The ecological footprint measures human demand on nature, i.e., the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast the biologically productive area people use for their consumption to the biologically productive area available within a region or the world (biocapacity – the productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature). In short, it is a measure of human impact on earth’s ecosystem and reveals the dependence of the human economy on natural capital.
Students in a wide variety of classes are learning to measure their personal ecological footprints, discover their biggest areas of resource consumption, and learn what they can do to tread more lightly on the Earth. In so much this project is a very fun exercise!