities.

I like this Global Footprint Network Site because it lets you see, and calculate if appropriate, world, national and individual footprints. There's lots of interesting stuff here. Check out the World Consumption Cartogram. It's interesting to view this on a national level because some countries and areas will have large footprints because of their large populations and others will have large footprints because of their large consumption.

This time last year: How many people can the earth support?