Ecological Footprint: resource calculator for your needs. My personal ecological footprint practical work

On the eve of the New Year, many take stock of what was done good and bad, what they achieved and what they lost, where they were and what they saw. We propose to sum up the environmental results of this year. It’s very easy to do this - we’ll calculate our “ ecological footprint»

First, let's get acquainted with this concept:

| The “Ecological Footprint” allows us to calculate and compare how many resources the planet (or the territory of our country, the city where we live) can give us, preserving its natural resources, and how many resources we actually take for our needs. Weighing these two values, we can say how wisely we use the riches of our land: how much of the territory is occupied by housing, industry, waste dumps, parks and forests.

Our planet is very rich and fertile; it has accumulated its natural capital over millions of years. In an ideal world, we would take from nature as much as it could later regenerate without causing any harm to it. Unfortunately, we are taking more from nature than it can replenish, and its wealth is becoming less and less. This happens for two reasons:

| 1. There are a lot of people on the planet.

2. Some people want too much. They consume resources as if we had not one planet, but at least two or three.

In this case, can there be enough natural resources for everyone?

Let's think of resource consumption as the process of dividing a pie. One pie - only one planet. But how many pieces and what sizes each person gets allows us to calculate the ecological footprint.

Life on the planet is everywhere, but it is concentrated on about a quarter of the Earth's surface, i.e. suitable for us are only 4% ocean and 18% land area. Let's add this up and get 22% - the surface of the planet is rich in natural resources and is used by humanity for its needs. On this territory we build factories and pave roads, grow grain and graze livestock, here are also places for recreation and garbage dumps.

| If the entire population is located on these lands, then each person will have 1.8 hectares of fertile land.

This is exactly how much the planet can allocate today to meet the needs of one person. This is the maximum figure, which does not take into account that other types of living beings also need natural resources. We are not the only ones living on earth, it is also home to thousands of species of plants and animals. How many resources are we willing to give them? If we do not leave protected lands and turn everything into cities, arable lands, factories, we will destroy the global order that has been formed over many years million years.

The Ecological Footprint shows that the main problem- overconsumption, and this is precisely the problem he is working on. Simply put - we see how our daily habits, our choices, our behavior affect the environment. The ecological footprint is calculated in conventional units of measurement - a global hectare.

You can calculate it on the websiteby clicking on the Planet button labeled “Calculate your ecological footprint.” There you can also find useful tips to reduce your eco-footprint.After calculation you will get this result:

For those who want to practice their English, the test can be taken on the website. Here the test is divided into several parts - carbon footprint, food footprint, housing footprint and footprint of goods and services. The results will be more clear:

If you wish on New Year a new planet - our wish will not come true. But you can do it yourself new planet we didn’t need it – we just need to start appreciating it natural resources and live in harmony with the world around you.

Anastasia Morozova

Ecological footprint (ecological footprint) - conventional value, reflecting humanity’s consumption of biosphere resources. The concept was introduced by environmental scientist Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, founder of the Global Footprint Network www.footprintnetwork.org

The EcoFootprint test is a method that can be used to estimate the approximate size of the area in hectares that is required to produce the resources you consume (for example, thermal energy, motor fuel or food), and to process, dispose of or incorporate into natural cycles the resulting waste.

There should be no more than one planet per person. But today, the average resident of the United States uses the potential of 5.3 planets, the average European - 2.8 planets, the average resident of Mozambique - 0.4 planets, the average resident of Russia - 2.5 planets. General indicator inhabitants of the Earth - 1.7 planets. Just 2 years ago, people needed 1.5 Earths.
Source:

On December 23, 1970, humanity began to live in debt to the Earth. Since then, Ecological Debt Day has moved every year. In 2017 it came on August 2. In 2018 – August 1. This means that on August 1, people used up all the resources that our planet is capable of restoring in a year. Over the next 5 months we are spending the resources of future generations.

The Ecological Footprint Calculator is a way to find out how your lifestyle affects sustainability globe. The more we spend consuming food, items and energy, the larger the footprint we leave.

What is the size of your eco-footprint?

13 questions, 10 min.

Most likely your result will be something like this:

What to do?
1. Study information and reduce your eco-footprint, gradually. Hundreds of ideas and solutions that I and hundreds of thousands of environmentalists in Russia will apply in my

2. Participants in our online training courses #BeneficialEcohabits with ecoblogger and my friend Alexey Chistopashin change their habits within a month, apply new eco-technologies and reduce their eco-footprint on average from 3 - 4 to 1 - 1.5 planets.

