Ecological Footprint: Human Populations
The first three resources are short (two minutes) broadcasts from the radio program Pulse of the Planet featuring
an expert on the ecological footprints of nations and individuals. Analogies are used, rendering the concepts easily
comprehensible to middle school students. We suggest you use the broadcasts in the order they are presented due to the
relationships of the concepts involved. Each broadcast is 49¢. Following the broadcasts is a lesson in which students investigate the "size"
of their own ecological footprint. The lesson, however, could just as easily precede listening to the broadcasts.
The director of the sustainability program for the public policy group Redefining Progress discusses the concept
of ecological overshoot. He reminds us that today we use more than what nature can regenerate, and that as long as we
use more, we are depleting the natural capital and liquidating our most essential assets. MSP full record
This segment discusses the ecological footprint of individuals, or the amount of nature it takes to support
their lifestyle. The speaker explains that if we divide up the total ecologically productive space on the planet by the
number of people, what we get is five acres per person. In the United States, on average, we use about 25 to 30 acres
per person to provide all of our services. MSP full record
The speaker says that ecological overshoot can continue for a while, but eventually someone will have to pay
with a lower standard of living. MSP full record
In this activity, students respond to a questionnaire, score points for each question, and use their final
score to calculate their ecological footprint. From this they can look up how many earths would be required should
everyone share the same lifestyle, thus highlighting the inequality of wealth and quality-of-life distribution across
the globe. This activity is aimed at teaching students about sustainability by considering the impact that their own
actions have on the environment, finding out how sustainable their lifestyles are, and thinking about ways to reduce
their environmental impact. The activity touches on water use, agricultural and urban land use, waste, recycling,
pollution, energy generation, and transportation. MSP full record
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Copyright
September 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the National Science Foundation.
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