Northern Virginia Community College Ecological Footprint Paper

Lesson 3

Ecological Footprint

For this lesson, we will be learning about “ecological footprint”. Please follow the directions in activities 1 and 2 and submit as directed for grading.

ACTIVITY 1: Learning About the Ecological Footprint

Directions: Please visit the following links and then write a 200 word minimum summary and reflection that answers the following questions:

1. what is the “ecological footprint” and what it helps us understand. 2. What leads to a large ecological footprint versus a small footprint.

3. Provide the “Earth Overshoot Day” date for 2019 and describe what earth overshoot day is.

4. Explain how individuals, such as yourself, can lower their ecological footprint.

IMPORTANT: Please include a title section and references.

LINKS:

https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/

Play Video

https://www.overshootday.org/

ACTIVITY 2: Footprint Calculator

For activity two, please see the following link to the Footprint Calculator. When entering this page, click on “Take the First Step”. Then, under “Enter email to Continue” you may use your university email address to begin the calculator activity. Go through the steps (it should take between 10 to 15 minutes) and then list your Ecological Footprint calculation at the end of your Activity 1 paper. List how many earths we would need if everyone had he footprint you do? List your Ecological footprint in GHA as well. This does not have to be a detailed listing, just the numbers that you obtained from the calculator.

CALCULATOR LINK:

https://www.footprintcalculator.org/