ecological footprint

Everybody has one. But what is it?

An ecological footprint is the measure of the demand on nature’s ecosystem services compared to the biological capacity. It compares how fast we consume resources and generate waste with how fast nature can facilitate the waste and generate new resources.

The Global Footprint Network shows a clear explanation of how it is calculated. I have used the WWF Footprint Calculator to calculate my footprint, as shown below.

It considers a wide range of factors, including diet, food consumption, and travel, as well as a variety of other things. I highly recommend taking the quiz to find out what your carbon footprint is, and how to reduce your personal footprint!

For perhaps a more detailed ecological footprint quiz, take a look at the Earth Day Quiz. It goes into a lot more depth than the WWF one, and may give a more accurate representation of your ecological footprint.

Once again, I highly recommend taking one (or both) of these quizzes, for an insight into your personal footprint and how you can reduce it.