2002-10-24_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Executive Director s Perspective s e or ro s, ocs its n the past, environmental activities, such as Earth Day, were aimed at providing people with a basic understanding of the concept of the inter-relationship of basic earth systems. Ecology was a new term and something totally missing in formal education and casual conversation up to that time. Today most people are familiar with the concept of the inter-relationship of all living things, but there is a wide divergence of opinion about the impacts of human activity and the consumptive use of the resource base on the planet's systems such as the debate about the impact of human activity on the rate of increase in global warming. Today it seems the focus needs to be on educating people in developed countries particularly, on the concept of the Ecological Footprint. People need to begin to understand what needs to be done to maintain the sustainable inhabitation of this planet by a substantial human population. According to the Earth Day Network, the average resident in the U.S. requires 12 global hectares yearly (about 30 acres of land) to support his or her lifestyle. The average for the whole earth is 2.9 hectares for each of the nearly six billion inhabitants. Countries closest to the U.S. in the number of hectares per person are the Scandinavian countries with Ecological Footprints from the mid tens to mid twenties. Some of the lowest countries are Pakistan at one and China about two hectares per person. The more critical figures, however, are the estimates of "current capacity" in each country and for: the whole earth, The estimates show a deficit of 0.7 hectare for the whole earth's population, and a U.S. deficit of 7.0 hectares. None of these footprint values include any allowance for the 10 million or so other species that,abd~ with us within the ecological environment of the planet. ' The "green revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s permitted another three to four generations of populati~~n ~n the developil~g world to not only survive,bt~t'in many of these~countries, to improve their standard of hvin~' Thy; '~ caused an i~~crease in the Ecolognr~IFogtpf~int on an ever-shrinking carrying capacity of the piznet. ~~ It's lirii~~ h~~r ~~~nili~ ~nL~,~i~~tion~ ~~ui > >hba1, local, and individual 5~ale beginning ivhei~~ !~~F~i~r is tl~~~ ino~i.~ in~~~.i~ i`.u~d t}it nu,,i nr~~d tr. ~h i>> ;i~ tilt, United Si,itr,: The 1re.~ht.~~f~~r ~~u~i~~ty r~mlin~ ~ ,_ ;, t~xtrc~, nn Lhi~ n~c~3. ~ I ~: ~ ' t t I~~e~~utit r Uii~~ctur I-~®~v uc Spac=e Do Y®u ~CTse? The Ecological Footprint Quiz, created by Redefin>11gProgress, is a scientifically-based tool that allows individuals to calculate theamount t~f biologicallyproducti~°e land and sea area needed to produce the resources they use and absorb the wastes thoyproduce. The .Ecological Footprint measurement is also used to assess the impact of commututies, nations, and the world's population as a whole. The quick anc~ easy 15-questzon Footprint Quiz can be found at: www.earthday.net FACETS Summer 2002