This footprint test maps out the impact your personal lifestyle has on our earth. At the end of the test you get tips on how to reduce your footprint. You can also compare your results with others, share them via Facebook and invite friends to do the test. Together we pass on the earth. Have fun with the test!
If you want to calculate your carbon footprint, you can do so via this link. We are curious!
The Earth produces everything we need to meet our food, energy and other necessities of life. Space is needed to produce and dispose of this. The Ecological Footprint gives insight into the amount of land (global hectares) that is needed annually for our consumption. The size of your footprint therefore depends on your lifestyle.
Where does the Footprint come from?
The concept of an ecological footprint has been around for over 15 years and was introduced at the Canadian University of British Colombia by Mathis Wackernagel. The ecological footprint is a kind of measuring instrument which can be used to determine the space a person takes up on the Earth on the basis of his or her lifestyle. The space a person's lifestyle occupies is expressed in hectares. How big this footprint is depends mainly on the consumption behaviour. The calculation takes into account the surface needed for the use of energy and raw materials and the production of food. In the Netherlands the ecological footprint was introduced in 1995 by environmental organization De Kleine Aarde.
Living on too large a foot
Per person, based on a fair distribution, 1.63 global hectares are available. Worldwide we now use 2.7 per person. An average Dutchman even uses 4.9 hectares! At the moment we need one and a half Earths to produce what we use in one year. So we are asking more from the Earth than it can provide. This also puts pressure on nature and species diversity, and future generations inherit an Earth that is becoming less and less liveable.
Your footprint and CO2
The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) covers as much as half of the Ecological Footprint. The gas is released when fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal are burned, for example for electricity generation, heating and transport. CO2 contributes to global warming and climate change. Fortunately, trees are capable of taking CO2 from the air and storing it. In this way, they make an important contribution to combating climate change. Your CO2 emission is calculated into your Ecological Footprint by calculating how many hectares of forest are needed to get your CO2 out of the air again.