{"id":37079,"date":"2020-11-16T10:39:30","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T09:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?p=37079"},"modified":"2020-11-16T10:39:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T09:39:30","slug":"ecological-footprint-calculate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the public environmental awareness and the media\u2019s interest in <strong>sustainability<\/strong> and natural resources exploitation increases, crucial global issues get a higher visibility. For instance, we hear about the <strong>ecological footprint<\/strong> more and more often. But what is it? What\u2019s its purpose? And how is it calculated?<\/p>\n<h2>What is it?<\/h2>\n<p>The ecological footprint is an <strong>indicator<\/strong> that measures the amount of <strong>natural surface area<\/strong> that is needed in order to restore the resources we consume and to absorb the waste we produce. It\u2019s expressed in global hectares, and it tracks the use of <strong>six categories<\/strong> of productive surface areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>cropland;<\/li>\n<li>grazing land;<\/li>\n<li>fishing grounds;<\/li>\n<li>built-up land;<\/li>\n<li>forest area;<\/li>\n<li>carbon demand on land.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This indicator is essential to measure the <strong>portion of environment needed<\/strong> to produce the goods and services demanded by a population, as well as to absorb its waste. The food we eat, the goods and products we buy, the junk we produce\u2026 it all contributes to determining our ecological footprint, and therefore the <strong>pressure<\/strong> we exert <strong>on our planet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>What is its purpose?<\/h2>\n<p>To discuss the ecological footprint, we must refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Global Footprint Network<\/strong><\/a>, an international non-profit organization committed to promoting a more sustainable way of life. Every year, this organization discloses the <a href=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/we-need-more-than-earth-can-give\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Earth Overshoot Day<\/strong><\/a>, which marks the date in which humanity exhausts all the natural resources that Earth is able to generate throughout the whole year. In simple terms, when we <strong>exceed nature\u2019s annual budget<\/strong>. It is precisely to calculate the Earth Overshoot Day (in <strong>2020<\/strong>, it was <strong>August 22<\/strong>) that the Global Footprint Network implemented the idea of the ecological footprint.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_37082\" class=\"thumbnail alignnone\"><img class=\"wp-image-37082 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/Earth_Overshoot_Day_1969-2018.jpg\" alt=\"Graph of Earth Overshoot Day, from 1869 to 2018. In 2018, we needed 1.7 Earths.\" width=\"870\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/Earth_Overshoot_Day_1969-2018.jpg 870w, https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/Earth_Overshoot_Day_1969-2018-536x336.jpg 536w, https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/Earth_Overshoot_Day_1969-2018-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/Earth_Overshoot_Day_1969-2018-344x216.jpg 344w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><div class=\"caption\">Earth Overshoot Day 1969-2018, photo on Wikimedia<\/div><\/div>\n<h2>When was it introduced?<\/h2>\n<p>British Columbia University professor <strong>William Rees<\/strong> first mentioned this term, together with his then student <strong>Mathis Wackernagel<\/strong>, founder and current president of the Global Footprint Network (sounds familiar?). In <strong>1996<\/strong>, they published a book titled <em>Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth<\/em>, in which they introduced this new notion.<\/p>\n<h2>How is it calculated?<\/h2>\n<p>Each country\u2019s footprint is calculated by the Global Footprint Network and then compared with <strong>global biocapacity<\/strong>, to determine the Earth Overshoot Day.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_37083\" class=\"thumbnail alignnone\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-37083\" src=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/overshoot.jpg\" alt=\"Graph of the ecological footprint of multiple cuntries, compared to their biocapacity. \" width=\"433\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/overshoot.jpg 433w, https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/overshoot-344x477.jpg 344w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><div class=\"caption\">Photo by Footprint123 on Wikimedia<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The association also made available an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footprintcalculator.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>online calculator<\/strong><\/a>, for everyone to calculate <strong>their own<\/strong> ecological footprint and Earth Overshoot Day.<\/p>\n<p>How many planets would we need if everyone lived like <strong>you<\/strong>? Let us know with a comment!<\/p>\n<p><em>Cover image: photo by Colin Behrens on Pixabay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the public environmental awareness and the media\u2019s interest in sustainability and natural resources exploitation increases, crucial global issues get a higher visibility. For instance, we hear about the ecological footprint more and more often. But what is it? What\u2019s its purpose? And how is it calculated? What is it? The ecological footprint is an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":37080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214],"tags":[1367,2170,2171,3202],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It - Ecobnb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While searching for eco-friendly tips and tricks, we often come across the term &quot;ecological footprint&quot;. But what is it exactly? And how to calculate it?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It - Ecobnb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While searching for eco-friendly tips and tricks, we often come across the term &quot;ecological footprint&quot;. But what is it exactly? And how to calculate it?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ecobnb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ecobnb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-4123696_1280-1170x490.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"490\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vittoria Sassi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ecobnb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ecobnb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vittoria Sassi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It - Ecobnb","description":"While searching for eco-friendly tips and tricks, we often come across the term \"ecological footprint\". But what is it exactly? And how to calculate it?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It - Ecobnb","og_description":"While searching for eco-friendly tips and tricks, we often come across the term \"ecological footprint\". But what is it exactly? And how to calculate it?","og_url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/","og_site_name":"Ecobnb","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ecobnb","article_published_time":"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":490,"url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-4123696_1280-1170x490.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Vittoria Sassi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ecobnb","twitter_site":"@ecobnb","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vittoria Sassi","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/"},"author":{"name":"Vittoria Sassi","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874d63c997a9a88a5fb686724f9db135"},"headline":"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It","datePublished":"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/"},"wordCount":432,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["carbon footprint","Earth Overshoot Day","Ecological Footprint","Global Footprint Network"],"articleSection":["curiosity"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/","url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/","name":"Ecological Footprint: What Is It and How to Calculate It - Ecobnb","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-16T09:39:30+00:00","description":"While searching for eco-friendly tips and tricks, we often come across the term \"ecological footprint\". But what is it exactly? And how to calculate it?","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/ecological-footprint-calculate\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/","name":"Ecobnb","description":"Find sustainable accommodation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Ecobnb","url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/logo_transparent_512x512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/logo_transparent_512x512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Ecobnb"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ecobnb","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ecobnb"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874d63c997a9a88a5fb686724f9db135","name":"Vittoria Sassi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75a7739f6b9c9d784876d01de9eda9db?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75a7739f6b9c9d784876d01de9eda9db?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","caption":"Vittoria Sassi"},"description":"Sono Vittoria, ho 20 anni e vivo a Forl\u00ec. Ho una passione per tutte le lingue e le cucine del pianeta, ma pi\u00f9 di ogni altra cosa amo gli animali, e credo sia nostro dovere proteggerli e rispettarli. Sogno di vedere, un giorno, un mondo ancora pi\u00f9 bello, pi\u00f9 giusto e armonioso.","url":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/author\/vittoria\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37079"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37086,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37079\/revisions\/37086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}