Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth

by Mathis Wackernagel, William E. Rees

Our Ecological Footprint presents an internationally-acclaimed tool for measuring and visualizing the resources required to sustain our households, communities, regions and nations, converting the seemingly complex concepts of carrying capacity, resource-use, waste-disposal and the like into a graphic form that everyone can grasp and use. An excellent handbook for community activists, planners, teachers, students and policy makers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sustainability, Ecology, Environment, Economics

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Mathis Wackernagel is a Swiss-born sustainability advocate. He is currently President of Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability think tank with offices in Oakland, California; Brussels, Belgium, and Geneva, Switzerland. The think-tank is a non-profit that focuses on developing and promoting metrics for sustainability.
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, he completed his Ph.D. in community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in 1994. There, as his doctoral dissertation under Professor William Rees, he created with Professor Rees the ecological footprint concept and developed the methodology. He has worked on sustainability issues for organizations in Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia and Australia. Wackernagel previously served as the director of the Sustainability Program at Redefining Progress in Oakland, California (1999 - 2003), and directed the Centre for Sustainability Studies / Centro de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad in Mexico (1995-2001). In 2004, he was also an adjunct faculty at SAGE of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 2010, he was appointed Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of 1956 Visiting Professor at Cornell University (1 July 2011 – 30 June 2013).
Wackernagel has said that "Overshoot will ultimately liquidate the planet's ecological assets."

Reviews

[Terri Kempton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for everyone on the planet - especially those of us who live beyond sustainability. So clear, so concise, so inspiring!

[stinaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The seminal work on ecological footprinting, Our Ecological Footprint is a great starter on the concept and how ecological footprint analysis can help us move towards a more sustainable future. Ecological footprint analysis (EF) "estimates the resource consumption and waste assimilation requirements of a defined human population or economy in terms of a corresponding productive land area" (p9).

While the model explained in the book has a lot of limits, these are acknowledged and ecological footprinting is promoted as an analytical tool, model or aid. A tool to help educate people (and businesses and governments) on how actions affect the natural capital and resources of the planet and it's carrying capacity. Illustrating how much we are using those resources and whether those uses are fair compared to the rest of the Earth's populations (fair Earthshare), and whether they are within carrying capacity limits. Further, with more research, work and technology the EF method can (and has) become more encompassing - making it an even better tool when it comes to sustainability thinking.

I was surprised at the extent to which the model was rooted within ecological economics - but I guess that is the point of all sustainability thinking, that everything on this planet is interrelated and cannot be separated.

Overall - a great starting point for EF which is a great analytical tool for modelling how humans can live sustainably on the Earth.

[Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes the Ecological Footprint analysis technique, written by its creators. This is the most promising approach to sustainability I've found thus far. It advocates replacing sustainability-as-sacrifice and sustainability-as-moralizing with an empirical approach in which "sustainability" is actually defined and quantified, and our impact on the Earth and environment is measured. This is just a model, and estimates must be used, as it's impossible to know exactly what the human carrying capacity is or what exactly is our impact on the Earth. But it's sufficient to redirect environmental rhetoric toward more useful dialogue, and to help us know exactly what needs to change, and what priority to place on these changes.

I really love the way this book words things. It never says, "environmentally-friendly," for example (as if we're somehow hurting the environment's feelings). It constantly reminds the reader that there is no such thing as an "environment," as something "out there." We ARE the "environment." However, the actual details of this book made my eyes glaze over. Numbers with units like "cubic meter/ha/yr" were bandied about indiscrimately while not going into much detail about how the numbers are arrived at, let alone how we can calculate an ecological footprint ourselves, which is why I read this book in the first place. Then, I guess in an attempt to make this book more accessible, there are useless figures featuring really bad cartoons of a character shaped out of a footprint, with the big toe as his head.

[Brent Ranalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, very readable classic in environmental studies.

[Caro]

This book is necessary to raise awareness about the climate mix.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

. 1996 classic that introduces Ecological Footprint concept ie rate of using natural capital

[Tia · Rating 2 out of 5]

basically, this book tells you what your ecological footprint is, and then describes the ways you can reduce it. Unfortunately it requires a kind of radical shift in lifestyle that few would be willing to adopt. I live in a single house with 9 people, I don't own a car, I don't eat meat, I rarely buy new clothes or new products--and yet if everyone lived my lifestyle, we would still require three or four planets equivalent in size to Earth if everyone lived like me. The book is too disheartening to be an effective tool for social change.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ecological Footprint concept is a good way to conceptualize one's consumption of the earth's resources, but somehow it seems a bit too basic and non-instructive to have practical use. Maybe there are certain types of people who would benefit from visualizing things this way, and maybe it was more innovative when it was first published. Also, it seems almost frivolous to mention, but I disliked the illustrations.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably well-written summary of the methodology of estimating ecological impacts on an individual and aggregate basis. The book struggles with being too simple (and simplistic) in places, and to nerdy and technical in others. First appearing nearly 20 years ago, it is somewhat dated in its statistics and other facts and could stand to be updated. However, in terms of raising awareness and providing a hopeful direction for the future we now are living, it is a worthwhile read.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

the cartoons are nice. the message is obvious, just read the title and spare yourself the time.

[Geetanjali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that people must read to understand how immense the impact often is of their daily action's on the globe. The authors started this a a small graduate school project.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really interesting way of looking at human consumption and the impacts on the environment. It's a little far out with some of the concepts, but overall, it makes you think.

[Maria Soledad · Rating 3 out of 5]

ecological footprint