|
|
FEATURE
Unfortunately, it is a reality created by billions of people around
the world whose larger-than-life ecological footprint is responsible
for today’s biggest environmental problems.(1)
The ecological footprint is a measure, in global hectares,
of how much productive land and water is needed to produce what
we use and to absorb what we discard.(2)
To stay within the capacity of the planet, every person on
Earth would need an eco footprint of just 1.9 global hectares.(3)
Currently the world average eco footprint measures 2.2 global
hectares and the Australian average is 7.7.(4)
In a few words, we are using far more natural resources than can
be regenerated.(5)
Measures like recycling, biking, public transport use, and energy
efficient homes and lifestyles are promoted as the main ways to
lessen our burden on the environment. But in reality, food—and
in particular, foods derived from animals - have an even
bigger environmental impact than things like goods, housing,
services and transport. According to the Australian Conservation
Foundation, animal-derived foods make up the biggest part of our
ecological footprint : 34%.(6)
This is because their production requires so much land, water
and energy, and creates significant waste.(7)
Plant-derived foods require far less resources to
produce.(8) In fact,
simply by replacing animal foods with plant foods the average
Australian eco footprint can be reduced by as much as one third,
from 7.7 to 4.9 global hectares.(9)
Adopting a plant based diet is about the
simplest and most effective step a person can take to reduce their
eco footprint.
Read about Vegetarian Action's campaign 'Bigfoot
is not a myth' - and get involved!
Read more about vegetarianism
and the environment
For more about diet and ecological footprint, read our article
'A Frustrating Environment'
References
| 1. |
"Current consumption patterns stress limited natural resources,
contribute to global warming, and create wasteful and even toxic
byproducts that affect the quality of life and the health of
communities around the world."
Sierra Club. 'Population, Consumption, & Our Ecological Footprint,
undated. www.sierraclub.org/population/consumption/
(accessed 29/5/08). |
| 2. |
"The ecological footprint of an individual, a city, a country,
or humanity is a measure of how much productive land and water
they require to produce all the resources they consume and to
absorb all the waste they generate, using prevailing technology.
This land could be anywhere in the world. The Ecological Footprint
is measured in global hectares. This is one hectare of biologically
productive space with world-average productivity. In 1999 the
biosphere had 11.4 billion hectares (28.2 billion acres) of
biologically productive space corresponding to roughly one quarter
of the planet's surface."
Government of South Australia, Department of the Premier and
Cabinet. 'Footprint Calculator. Ecological Footprint in South
Australia', updated 28/4/2008.
www.sustainableliving.sa.gov.au/html/slc_footprint_calculator.html
(accessed 27/5/08). |
| 3. |
"To stay within the Earth's carrying capacity everyone on Earth
would need an average footprint of 1.89 hectares - so we are
currently over the limit and rapidly depleting the Earth's resources."
Australian Conservation Foundation. 'GREENHOME' website. 'Don't
act your shoesize', undated. www.acfonline.org/news.asp?news_id=427
(accessed 11/7/07). |
| 4. |
"South Australia's ecological footprint is 7.0 global hectares
per person; this compares favourably with the Australian average
of 7.7. However, South Australia's average ecological footprint
is considerably higher than the OECD's average of 5.2 and the
world average of 2.2."
Government of South Australia. 'South Australia's Strategic
Plan - Objective 3 - Attaining Sustainability - Ecological Footprint',
updated 21/2/2008.
www.saplan.org.au/content/view/97/#ef
(accessed 27/5/08). |
| 5. |
"[H]umans are currently running a huge deficit with the Earth
- using over 20% more natural resources each year that can be
regenerated - and this figure is growing each year."
World Wildlife Fund. 'Living Planet Report 2002', updated 13/11/2006.
www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/lpr02/index.cfm
(accessed 4/6/08). |
| 6. |
"By consumption type, food (36%) is the largest contributor
to the average South Australian ecological footprint, followed
by goods (23%), housing (18%), services (12%) and mobility (11%)."
Government of South Australia, Premier's Round Table of Sustainability.
'Measuring Our Lifestyle' in Sustainable Living Choices,
a Report on Sustainable Consumption and Production, undated.
+++
"Animal products make up the biggest part of your eco footprint
- 34% to be exact. Meat, particularly beef, has a very high
environmental impact, using much water and land to produce it,
and creating significant greenhouse pollution."
