The Ecological Footprint is one of the most effective tools for measuring our impact and providing us with valuable information for making better choices. Developed by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees, the Ecological Footprint measures our use of earth's resources in terms of water and land area (i.e. acres or hectares).

The Ecological Footprint is a measure of the bioproductive area required to produce the resources we consume and assimilate the wastes we generate wherever in the world they may be located. This includes all the land we use for crops, grazing, building and growing trees for wood products as well as the waters from which we fish. In addition, there is the land used for the absorption of waste, much of which is comprised of forests for absorption of carbon dioxide.

This measurement may be applied to a specific activity or to a whole group of activities. For example, we can calculate the Ecological Footprint of our car commute from home to work. Likewise we can calculate it for all the commuters in the Bay Area, or for a resident of San Francisco including all of their activities. The Ecological Footprint can be applied to one or more activities for an individual, a community, a business, or a whole nation.

The average person in the U.S. uses about 24 acres to support his or her lifestyle, one of the largest Ecological Footprints in the world. Germans have an Ecological Footprint of 13 acres, while countries like India have an Ecological Footprint of 2. By comparission, the average for Sonoma County residents is 22 acres (see the Ecological Footprint Project page for more on this.)(link)

Currently, humanity's combined footprint is more than the Earth's capacity. We are using about a third more than nature can regenerate each year. This is undermining nature's systems, threatening its ability to sustain us. The Ecological Footprint shows us how much there is and how much we use, so that we can make personal and social choices to become more sustainable.

The challenge of sustainability is to find ways to create fulfilling lives while reducing our impact on the Earth. Europeans and the Japanese, with arguably better quality of life, inspire hope and can serve as models because they have Footprints that are half the size of North Americans and New Zealanders. Dramatically more efficient use of resources and cyclical systems are necessary. We also need to realize that quality of life does not depend on large resource use.

SSC has found the Ecological Footprint to be one of the best tools for seeing the magnitude of the change necessary for our world to become sustainable. It is also useful for evaluating and comparing the total environmental impact of activities and in this way, helpful for decision making. SSC conducted an EPA-funded project to calculate and disseminate information about Sonoma County's per capita Ecological Footprint. The Ecological Footprint is one of the main concepts used in the MASH Workshops.

You can calculate your own Ecological Footprint by answering 15 multiple choice questions (it takes about 5 minutes). To learn more visit the Redefining Progress website at www.myFootPrint.org.

Before you calculate your footprint, you are given the following warning:

The results your answers produce may disturb you. In a few reported cases, the users' mental well-being was affected and some serious thinking was induced.

In fact, we have found that many times people experience "Fear of Footprint", that is, anxiety about finding out the actual impact their lifestyle has on the earth. With good reason too, for learning the size of one's Ecological Footprint can evoke strong emotional responses including shock, anger or guilt. This is one of the reasons we include information about the importance of emotions as indicators in The Work that Reconnects as well as the emotional dimensions of change in The Transformation Cycle and in our workshops.