• Our daily activities and our lifestyle choices have an affect on the Biosphere.  What we eat, drive, choose to buy or not to buy, where we travel and vacation, how many children we have: All of these come with an ecological cost. Energy and matter are moved around to satisfy our needs, wastes are generated and disposed of, and as Americans we maintain one of the highest standards of living on Earth.  How much impact does our lifestyle have on the rest of the Earth?  How much space do we each need in order to live at our current lifestyle? How much of the Earth’s resources are we individually using?

• The Ecological Footprint is an estimate of the amount of space on the Earth that an individual needs given their consumption patterns.  The Ecological Footprint includes the biologically productive land and water needed to produce the resources consumed by that individual – including food, water, energy, clothing, building materials – and the amount of land and water required to assimilate the wastes generated by that person. The concept of the Ecological Footprint was developed by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees and described in their book, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. 1996.

Planet enters 'ecological debt': Growing demand eats into Earth's natural capital, say the authors
Rising consumption of natural resources means that humans began "eating the planet" on 9 October 2006, a study suggests from the BBC

The living planet: facts and figures - The planet's natural resources are being consumed faster than they can be replaced, according to the WWF. From the BBC 24 Oct 06.

Ecological Footprint - from Wikipedia.com

Ecological Footprint : Overview and Humanity's Footprint from 1961 - 2003 and Data and Methods rom The Global Footprint Network - Advancing the Science of Sustainability
 

• 1. Answer the simple questions at either the Ecological Footprint main web address or at the Earth Day Network site, which may be more applicable to those people living in NYC. You can calculate the ecological footprint your household makes on the planet. Truthfully and accurately answer the questions, given your last year’s activities. For example, think about your usage of public versus private transportation media, mpg of your current vehicle, the amount of calories you consume, etc.
• 2. After you’ve made this calculation, evaluate your current lifestyle.  What are some possible lifestyle changes that you could make to reduce your footprint? For example, if you primarily now commute in your own car, what would happen if you used public transportation? What would happen if you were a resident of another country who as a group live differently than we do as Americans? Then recalculate your footprint again - how do the results differ?
  
• 3. Write this up in 1-2 pages, double-spaced, providing your footprint values and discuss how you could make viable changes in your life to lessen your footprint.