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Hi everyone, I would like to explain you what is the ecological footprint
and how can we reduce it in order to build a better future for all of us. So let's get started:
All of us, as human beings, use natural resources to support our lives. We have two basic needs:
Energy and Food supplies. - Energy is reacquired for vehicles or industries
to work; and our main source are fossil fuels: coal, petroleum and natural gas.
- Food supplies: include agriculture, cattle and seafood. So we use lots of land and water
in order to make our food grow. And, we take fish and shellfish from oceans.
The total area of land and water that humans use to cover their needs is the ecological
footprint. Each one of us has a different ecological footprint depending on our lifestyle.
These graphs show in red the mean ecological footprint per person in two countries with
very different income: Angola and Spain. Nowadays in Angola one person needs around one hectare
of resources to live, whereas in Spain a single person needs four hectares. And the most shocking
thing is that in Spain the demand has doubled in the last 50 years.
In the Western countries the required amount of natural resources is extremely high and
unsustainable in a long term perspective.
There are two main consequences of the ceaseless exploit of natural resources: Climate Change
and Resources Depletion. The extraction of fossil fuels plus the changes
in land use due to agricultural demands have caused an increase in the concentration of
carbon and other gases in the atmosphere. That leads to a temperature rise in the planet,
the so called Greenhouse Effect. The rise in Earth temperature has a considerable amount
of consequences for all lived organisms: from sea level rise to a change in rains patterns
or an alteration of animals and plants life cycles.
Planet resources are finite and our extraction is in such a high speed that Earth has no
time to regenerate. According to the Global Footprint Network: It now takes the Earth
one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year.
But not everything are bad news, there is hope, there are lots of simple solutions we
can apply in order to change our future. It is clear that Governments need to change
their policies, and mitigation strategies must be applied internationally. But each
one of us can contribute, just by changing some of our everyday habits. You just need
to follow one simple mantra: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
1. Use public transport, ride a bike or walk, but try no to drive your own car
1. Buy locally produce food or even better; grow your own vegetables and fruits
2. Reduce the amount of animal proteins -- meat, fish, eggs and dairy products - you eat per
week 3. Try to recycle as much waste as possible
4. Buy second-hand clothes and furniture instead of brand new stuff
5. Use only the water you need 6. Turn off the lights when you leave a room
and use energy saving lighting
Reducing our individual, national and international ecological footprint is possible; we only
need to change our habits in order to decrease our energy demands.
By respecting and loving nature and all organisms that are part of we will built a better future
for the coming generations.