Australian Conservation Foundation. 'GREENHOME' website. 'Eco-calculator',
undated. www.acfonline.org.au/custom_greenhome/calculator.asp?section_id=86
- see question (3) "How many serves of red meat do you
eat each week (a serve equals 60-100g or two small chops)?"
- click on the "explanation" button (accessed 4/6/08). |
| 7. |
"Meat and dairy products are the most resource intensive foods.
Production of a single 150 gram serve of meat is estimated to
use over 200 litres of water and create 5 kilograms of greenhouse
pollution."
Government of South Australia, Department of the Premier and
Cabinet. 'Sustainability and Climate Change, Focus on Food,
Food - Meat and dairy products', updated 23/4/2008. www.sustainableliving.sa.gov.au/html/slc_food2.html
(accessed 28/5/08).
+++
"On average, land requirements for meat-protein production are
10 times greater than for plant-protein production…Animal production
requires considerable energy and water resources and leads to
deforestation, overgrazing and overfishing."
Leitzmann, Claus. 'Nutrition ecology: the contribution of vegetarian
diets', The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol.
78, No. 3, September 2003, pp.657S-659S. Downloaded from www.ajcn.org
- search on author & title for full text (accessed 4/6/08).
|
| 8. |
"Vegetable protein food requires less land, water and energy
than animal protein, because most livestock are fed grains."
Pimentel, D. 'Ethical Issues of Global Corporation: Agriculture
and Beyond', Poultry Science, Vol. 83, 2004, pp.321-329.
Downloaded from Poultry Science Association, http://ps.fass.org/cgi/reprint/83/3/321.pdf
(accessed 4/6/08). |
| 9. |
For our comparative Ecological Footprint calculations we used
State Government Victoria, Environment Protection Authority
(EPA) Victoria's 'Personal' Ecological Footprint Calculator
- see www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators/personal/introduction.asp
- click on the link to "Calculate your personal Ecological
Footprint" (accessed 4/6/08).
We created our "average" Australian Footprint of 7.7
global hectares using the following "average" responses:
- YOUR CITY
Question 1: Which city has weather most similar to yours?
Response: Sydney (NB: Adelaide is not listed, but clicking
"Show Help" groups Adelaide together with Sydney.
We chose Adelaide for our calculation because Vegetarian
Action is based in South Australia.)
- YOUR FOOD
Question 2: How often and much do you eat animal based products?
(beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy products) Response:
Very Often (NB: clicking "Show Help" further
defines this response as "Very often = you have several
servings of dairy, eggs, fish, or meat products a day")
- Question 3: How much of the food that you
eat is either processed, packaged, or imported (or a combination
of these)? Response: Three quarters
- Question 4: How much waste
do you generate? Response: More than one bin-bag a week
- YOUR HOME
Question 5: How many people live
in your household? Response: 2 people
- Question 6: What is the size of your
home? Response: 150 - 200 square metres (average home; approx.
3 bedrooms)
- Question 7: Which housing type best
describes your home? Response: Free standing house with
running water
- Question 8: Do you have electricity
in your home? Response: Yes
- YOUR TRANSPORT
Question 9: On average, how far do you travel on public
transport each week? (bus, train, tram or ferry) Response:
1 - 10 kilometres
- Question 10: Do you have a motorbike?
Response: No
- Question 11(a): Do you travel by car?
Response: Yes
- Question 11(b): On average, how far
do you travel by car each week? (either as driver or passenger)
Response: 50 - 150 kilometres
- Question 11(c): How many litres of fuel
per 100 kilometres does the car you travel with consume?
Response: 9 - 15 litres (family sized car)
- Question 11(d): How
often do you travel by car with someone else rather than
alone? Response: Often (about 50%)
- Question 12: On average, approximately how
many hours do you spend flying each year? Response: Fewer
than 3 hours
We created our "reduced" footprint
of 4.9 global hectares by changing the response for question
2 "How often and much do you eat animal based products?"
to "Never" (clicking "Show Help" further
defines this response as "Never = you are a strict vegan"),
whilst leaving all other selections identical to those listed
above.
Try it for yourself!
|
Page updated: June 2008
Whichever way you look, the future
is vegetarian...
|
|
