Calculating Your Ecological Footprint

One way of assessing the resource consumption patterns of communities and individuals is to calculate an ecological footprint. To learn about this concept and how it is done, go to www.rprogress.org/, the web page of Redefining Progress. You can find information here about individual consumption levels and those of whole nations as well as an interesting discussion of genuine progress indicators and real measures of satisfaction. For a quick calculation of your ecological footprint, go to www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp. By answering 14 simple questions, you can find out how much land it takes to support your present lifestyle. Suggestions are given for average consumption rates of residents of Canada and the United States. At the end, you are asked how much space should be reserved for other species. This shows you how many earths it would take to support the whole human population at your level of consumption. For more detailed information on how ecological footprints are calculated, go to www.rprogress.org/programs/sustainability/ef/methods/calculating.html.

Land Use and Sustainability

Land is a resource that is at the center of many of our sustainability debates. How land should be used is a perennial policy and development problem. In the United States the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conducts periodic surveys of land use and agricultural production. The NRCS website at www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/ includes a large collection of mapped data.

1. Click on several themes in the index at the address above. Which topics would be most useful for providing information about sustainability of land and water use in the United States? What information could you use from the different topics to support arguments about wise or foolish resource use decisions? Which of the resources mapped are renewable? Which are nonrenewable?

2. Urban growth into agricultural lands is a problem in many cities. Click on the link for "Urbanization" to find maps of acreage conversion to urban land use. For each map you can see an enlarged version by clicking on "Large GIF" just below the map image. Note the dates on the maps and the meaning of the colors. What do these maps tell about development rates in your area? How does growth impact sustainability in your area? Which regions are experiencing the most rapid urban expansion?

Cities and Sustainability

The New Colonist website at www.newcolonist.com/ is a website devoted to making cities more sustainable and more livable. Look at the list of current featured stories on the web page. Discuss the following questions with a group of your colleagues: What are the main themes? (transportation? food? housing? energy?) What important topics are missing? What are some of the recommendations for change in the stories on the main topics? Based on your understanding of sustainability, economics, and resource use, do you think the recommendations in these articles are practical? If so, what could you do to help pursue recommended changes? If not, how could conditions be changed to make the recommendations more practical?