We can pay the ecological debt by changing economic models, and by giving up luxury consumption, setting aside selfishness and individualism, and thinking about the people and the planet earth.
Evo Morales (2008)
The Ecological Footprint of Consumption shown in this map gives a picture of each country’s and each person’s total ecological footprint. The ecological footprint has been established as a measure to quantify humanity’s impact on the natural environment. It is calculated by estimating the carrying capacity of the natural environment and comparing this to the levels of consumption and waste. It is measured in global hectares (gha) for the average biological productivity in a given year. The ecological footprint then allows to put the actual global hectares that are consumed (and wasted) into the context of the existing biocapacity. A sustainable world would need an average ecological footprint of currently 1.63 gha. With changing consumption patterns and population developments, the gap between these two has growing constantly and exceeds the biosphere’s regenerative capacity. This map shows the extent to which countries overuse the world’s natural resources, colour coded by multiples of the carrying capacity of the planet.
