One Island, One Earth

The Ecological Footprint was created in the 1990s by two UBC researchers, Dr. Mathis Wackernagel and Dr. William Rees. The measurement has two important components:   

(1) The Ecological Footprint captures the demand that humans place on natural resources. More specifically, it is an estimate of how much biologically productive land and water area an individual or population needs to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates. It is measured in global hectares (gha), where a global hectare is a biologically productive hectare with globally averaged productivity for that year.  

(2) Biocapacity refers to the capability of a given area of land or sea to regenerate the resources we use, and to absorb waste from consumption.  It is a measure of net primary productivity applied to land and ocean area, and is also measured in global hectares (gha).

Looking at these two components together, we can determine if natural resources are being replenished at a rate that can support our lifestyles, and provide enough resources for future generations (it is important to note that this calculation does not take into account the resources required for all the plants and animals living alongside humans). The Global Footprint Network found that, in 2020, humanity used up its entire natural resource budget for the year by August 22nd! This means that we are currently running an ecological deficit: we are cutting down trees faster than they can grow back, we are not leaving enough fish in the ocean to reproduce, and we are burning fossil fuels faster than emissions are being sequestered. This is contributing to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that is driving climate change, and increasing the severity of natural disasters such as the wildfires that are moving through the west coast states.     

To help guide communities in their efforts to live sustainably and reduce their contribution to climate change, the BCIT EcoCity Centre led by Dr. Jennie Moore has developed a methodology to calculate the ecological footprint of municipalities in British Columbia using localized data. We partnered with them to complete this project.