Greetings, dear readers and guests of my blog!

My new article I want to devote to the problem of nature conservation and tell you about such an indicator as the human ecological footprint. Do you know what it is?

What is the human ecological footprint

The human ecological footprint is this size natural area(area) required for the reproduction of all resources consumed by humans and the absorption of produced waste.

Over the past 50 years, people have been consuming much more natural resources than the planet is able to restore. Today we consume 50% more than our biosphere is able to replenish!

In order to meet all our annual needs, now it takes 1.5 planet Earth, and if our appetites continue to grow, then by 2050 we will need 3 such planet Earth! Moreover, if every inhabitant of the planet lives like the average Russian, then 3.3 planets will already be needed!

In addition to the fact that our appetites are growing, the number of people on the planet is also growing! If in 1800 the number of inhabitants was approximately one billion, then by 2015 the number reached 7.5 billion. According to UN forecasts, by 2050 there will be about 10 billion people on Earth. And we spend the resources that the planet provided us with for the year much faster.

This phenomenon is called “Ecological Debt Day”. Now I’ll explain what it is: this is the day of the calendar when we waste all the resources given to us by the planet for the year. In 2017, this day was August 2, and in 2018 it is August 1. It turns out that since the beginning of August, having squandered all our resources, we have been living on the planet on credit!

Ecological footprint calculation is carried out by Global network Ecological Footprint Network (GFN) is a research institute with branches in North America, Europe and Asia. In Russia, the calculation is carried out jointly with WWF. On the WWF website you can go through

The unit of measurement for this indicator: “Global hectare” is a conventional unit that is equal to a hectare of natural territory with the world average reproduction capacity of natural resources.

• Arable lands, for agricultural products.
• Pastures for meat production.
• Scaffolding, for wood and paper.
• Developed lands.
• Marine biological resources necessary for obtaining fish and seafood.
• Carbon footprint. This is the amount of land (mostly forests and oceans) needed to dissolve or sequester CO2 emissions. Today this is the main type of waste.

How we influence our ecological footprint

About 70% of the ecological footprint is the result of ordinary, everyday life people. Not so long ago, a loincloth and a sharpened stick were enough for people, but now everything has changed very dramatically. Of course, people in different countries influence this indicator differently; the more developed the country, the higher the influence.

Here is a list of how much the average resident consumes European country for your entire life (for calculation we took average duration life for this region: 78 years.) Just look at these numbers! They can't even wrap their heads around them!

In addition to the needs presented above, here is another trace a person leaves:

• 7163 washes (this is about 1 ml. liters of water)
• 8.5 tons of packaging is thrown away.
• Throws out 40 tons of waste.
• 2865 kg. excretes feces.
• 35815 l. releases gases.
• He washes his hair 11,500 times.
• Has sex 4230 times.
• Watches TV 2944 times. Imagine, this is about 8 years!
• Reads 533 books. (If, of course, he reads them, they calculated that 40% of all people do not open books at all)
• Reads 2455 newspapers.
• 24 trees go towards all the books and newspapers that a person will read.
• Drinks 74,802 cups of tea.
• Takes 30,000 tablets.

Can you imagine, friends, what enormous numbers we get for the entire human life! This is how we act on planet Earth, this is the ecological footprint of every person and it gives nothing in return!

And behind each such figure there are very serious consequences.

For example, diapers! It's very convenient, no doubt about it! But imagine, it only lasts a few hours and then goes in the trash! Their production costs huge amount resources. And the plastics used to make it can take up to 500 years to decompose! And therefore, by the age of 2.5 years, children in developed countries bear a greater responsibility for emissions. carbon dioxide than, for example, a Tanzanian in his entire life!!!

And in order to produce one computer you need 240 kg. fuel, 22 kg. other chemicals and 1.5 tons of water! How many computers are there in the world now? These are just huge numbers! It's mind boggling!

And when you, for example, buy a cup of coffee on the street, be aware that it takes 200 grams to produce. drink, requires 200 liters of water! Water is necessary for the cultivation and production of coffee beans, and for the production of milk, and for the production of a cup!

