Ecological Footprint
What is an ecological footprint? An ecological footprint shows us how much biologically productive land and water area a given population needs to produce the resources we use and absorb the waste we generate.
Ecological footprint calculation tools track how much nature we use, compared with how much is available.
Recent analysis indicates that the average Victorian requires 8.1 hectares of land to sustain their lifestyle. If everyone on the planet lived like Victorians, we would need more than 4 planet Earths to support us.
We understand that to improve our environmental performance we need to measure and quantify our current impact. The eco footprint concept not only quantifies the size of our overall impact but also identifies which of our activities contribute most to our ecological footprint. This allows us to understand our impacts and set priorities for action. It also provides a tool to track the performance of our environment improvement initiatives.
Our ecological footprint was calculated to be approximately 17,600 hectares. Greenhouse gas emissions contribute to 60% of our footprint; the other 40% coming from land disturbance associated with supply of water from Melbourne’s catchments.
Individually we can make improvements to the environment by reducing our environmental impacts. The challenge is to achieve eco-footprint savings – both directly through our own behaviour and indirectly through other people or organisation’s behaviour that can be influenced. You might find that you save money and improve your quality of life or business profitability by examining your eco-footprint and undertaking actions to minimise it. To learn more about the ecological footprint and to quantify your household, school or office’s footprint click on the EPA website link below.
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/Eco-footprint/default.asp