Assignment

1.What is your ecological footprint?

Start exploring ecological footprints by calculating your own ecological footprint using the Global Footprint Network’s calculator.

 

Go to https://www.footprintcalculator.org/ complete the survey by clicking on the footprint icon. Use the arrows on the sides of the pages to advance through the survey and the results.

Results Part 1

What is your personal Earth Overshoot Day?    

If everyone lived like you, how many Earths would we need?  

 

Results Part 2

What was Your Ecological Footprint?   gha

What was Your Carbon Footprint?   % of your total Ecological Footprint

What Land Type

accounts for most of your carbon footprint?  

What Consumption Category accounts for most of your carbon footprint?  

2.Explore Your Data

Now compare your personal results to the results from the US and elsewhere in the world. Keep using the forward arrows to advance through the pages or use the “Explore Your Data” button.

Go to the “About the Data” section to find some definitions.

2.What is an ecological footprint?

Multiple Choice

· a measure of the area of land and water required to produce all resources consumed and all waste generated by a group or individual

· a measure of the area used to produce biological resources used for humans

· the proportion of an ecosystem devoted to the production of food and shelter for a population or individual

· the proportion of an ecosystem used by humans to acquire the resources needed for survival

A. What is a global hectare (gha)?

Multiple Choice

· a hectare of land on Earth

· a hectare of land that is biologically productive

· the accounting unit for the Ecological Footprint, which is a biologically productive hectare calculated with the average biological productivity for a given year

· the measure of productivity on a hectare of land planted with crops each year

B. What is biocapacity (biological capacity)?

Multiple Choice

· an ecosystem’s ability to produce biological resources used by humans

· an ecosystem’s ability to produce biological resources used by humans as well as absorb the waste produced by humans

· the amount of biological resources produced by an ecosystem

· the amount of biological resources used by humans from a given ecosystem and the ability of that ecosystem to produce those resources

3.Explore Data for the United States

After learning some definitions, use the “Home” button to return to the data page showing the world map. On the map, click on the United States to see its data. For the following questions, use the United States data for 2017.

A. What is the ecological footprint per person in the United States in global hectares?

Multiple Choice

· 3.8 gha

· 8.1 gha

· -1.2 gha

· -4.5 gha

B. How does your ecological footprint compare to the average American’s?

Multiple Choice

· My ecological footprint is about the same.

· My ecological footprint is higher.

· My ecological footprint is lower.

C. The footprint calculator you already used provides the planet equivalent for an individual’s ecological footprint. The planet equivalent of your footprint is the number of Earths we would need if everyone lived your lifestyle. The planet equivalent is the ratio of the footprint in global hectares to the per capita (per person) biological capacity on Earth (1.72 gha in 2011). Thus, planet equivalent = footprint in gha ÷ 1.72 gha. 

Use this formula to calculate the average footprint per person for the United States in planet equivalents.

Multiple Choice

· 14.1 Earths

· 14.1 planets

· 4.7 Earths

· 4.7 planets

· 0.2 Earths

· 0.2 planets

D. What is the biocapacity per person for the United States?

Multiple Choice

· 3.5 gha

· 8.2 gha

· -1.2 gha

· -4.7 gha

E. Does the ecological footprint for the United States exceed the biocapacity?

Multiple Choice

· yes

· no

F. Since 1965, how would you describe the trend for biocapacity in the United States?

Multiple Choice

· It is relatively stable.

· It is decreasing.

· It is increasing.

G. What does the change in biocapacity you noted in the previous question mean for the ability of Americans to continue their current lifestyle into the future?

Short Answer

4.Explore Data for Brazil

On the map, click on Brazil to see its data. For the following questions, use the Brazil data for 2017.

12.What is the ecological footprint per person in Brazil in global hectares?

Multiple Choice

· 2.8 gha

· 5.8 gha

· 8.6 gha

· -3.2 gha

13.What is the ecological footprint for Brazil in planetary equivalents?

Multiple Choice

· 5.3 Earths

· 1.6 Earths

· 0.55 Earths

14.What is the biocapacity per person for Brazil?

Multiple Choice
· 8.6 gha
· 5.8 gha
· 2.8 gha
· -1.2 gha

15.Does Brazil’s footprint exceed its biocapacity?

Multiple Choice
· yes
· no

16.How would you describe the trend in Brazil’s biocapacity?

Multiple Choice
· It is relatively stable.
· It is decreasing.
· It is increasing.

5.Graphs comparing ecological footprint information

17.Below is a graph showing information about ecological footprints.

Let’s refresh our memories about the parts of a graph. Usually there is a horizontal axis (also known as the “X-axis”) and a vertical axis (the “Y-axis”). Usually, there is a dependent variable (Y) that changes in response to an independent variable (X). In this case ecological footprint (Y) varies among countries (X).

 

A. What units are used for the dependent variable?

Multiple Choice

· country

· ecological footprint

· global hectares per person

B. What is the approximate size of the largest per-person footprint? How does this compare to the smallest? (To answer, estimate the two numbers, then divide the larger number by the smaller number.)

C. What is the largest component (color) of the ecological footprint for the top 10 countries?

D. Is the largest component for the top 10 countries the same one for the bottom 10 countries? If not, what component is the largest for the bottom 10?

E. For the United States, what proportion of the total footprint per person is represented by carbon emissions? Approximately what proportion is represented by croplands?

Multiple Choice

· about 85% carbon and about 5% cropland

· about 70% carbon and about 15% cropland

· about 40% carbon and about 40% cropland

· about 20% carbon and about 60% cropland

F. For Denmark, what proportion of the total footprint per person is represented by carbon emissions? Approximately what proportion is represented by croplands?

Multiple Choice

· about 40% carbon and about 50% cropland

· about 40% carbon and about 15% cropland

· about 33% carbon and about 33% cropland

· about 20% carbon and about 60% cropland

G. According to the Global Footprint Network, the solutions for reducing your ecological footprint center around 5 areas. List these 5 areas.