Russia is one of the largest consumers of imported beef in the world; it is mainly imported from South America. Every day, (Can you imagine? That is, every day!!!) in Paraguay alone, 1400 hectares are destroyed. tropical forests, in order to increase the area of ​​pastures and soybean crops for livestock feed!

Another very popular one lately the product is palm oil, it is used in cosmetics and food products. Malaysia and Indonesia currently produce 87% of all palm oil, the remaining 13% are from African countries. Deforestation of tropical forests on the island of Borneo (this is the most big island Malaysia) is happening just for the expansion of oil palm plantations.

But in the rain forests borneo islands located greatest number animal and plant species on Earth. And if deforestation continues to the same extent as now, then in 10 years these forests will be completely destroyed. It's sad, isn't it?

About 68% of Russia's ecological footprint comes from CO 2 emissions. Imagine! Just one passenger on a Moscow-New York flight produces so much CO 2 that 4 trees will have to compensate for the damage caused to nature for a hundred years!

How to reduce your ecological footprint

Consuming resources responsibly can help reduce our footprint and preserve our planet.
Here are some principles that will help reduce our impact on nature:

• Try to travel by train instead of flying.
• Use public transport, bike or walk instead of driving a personal car.
• Give preference to local and seasonal products. Products brought from afar, due to long transportation, also cause damage to nature.
• Make a shopping list in advance and buy only the products you need, 1/3 of all products in the world are simply thrown away! This is while 800 million people on the planet are chronically undernourished.
• Don't throw away good things, even if you don't need them, most likely someone else will find them very useful. Give them away, donate them, sell them.
• Save water and electricity, it will benefit not only the environment, but also your wallet! Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and take a shower rather than a bath. Turn off all devices, do not leave them in standby mode!
• Choose products with minimal packaging.
• Save paper. Print only what is needed.
• Use a bag instead of disposable bags.

That's it, friends, simple principles, but they can greatly improve the situation on the planet.

We have changed the planet a lot, maybe it’s time to change ourselves? At least there's something left of her!

Dear friends!

If you want to find out what your personal ecological footprint is, take the quiz. To calculate your ecological footprint, you need to select the statement that corresponds to your lifestyle and add/subtract the number of points indicated on the right. By adding up the points you get your ecological footprint.

1.Housing.
1.1 The area of ​​your home allows you to keep a cat, but a normal-sized dog would be a bit cramped +7
1.2 Large, spacious apartment + 12
1.3 Cottage for 2 families +23
Divide the points received for answering the question about housing by the number of people living in it.
2. Energy use
2.1. Oil is used to heat your home natural gas or coal +45
2.2. To heat your home, water, solar or wind energy is used +2
2.3 Most of us get our electricity from fossil fuels, so give yourself +75
2.4. The heating of your home is designed so that you can regulate it depending on the weather -10
2.5. IN cold period at home you are dressed warmly, and at night you cover yourself with two blankets -5
2.6. When leaving a room, you always turn off the light -10
2.7. You always turn off yours household appliances without leaving them in standby mode -10
3. Transport
3.1. You go to work by public transport +25
3.2. You walk or ride a bicycle to work +3
3.3.You drive a regular car +45
3.4.You are using a large and powerful car with all-wheel drive +75
3.5.On your last vacation you flew by plane +85
3.6. You went on vacation by train, and the journey took up to 12 hours +10
3.7.You went on vacation by train, and the journey took more than 12 hours +20
4.Food
4.1.In a grocery store or market, you mainly buy fresh food(bread, fruits, vegetables, fish, meat) locally produced, from which you prepare your own lunch +2
4.2. Do you prefer already processed products, semi-finished products, fresh frozen ready meals, requiring only heating, as well as canned food, and do not look where they were produced +14
4.3. You mostly buy ready-to-eat or almost ready-to-eat foods, but try to ensure that they are produced closer to home +5
4.4. You eat meat 2-3 times a week +50
4.5. You eat meat 3 times a day +85
4.6. Prefer vegetarian food +30
5.Use of water and paper
5.1. You take a bath daily +14
5.2. You take a bath 1-2 times a week +2
5.3. Instead of a bath, you take a shower every day +4
5.4. From time to time you water your garden plot or wash your car with a hose +4
5.5. If you want to read a book, you always buy it +2
5.6. Sometimes you borrow books from the library or borrow from friends -1
5.7. After reading a newspaper, you throw it away +10
5.8. The newspapers you subscribe to or buy are read by someone else after you +5
6. Household waste
6.1.We all create a lot of waste and garbage, so give yourself +100
6.2. For last month Have you ever returned bottles -15
6.3. When throwing out garbage, you put waste paper in a separate container -17
6.4. You hand over empty drink and canned food cans -10
6.5. You throw away plastic packaging in a separate container -8
6.6. You try to buy mostly loose goods rather than packaged ones; You use the packaging received in the store on the farm -15
6.7. You make compost from household waste to fertilize your plot -5
If you live in a city with a population of half a million or more, multiply your overall result by 2.

