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Activity 4.22 Is your lifestyle sustainable?

Purpose
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To calculate your own ecological footprint.

To consider ways of achieving greater
sustainability.

Human impacts on the world

The world population is estimated to rise by 40% in the next 50 years. So the impact we have on
our planet will also rise. What impact do we have on the planet now?
As individuals or in groups, list the negative and positive impacts that humans have on the world.
Identify those impacts that you contribute to directly or indirectly.
Your ecological footprint
Measure your own demands on the planet and to calculate your individual ecological footprint. Do
this by completing one of the on-line questionnaires that can be found in the weblinks
accompanying this activity.
Your footprint is given in terms of Earth units i.e. the number of planet-Earths we would need to
support everyone now alive if they all had your particular lifestyle. You will almost certainly find
that your footprint is greater than one planet, and probably more than two.
Making our lifestyles more sustainable
In 1987 the Brundtland report highlighted the need for development that could be sustained without
depleting natural resources or harming the environment. The 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saw international
agreements to increase sustainability. These included Agenda 21, this requires each country to draw
up a national strategy of sustainable development and is implemented by UK local authorities. The
aim is to encourage people to think globally but act locally.
Make a list of 5 ways you could make your lifestyle more sustainable. But remember that it not as
simple as changing to using plant-based products if natural forest and all its biodiversity has been
destroyed to plant the crops.

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Pearson Education Ltd 2008. University of York Science Education Group.
This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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