The Impact of Population on Ecological Footprint, Essay Example

Human population has a tremendous impact on any ecosystem it inhabits worldwide. One way to measure the degree of this impact on nature is the concept of the ecological footprint. The idea of an ecological footprint combines a measurement of water and land use that a particular population utilizes alongside the other resources it takes from nature. It is critical that humanity have a means to understand its ecological footprint and that technologies and ideas be developed to diminish this tremendous burden on the natural environment. This paper will examine the way that over-population influences the environment and how it can be reduced over time.

The current dire ecological situation began in the 1980’s when humanity surpassed its annual resource use beyond which is naturally regenerated each year. Currently the Earth would require a year and half to generate what the human population uses in just one year. The fundamental issue is not just that there are too many people inhabiting the Earth but that the resources these people do utilize are not put to efficient use. To maximize efficiency novel means of agriculture, water production, electricity generation, transport and trash disposal must be developed to allow the Earth to regenerate its renewable resources. Give the current rate of ecological destruction it is only a matter of time until all of these resources are destroyed for good. To measure humanity’s tremendous impact on nature Wackernagel and Rees (1996) at the University of British Columbia conceived of the Ecological Footprint model. It is now popularly used worldwide by individuals, scientists, government agencies and businesses when discussing the role they have on the environment and ways in which to monitor natural resource use and promote sustainable development.

The goal of measuring the ecological footprint of whatever population, be it an individual, a business, a city, a nation, or all of humanity, allows one to determine how badly damaged a particular ecosystem is affected by humanity. This knowledge then lets us better appropriate ecological assets more efficiently and helps rally support for collective action and legislation to protect overly damaged ecosystems. The sheer impact of the ecological footprint model can be seen on the global scale. Currently, humanity uses roughly the renewable resources of approximately 1.3 Earths (Chambers, 2000). Yet, if current UN trends continue in regards to population growth and consumption in the next twenty years the ecological footprint of humanity will be so bad as to require two Earths to be sustainable. There is no way that humanity can continue to turn limited natural resources into trash at the current rate of destruction without severely damaging the ecology of the planet, biodiversity and ultimately the quality of human life on this planet.

So how does a diminished ecological footprint impact the world? There will be less and less clean fresh water, less forests, increased pollution and less food available. Ecological changes such as global warming will dramatically influence human cities and farming patterns. In addition, tension over resources will lead to increased fighting, wars, famine, and population shifts which all devastate the world’s poorest and weakest groups. On a less dramatic scale, the rich countries will be forced to change the nature of their consumption, endure world-wide pandemics and to take steps to ensure their continued prosperity in an ever more difficult. In short, the Earth is the only planet we have and all of us need it to survive. To wantonly destroy it without considering the consequences is no longer a tenable option. Steps must be taken to address humanity’s ecological footprint and to work to readjust the balance in favor of conservation to ensure that nature is able to support humanity (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996).

The first step to approaching humanity’s ecological footprint is to start on the personal level. Individuals in their daily lives must become cognizant of the impact of their decisions on nature. Individual people can take steps such as recycling, composting, using greener electricity options, buying local and organic food and public commuting to help nature deal with pollution and ecological degradation. This grass-roots effort will lead to businesses and communities investing in green technology and infrastructure projects which better maximize efficiency and resource utilization in a limited world (Chambers, 2000). The ecological footprint model is a way for the ecological assets to be counted in a way that ensures what we know how much nature we can use and where the limits are in the ecosystem. Furthermore, it will allow societies to keep trace of their progress as they work towards a self-sustaining and greener planet.

In conclusion, the ecological footprint model is a valuable tool in the overall effort to promote a greener world and to protect humanity’s future from ecological degradation. The concept is simple to understand which explains its popularity around the world. It can be used to promote greener steps by individuals as well as government to adopt safer and healthier practices in their routines. Humanity must learn to live within its means and the ecological footprint model is one valuable tool in this ongoing but critical struggle.

References:

Chambers, N., Simmons, C. and Wackernagel, M. 2000. Sharing Nature’s Interest: Ecological Footprints as an Indicator of Sustainability. Earthscan: London, UK.

Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. New Society Publishers: Gabriola Island, British Columbia.