Let's summarize:
Divide the resulting material by 100 and you will find out how many hectares earth's surface needed to satisfy all your needs, and how many planets would it take if all people lived the same way as you!

1.8 hectares *
3.6 hectares * *
5.4 hectares * * *
7.2 hectares * * * *
9.0 ha * * * * *
10.8 hectares * * * * * *

For one planet to be enough for all of us, 1 person should have no more than 1.8 hectares of productive land. For comparison, the average US resident uses 12.2 hectares (5.3 planets!), the average European uses 5.1 hectares (2.8 planets), and the average Mozambican uses only 0.7 hectares (0.4 planets). The average resident of Russia uses 4.4 hectares (2.5 planets).

How else can the questionnaire be useful to you?

If you want to reduce your environmental footprint, a questionnaire will help you see which areas of your life contribute the most to your footprint. You can also think and decide which areas of your life you are ready to change. Maybe you have long dreamed of changing your lifestyle - getting on a bike, switching to a more healthy food, optimize your home or country house - your ecological footprint will not only make your dreams come true, but also help the planet.

10/2/2017 article

“Our planet is not rubber!” - This is a funny statement that each of us has heard at least once in our lives. Meanwhile, despite its comical nature, this phrase has a much deeper meaning than it might seem at first glance.

Biological capacity of the environment or how many of us are there per square meter?

It's no secret that population density in any area has direct relation to the comfort level of this population. For example, in densely populated cities we feel tired of large quantity people around us, and having arrived in a village where the inhabitants are two old women and a dozen geese, we exclaim: what grace!

This happens because a person, being essentially the same biological species as millions of others, subconsciously feels a direct dependence of his well-being on the load on his habitat.

The formula is extremely simple: the more people around us and the denser the crowd, the less our chances of getting the maximum of all possible benefits from life.

Thus, with increasing population density, the quality of life of each member of society gradually decreases and, to everyone's disappointment, one day turns into anything but quality. That is, living conditions become unacceptable for a normal comfortable existence.

This law applies not only to human race, but also for any biological species, for any population. And the maximum load exerted by a population on its habitat is the number of individuals that can coexist in a given environment without loss in quality of life. This load is called the capacity of the environment, that is, the population density, which given environment is able to provide all the necessary conditions for life.

In the case of people, the list of essential goods includes not only food and housing, but also medical care and the opportunity to support proper level hygiene.

Ecological capacity of the environment

For the well-being of the population vital importance has not only the ability of the environment to provide life for a certain number of individuals, but also its ability to withstand harmful chemical influences and other anthropogenic loads without irreversible consequences in the form of soil degradation or ecosystem destruction.

The ecological capacity of the environment means its ability to self-heal within certain limits.

Simply put, the ecological capacity of the environment means its ability to self-heal within certain limits.

A thorough study of the issue of the ecological capacity of the environment allows us to set strict limits on the consumption of natural resources, avoiding loads that exceed the capabilities of the environment.

However, making calculations is always much easier than implementing them in practice. That is why in many countries around the world the burden on the environment is strictly regulated by law.

Ecological footprint

The concept of an ecological footprint is closely related to the capacity of the environment, and this is quite logical: where we are, there is a footprint. But what is an ecological footprint? Is this footprint really something to be proud of?

The expression “ecological footprint” refers to the degree of influence exerted by man on his habitat, that is, the level of consumption of natural resources available to the biosphere. This includes any human impact on nature, starting from his birth: from the volume of food eaten and oxygen consumed to the piles of garbage thrown out over a lifetime and the number of liters of fuel burned when using transport.

Carbon footprint

The impact that humans have on the environment is extremely diverse. It may include things that are characteristic of certain regions (for example, using wood to heat a home) or certain peoples (for example, eating a lot of seafood).

