002 - Ecological 

Footprints

Geographic Knowledge and Understanding

Measuring trends in resource consumption, including individual, national and global ecological footprints.

Key Concepts

The scale of ecological footprints vary between individuals within a country, between nations and regions. The process of living creates an ecological footprint. Future possibilities in terms of the increase or decrease of a nation’s ecological footprint  will depend upon the nations governance.

Aims

Key Terminology

Define the words above by using the useful links below and your course textbook. You will be expected to use these words in your answers.

Activity One - Measuring

While you have defined what an ecological footprint is at the beginning of this lesson it is interesting to find out what your personal ecological footprint is to be able to it compare it to the rest of the world. The type of data collected and recorded is also interesting as it can skew the final result.


Activity Two - Watch

It is important to know what our ecological footprints are but why is it that amount. We consume resources for a host of reasons and it is often to do with Living Standards and overall expectations. Watch the Ted Talk below about ecological footprint and answer the following questions.


Useful Resource

Activity Three - Describe

The syllabus point asks you to look at national and global ecological footprint trends. Remember a trend is a change over time. Don't forget to include data in your answers.


Exam Style Question

Describe the general trend in global energy consumption. [ 2 marks]

Describe two problems of using global energy footprints as an indicator to compare countries energy use. [4 marks]