Lab 10 - Ecological Footprint - Aidan Lee.docx
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Environmental Science (ENVI 2131)
LAB 10: ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Due Date: At beginning of the next lab
Total Assignment Mark
/25
This lab and associated report is to be completed individually. Answers can be
hand written (please make sure it is legible).
Introduction
In this lab you will calculate your own “ecological footprint” and see how
the footprint concept relates to sustainability. You will analyze your
consumption and life activity patterns.
Like all species, humans need certain resources to survive. However, humans
consume resources not only for survival, but also for comfort, luxury, and
prestige. Whereas non-human species generally must obtain their resources
from within their ecosystem, in contrast, humans have devised ways
(transportation) to remove resources from other ecosystems to satisfy their wants
and desires. However, societies are not equal in their ability to extract, transport,
process, manufacture, and use resources. And, societies have different
philosophies and cultural perspectives regarding their desire to utilize resources
beyond basic needs. Thus, there is a question of equitable distribution of
resources among human societies and between humans and other species.
In addition to resource extraction, an additional crucial ecosystem function is the
assimilation of waste, sometime, known as sinks (e.g. air, water and soil
pollution; hazardous, solid and radioactive waste; and waste heat). Again,
humans have devised ways to discharge wastes into other ecosystems by
building tall smoke stacks, dumping waste in flowing rivers and oceans, and
shipping “recyclables” and wastes around the globe.
The area of productive land required to provide resources and assimilate waste
to meet consumption needs is referred to as the
Ecological Footprint
(Wackernagel and Rees, 1996). This is different from
carrying capacity
, which
is the maximum abundance of a population that can be sustained by a habitat or
ecosystem without degrading the habitat or ecosystem. Because non-humans
cannot extract resources from outside of their ecosystem, their population cannot
exceed the carrying capacity, which is based on the availability and amount of an
ecosystem’s resources. Thus, a non-human’s ecological footprint is limited by
the size of the ecosystem. In contrast, humans also have a carrying capacity for
their “ecosystem” (e.g. a country). However, because humans can transfer
resources from another country, their ecological footprint can exceed the carrying
capacity.
10-1
Environmental Science (ENVI 2131)
Thus, Canada’s ecological footprint can exceed the carrying capacity of Canada
(e.g. Canada can maintain more people than available resources) because
resources are extracted from Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China, and so forth). Clearly,
this means that for some countries, their ecological footprint must be smaller than
the carrying capacity because the Earth is finite. Or, some populations must live
near the subsistence level, whereas others can live in high comfort. A method to
determine and compare this is to calculate and compare the
per capita
amount
of resource use (the amount available/consumed on a per person basis).
Calculating the per capita is done by dividing the amount of available biological
resources and waste assimilation needs by the population (resource /
population).
The ecological footprint is one measure of the sustainability of a society’s current
lifestyle. However, this is an
anthropocentric
view. If humans consume all the
resources or take over all the biologically productive land, what about
non-humans? And what about humans in less developed countries? This is an
issue of
environmental equity
.
Procedures
Complete the attached list of questions including the calculation of your
ecological footprint. You will need to access the internet to complete this
assignment.
References
Wackernagel, M. 2005, The Ecological Footprint: Accounting For a Small Planet,
Bullfrog Films, Oley, PA.
Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human
Impact on the Earth, New Society Publishers, British Columbia, Canada.
Wager, T. and R. Sanford. 2005, Environmental Science: Active Learning
Laboratories and Applied Problem Sets, John Wiley and Sons, U.S
10-2
Environmental Science (ENVI 2131)
Name: Aidan Lee
Student ID: 10094124
LAB TEN: ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS
Population
Go to Statistics Canada’s population calculator at
http://countrymeters.info/en/Canada
a.
What is the current Canadian population? (1 mark)
39,089,394
b.
What is the current date and time? (0.5 mark)
October 31st,
2023. 11:20
AM
c.
What is the current world population? Scroll down the left hand
side of the “Countrymeters” page to find the link. (1 mark)
8,130,292,845
/2.5
Ecological Footprint
Go to
http://www.footprintnetwork.org
Take the footprint quiz.
a.
How many Earths do you require? (1 mark)
3.8
b.
What is your overshot date? (1 mark)
05. April
c.
What is your ecological footprint in global hectares? (1 mark)
6.2
d.
Using the By Consumption Category, hover over each area to
determine how many global hectares you need for:
Food? (1 mark)
Shelter (1 mark)
Mobility (1 mark)
Goods (1 mark)
Services (1 mark)
Food: 1.2
Shelter: 2
Mobility: 1.8
Goods: 0.1
Services: 1.1
e.
What is your Carbon Footprint in tonnes of CO2 per year? (1
mark)
10.6
f.
What percentage of your total ecological footprint is from your
Carbon footprint? (1 mark)
59%
/10
Water Footprint
Go to
https://waterfootprint.org/en/resources/interactive-tools/personal-water-footprint-calculator/person
al-calculator-extended/
Complete your Personal Water Footprint. If you are not sure of an
answer, make an educated guess. For some help estimating how much you eat check
out this infographic
10-3
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Environmental Science (ENVI 2131)
https://www.quora.com/How-many-pounds-of-food-does-the-average-American-eat-in-a-
day
(1 kg = 2.2 lbs)
a.
What is your water footprint in cubic metres per year? (2 mark)
2955 m³
b.
What percentage of your total water footprint is from food
sources? (1 mark)
94.45%
c.
Which individual food category contributed the most to your food
footprint? (1 mark)
Meat
d.
What percentage of your total water footprint is from industrial
sources? (1 mark)
0%
e.
What percentage of your total water footprint is from domestic
sources? (1 mark)
5.55%
/6
Population and Sustainability
The Earth’s biosphere currently (2013) has an estimated 12 billion
hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) of biologically productive land and
water. Based on available biologically productive land and the current
world population (see above), what is the global per capita amount of
biologically productive land in acres? (Show your work below, record the
final answer in the box to the right) (3 marks)
12 billion
hectares = 12
billion x 2.47
acres (1
hectare = 2.47
acres)
= 29.64 billion
acres
29.64 billion
acres /
8,130,292,845
people = 3.65
acres/person
Therefore, the
global per
capita amount
of biologically
productive
land in acres
is
approximately
3.65
acres/person.
/3
Population Revisited
Go back to Statistics Canada’s population calculator.
a.
What is Canada’s current population? (Note the precise local
time) (0.5 mark)
39,090,224 as
of 12:10 AM
10-4
Environmental Science (ENVI 2131)
b.
How many people have been added since you first checked? (1
mark)
830
c.
How long has it been since the first time you checked the
populations? (0.5 mark)
50 minutes
d.
What is the current world population? (Note the precise local
time) (0.5 mark)
8,130,303,350
e.
How many people have been added since you first checked? (1
mark)
10505
approximately
55 minutes,
since I last
checked.
/3.5
Total
/25
10-5