Essays on Ecological Footprint

An ecological footprint is the total amount of land and water required to support a person or population. It is a measure of human demand on the Earth's resources.A typical person in the United States has an ecological footprint of about 2.5 acres (1 hectare). This includes the land and water required to produce the food we eat, the wood we use, the fiber for our clothes, the energy we consume, and the space we need for our homes and roads. It also includes the land and water required to absorb our waste and pollution.The Earth's ecological footprint is about 18 billion acres (7.4 billion hectares). This means that if everyone on the planet lived like an average American, we would need almost four Earths to support us.Most of our ecological footprint comes from the way we produce food and energy. Agriculture and forestry account for about 70% of our footprint, while transportation and energy production account for most of the rest.We can reduce our ecological footprint in many ways, including eating less meat, driving less, flying less, and using less energy at home. We can also make more efficient use of the resources we have, for example, by recycling.