Ecological Footprint Summary

Ecological Footprint is known as the measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates (Glossary). In other words, the Ecological Footprint of a population, person or activity measures the demand it has on nature and in accordance, how much unharvested, pure land is needed to regenerate the resources we use. This measurement exists because through our daily activities, humans consume resources and in return produce waste, so the Ecological Footprint basically tells us whether the earth/nature can keep up with our waste.

Extra Credit:
According to the trends on the Ecological Footprint site, in 2010, Brazil had an Ecological Footprint of approximately 0.5 Global Hectares per person in comparison to its biocapacity of approximately 10 Global Hectares per person which means that in 2010, Brazil had less impact on the earth that its environment permitted. This could be a result of great amount of arable land in Brazil, or the people's environmental awareness.  Japan on the other hand, had an Ecological Footprint of approximately 4.2 Global Hectares per person with a biocapacity of about 0.5 Global Hectares per person which means that every Japanese wasted about 3.7 Global Hectares worth of unrecoverable resources according to their country's capacity unlike Brazil which wasted much less resources than its arable land was capable or regenerating (Trends). This difference in Japan's Ecological Footprint and biocapacity could be due to the lack of arable land to keep up with possible increased industrial activities.

Works Cited

"Glossary." Global Footprint Network. Global Footprint Network, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/>.

"Trends." Global Footprint Network. Global Footprint Network, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/>.