An average-sized passenger car emits into the atmosphere an amount of carbon dioxide equal to its weight per year, that is, about 1.5 tons

However, there is a sphere of influence exerted on the environment by every inhabitant of the planet, without exception: the consumption of oxygen and the release of CO 2 into the atmosphere. IN in this case we are talking not only about breathing, but, first of all, about the consequences of the operation of transport and power plants, industrial enterprises designed to provide humanity with a decent existence.

Thus, the concept of “carbon footprint” refers to the area of ​​forested land required to assimilate all the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the inhabitants of the planet. And the size of these emissions increases in scale every year.

Water footprint

Using a basic analogy with a carbon footprint, it is easy to understand what a water footprint is: it is the volume of consumption water resources, necessary for the implementation of one or another human activity - from basic hygiene procedures to the production of aircraft.

Global Ecological Footprint

The term “global” comes from the word “globe”, emphasizing its comprehensive, worldwide meaning. So, it's easy to guess that when we talk about the global ecological footprint, we mean the impact on the planet that humanity as a whole has - huge, staggering numbers...

Why do we need to calculate the global ecological footprint and the footprint left on the planet by individual nations and large industrial companies? The answer is obvious: this data is extremely important in developing a company strategy that will prevent irreparable harm to the Earth’s ecology.

On the one hand, life human society it is impossible to imagine without the existence of millions of industrial enterprises, transport companies and power plants. On the other hand, they are the ones who cause the greatest harm. environment, and this obliges business managers to active actions towards studying the environmental footprint of companies and making this information available to the general public. In addition, it is business, oddly enough, that is driving force, capable of correcting the current environmental situation.

Ecological Footprint Calculation

Ecological footprint calculations are carried out internationally research institute called the Global Footprint Network (GFN), with branches in Europe, Asia and North America. The work of the institute, carried out jointly with WWF (Worldwide Fund wildlife), allows you to find out the ecological footprint of not only cities or enterprises, but also entire countries or each person individually. Today everyone can calculate their ecological footprint using the calculator on the website World Fund wildlife.

Measuring Ecological Footprint and Capacity

The unit of measurement of the ecological footprint, as well as the environmental capacity, is global hectares (gha) - units of area indicating the size of the territory necessary to meet the needs of an individual or an entire group.

It should be noted that the ecological footprint of each individual person is significantly different from what our planet can provide us with, that is, its biocapacity. For example, according to statistics, back in 2005, a person’s ecological footprint was equal to 2.7 hectares, but the Earth was able to provide each of us with only two hectares with a small tail.

Even then, we exceeded the capabilities of our planet, creating an unbearable load for it. Today, calculations by ecologists confirm that to replenish the resources consumed, humanity only needs a little - another half of planet Earth. That is, humanity's ecological footprint has grown so large that the entire planet is not enough to meet our needs. Humanity is faced with the most difficult problem: discrepancy between the global ecological footprint and the biological and ecological capacity of the environment.

Heirs of the Planet: How much of a legacy do you personally have here?

The habit of shifting responsibility for the environmental situation of the planet to large enterprises gives us a false idea of ​​​​the importance of the ecological footprint ordinary person. But in fact, you will be amazed to know that the output of people's normal daily lives (household) accounts for 68% of the global ecological footprint. After all, all the products produced by enterprises that we are accustomed to blaming for polluting the environment are produced for the needs of ordinary people.

According to statistics, the water footprint of one cup of black coffee is 140 liters. That's how much water it takes to grow, harvest, process, package and transport a handful of coffee powder. A kilogram of sugar has a footprint of 1500 liters, and a standard loaf of bread has a footprint of 650 liters.

The importance of one person's global footprint is perfectly illustrated in films, created by the National Geographic Channel.

Why do we need to know this?

He who is forewarned is forearmed - a sage once said and hit the nail on the head. Knowing what trace we leave on this earth, each of us can, to the best of our ability, influence the scale of this trace. At the same time, literally every little thing matters: how sparingly you use water, whether your car’s engine is working properly and in what packaging you prefer to buy products.

Even refusing to buy bottled water can bring enormous benefits, not to mention proper waste disposal, avoiding the use of disposable items such as plastic bags and dishes, and at least a partial transition to reusable diapers for the child.

According to statistics, 1 child uses 2.5 tons of disposable diapers in the first couple of years of his life, which will take years to decompose. Growing up, babies will be doomed to live on earth poisoned by the contents of millions of diapers rotting in landfills.