Why Is it Important to Know About Your Ecological Footprint?
A person's ecological footprint is an estimation of the amount of land required to sustain a person based on their current lifestyle. This is the metric that estimated that if everyone lived and consumed similar to the average American, five planets would be required to sustain them.
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The Footprint
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The ecological footprint takes into account things such as electricity usage in the home, the gas mileage of your car, where you get your food and how much waste you generate and recycle. All of these components are then compiled to determine how much land is required to support your individual lifestyle.
Local Products
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The purchase and use of locally grown and manufactured items puts less pressure on the environment than goods that are transported from other states or countries. Nearly all forms of transportation burn fossil fuels, which causes the release of greenhouse gases.
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Transportation
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How you travel from place to place weighs heavily on your ecological footprint. For example, if you use public transportation or walk, you will have a smaller footprint than if you drive everywhere. Also, the overall efficiency of your car can heavily influence your footprint.
Calculations
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The footprint of a person, city or nation is calculated based on the demand for primary products. These products include timber and fiber from forests, crops and meat from farmlands and food from grazing lands and fisheries. These calculations are used to estimate how much land each person, city or country utilizes on average.
Uses
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Results from ecological footprint analyses can indicate how wasteful or efficient a person or population is, relative to others. Additionally, the results can help identify areas where one can make different lifestyle decisions to minimize their footprint and lessen their burden on the planet.
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