Ecological Footprints

From UBC Wiki

Calculating Your Ecological Footprint


This is an activity I have taught to a wide range of age levels - from a grade 6/7 split class to a grade 10 science class. It can be modified to suit the needs and abilities of the class.

Introduction

  • Draw a large circle on the Whiteboard/Chalkboard. State that it represents the Earth. Ask the class if they know what the percentage of land to water is on Earth (approximately 28% land to 72% water).
  • Divide circle into land and water. Ask class if they know the difference between productive and non-productive land. Write a list of student answers on the board. After several guesses have been made, reveal that productive land is land used for agriculture, to dispose of waste, as carbon sinks, animal habitat etc. Non-productive land is land unsuitable for any of these purposes (e.g. parking lots, shopping malls, deserts, etc.) Divide the "land" portion of the circle into productive and non-productive areas (approximately 2/3 of the circle). Guide students to the world clock site. Have them watch the population increases as the productive land decreases. In groups/pairs, discuss: will there come a point when the amount of productive land will not be enough to satisfy the needs of the population? What will happen then?
  • Look at the "water" portion of the circle. Have students guess how much of the water on Earth is considered productive. Write a list of student answers on the board. After several guesses, reveal that approximately 5% of the water on Earth is considered productive whereas the other 95% is considered non-productive (the productive 5% accounts for 95% of the global fish catch).
  • Divide the "water" portion of the circle into 5% productive, 95% non-productive. I usually use a green marker to show the "productive" part of the globe and a black marker to show the non-productive part of the globe. As the lesson is being taught, I am constantly adding a little more black to the circle to show how the productive land is constantly decreasing.

Calculating Your Footprint

  • Discuss how (approximately) 23% of the Earth's surface is biologically productive. This has to provide for all of our food and water needs as well as for the other 10 million species on Earth.
  • Guide students to the ecological footprint calculator. I use this one because it is interactive and allows the students to customize their avatar, but it is limited in the areas one can choose from. Some other footprint calculators can be found in the appendix to this lesson plan.
  • After students have calculated their ecological footprints, have them volunteer some of their scores, and write these numbers on the board.
  • Compare these scores to some of the averages from other countries. USA - 9.6 global hectares, Canada - 6.9 global hectares, China - 1.6 global hectares, India - 0.8 global hectars, Indonesia - 1.2 global hectares.
  • Discuss with the class how there are 8-10 billion hectares of productive land on Earth, and approxiamtely 6.9 billion people on Earth. Have them divide the nu,ber of productive hectares by the population of Earth to show what a "fair share" would be. Have them compare the "fair share" to the number they got from the ecological footprint calculator.
  • Have students calculate how many Earths would be necessary for everyone to live the way they do (divide their ecological footprint number by 1.9). Discuss how India, China, and Indonesia, three of the most populous countries in the world, are all increasing their average ecological footprint. Have students hypothesize what would happen if all of those people lived the way they did.


Closure

  • Depending on the class, I will often have them calculate their ecological footprint as if they were living 100,200, or 500 years ago. We will then discuss the differences between their lifestyle and the lifestyle of a person from the past.
  • I will ususally have them write a blog/journal entry on the things they can do to decrease their ecological footprint. I have also used this as a springboard for implementing change throughout the school (for bike to school week, before Earth Day, etc.)
  • Other options for closure include challenging them to live on less than 1 global hectare for a week and then write a reflection on it, or by finding ways to make non-productive land productive (planters in parking lots, using solar panels to gather energy, etc.)

Assessment

  • Depending on the subject, there is potential for assessing Math, English, Science, Social Studies, etc.

Appendix