Ecological Footprints

Ecological footprint

The total area of healthy land and water ecosystems needed to provide the resources you need

Ecological footprints include your use of resources such as..

Energy, food, water, and shelter, and your production of wastes, such as sewage, trash, and greenhouse gases

How can you determine a country’s ecological footprint?

You calculate the footprint of a typical citizen and multiply it by the size of the population

According to some calculations, the average American has an ecological footprint

that is more than four times larger than the global average

The greatest change in humanity’s relationship with Earth began around the 1950s, during a period called

The Great Acceleration

We fix and distribute vast quantities of nitrogen for fertilizer, which

Dramatically alters the global nitrogen cycle

We’ve increased greenhouse gas levels to a concentration higher than

The planet

Anthromes, or anthropogenic biomes

Human-altered biomes that ecologists refer to as anthromes

Examples of anthromes include

Cities, villages, croplands, and rangelands

Are we surrounded by anthromes or biomes

Anthromes