Human Impact On My Ecological Footprint Calculator

Ecological footprint helps us understand human pressure on the planet. It compares human demand with the planet Earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate it is important to change our lifestyles in order to lead a fulfilling life without degrading the environment.

More than six billion individuals live on planet Earth. As the populace develops, we are taking increasingly land to live and utilizing a greater amount of the world's characteristic assets. Numerous human exercises likewise create POLLUTION, which is harming the Earth's surroundings.

Overpopulation, pollution, global warming, climate change, genetic modification, ocean acidification, water/soil pollution, deforestation, acid rain, and ozone depletion are among some of the main factors that have a negative impact on the planet. Overpopulation is one the most concerning environmental issues currently. Overpopulation is defined as the human population of a specific area exceeding the carrying capacity. Overpopulation can occur from an increase in births mainly or a decline in deaths. Also, other factors that affect overpopulation can be an increase in immigration or a depletion of resources. It was stated by the United Nations that the worth has a total carrying capacity of somewhere between 4 and 16 billion. Currently we hold over 7 billion humans on Earth. As of 2017 the UN has increased their population predictions to 9.8 billion by 2050 and up to 15 billion by 2100. Pollution we hear about every day.

“Many current discussions about sustainability focus on the ways in which human activity...can be maintained in the future without exhausting all of our current resources… there has been a close correlation between the growth of human society and environmental degradation - as communities grow, the environment often declines” (603).

The message of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s Governing Board is that human impacts on this resilient natural world are so unprecedented and extensive that we crossed the line into unsustainable consumption some time ago and are now depleting ecosystem capital stock instead of living off its sustainable goods and services.

The ecological quizzes asked about individual behaviors relating to transportation, energy, food, recycling, pollution, and possessions. Essentially, all behaviors mentioned in the quizzes have some sort of impact on the environment. Both quizzes asked about what type of transportation was most frequently used and also about solar energy. In addition, the quizzes focused on how much you eat and what you eat. These certain behaviors are featured in the quizzes because they have the potential to contribute to a carbon, or ecological footprint. This “footprint” is one’s impact on the environment. One’s impact on the environment is made up of small decisions--either positive or negative--over his or her lifetime. These decisions can include: choosing

Population in different countries in different areas have the environmental impact. The ecological footprint is the inverse of carrying capacity and represents the amount of land needed to support a given population. An example for ecological footprint is, the Dutch need a land area 15 times larger than that of the Netherlands to support their population.

You will use the EPA’s household emissions calculator to quantitatively identify three to five everyday products or practices that contribute most to your footprint and identify measurable solutions to each. That is, you will estimate savings of both carbon emissions and money that can be achieved via the solutions. In the study questions, reflect upon your results and relate them to themes covered in Contemporary Environmental Issues.

While reading Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man, I had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. One of my underlying thoughts throughout the whole book was, “Well damn, I am so sure I would never, ever, be able to do most of this in my life.” In all honesty, it at first made me feel kind of bad about how I lived; it made me feel as though I did not do enough for the environment and thought only of myself. The first thing that came to mind when I learned what this book was even about was a short online quiz of sorts. The purpose of the quiz was to determine how many planet Earth’s we would need if everyone on Earth lived how I did. My result was that over five planets would be needed. This made me think about how while I was using over five

The current global population of 7.6 billion people is expected to reach 11.2 billion in 2100 (UN DESA), and as the Earth’s population continues to grow exponentially, the topic of environmental sustainability is being debated with increased urgency. In the past few years, many large-scale environmental issues have emerged due to human activities: climate change, air and water pollution, rising sea levels, habitat loss, species extinction, and worsening natural disasters are all becoming more and more prevalent. But perhaps our most immediate concern should be whether or not we will be able to continue feeding this ever-increasing population.

Because carbon footprints are such hot topics in the news these days, it's an ideal topic for this particular paper. As concerns about global warming and potential climate change have continued to evolve the term "carbon footprint" has become ingrained in many people's consciousness. Though the large Fortune 500 companies focus on reduction of their own carbon footprints, individuals can help in their own small way as well.

In the age of commodities and consumerism, the U.S has emerged as one of the leading over-consumers in the world. Overconsumption is a catastrophe, as humans exploit more than the environment can sustainably provide. People consume water, energy and minerals on a daily basis at a rate that is depleting the earth’s life-sustaining systems. Americans make up to 4.5% of the world’s population and consume more than 20% of its energy (WPB). The lifestyle and culture exhibited by Americans are unsustainable resulting in significant problems that add to the issue of global warming, species extinction, and accumulation of toxic wastes. Part of the consumption is linked to the high population. Whereas the U.S accounts for 4.5% of the 7.1 billion population of the planet, the relative consumption of every individual account for the largest consumption rate in the world thus leading to environmental problems such as air and water pollution. An analysis of the relative consumption rate in the U.S indicates that the U.S population is associated with heavy levels of consumption that accelerate the rapid depletion of resources.

The average human being, multiplied by the Earth’s population, would need to have about four Earths just to supply enough resources (Footprint Calculator). Thinking of people around the world, the people of the United States seem to take a lot of their life for granted. Many people when they hear of the polar ice caps melting wave it off and either don’t believe in it or believe it is not their problem. Well it is their problem and if we don’t jump on the issue soon we will not be giving our future generations much of a life. This brings me to the idea of sustainability. A simple description of the word means that what we have today we will also have tomorrow, next week, next year, or even the next lifetime. Although that is the modest version sustainability is much, much more than just that. Sustainability is derived from three main parts of the human life: environmental, social, and economic. Each being just as important as the other. Environmental is the most well-known aspect of sustainability in human life, but both social and economic take their place in keeping this Earth sustainable.

This essay reviews my personal carbon footprint and discusses ways to manage it and reduce some of the biggest areas of my resource consumption. The footprint calculator that I used required that I answer a series of questions about my consumption habits, and based on the answers I provided, showed the impact of my lifestyle on the planet. The footprint calculator uses data for selected countries, based on National Footprint Accounts. The online calculator asked questions to determine how to distribute the ecological footprint into different categories based on the country's average consumption profile. In addition to calculating the amount of carbon a person is responsible for through their daily activities, the calculator also estimated a total ecological footprint to represent the amount of land and sea area required to provide the resources a person needs and to absorb their carbon emissions.

In order to be an integral part in saving the Earth’s environment and ensuring resources for future generations, the way individuals live needs to change. Being fortunate enough to reside in one of the nation’s most developed countries, I wanted to make sure the way I have been living has been meeting the standards set by sustainable living. Using the overall environmental footprint provided by Global Footprint Network, I was able to pinpoint the areas in my life that needed to improve in order for me to be more sustainable. I chose to use this Footprint calculator because it gives you a breakdown on how many resources from the planet are needed in order to provide for your living standards. Once you have input the information, the calculator provides a general ecological footprint explanation and gives real case scenarios in which you can do to reduce it. The results for my footprint were as follows: If everyone were to live the way I do, we would need 5.3 planet earths to provide enough resources. It would take 23.6 global acres of land for energy production, which would emit 23.6 tons of carbon dioxide, and the biggest impacts on my personal footprint included 36 percent of services, 21 percent food and 19 percent mobility.