Apes Ecological Footprint Lab

APES Ecological Footprint Lab In the Ecological footprint lab I had learned that my family uses a lot of resources, goods and etc. In some parts of the calculations for the ecological footprint my family would either use less and in some parts of the footprint my family would use more of. That my ecological footprint is 5. 6 hectares. 5. 6 hectares is about 14 acres. Just for the goods, housing, food, transportation, services and waste my family is spending about 56,285. My ecological footprint is high, and my family, including me should not be using as much items, or spending money on waste, when we do not have to.Exactly what is an ecological footprint? An ecological footprint is the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply an area with resources and to absorb the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use. It is an estimate of the average environmental impact of individuals in a given country or area. The per capita ecological footprint is the aver age ecological footprint of an individual in an area. Humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds by about 39% of the earth’s ecological capacity to replenish its renewable resources and to absorb the resulting waste products and pollution.With the United States the footprint per person or hectares per person is 9. 7. Way over of what we are suppose to be using, when a country’s ecological footprint is larger than its ecological capacity, it is using and degrading its cropland, forest, etc. With my family, were using 5. 6 hectares which is almost half of what other people are using. When a country depletes its natural capital, it must either suffer the harmful environmental consequences or import food and other resources from other countries and export its pollutants and wastes to global atmosphere, oceans, and rivers that run through several countries.There are also some other developed countries like ours. Developed countries are countries that have a high level o f development according to some criteria. The first industrialized country was Britain, followed by Belgium, Germany, United States, France and other Western European countries. One of the most developed countries in China. China now consumes almost twice as much meat and nearly two and a half times more steel. By 2020, China is projected to be the world’s largest producer and consumer of cars and to have the world’s leading economy in terms of GDP-PPP.If China’s economy continues growing exponentially at 8-10% a year, by 2031 the country’s income per person will reach that of the United States in 2006. If this happens China will need two-thirds of the world’s current grain harvest, twice the world’s current paper consumption, and more than the current global production of oil. Then are countries that are not like China, for instance Africa. Africa would be an undeveloped country. Underdeveloped countries are at the very bottom of the global economy, with widespread extreme poverty and dire living conditions.That is because they usually have little or no infrastructure or reliable health care and other social services. Many have experienced long-term political unrest in the form of civil war or armed conflict with other nations, or have been subject to unstable governments, dictatorships, and/or corruption. In addition, they may frequently suffer environmental events and natural disasters that cause famine, destruction, and displacement of large segments of their populations.According to the UN, the African countries that experienced the sharpest declines in their HDI rankings between 1990 and 2003 are South Africa, with a drop of thirty-five places; Zimbabwe, with a drop of twenty-three places; and Botswana, with a drop of twenty-one places. The main indicators on the human development index include life expectancy and health, literacy and educational attainment, and income. Human Development Report 2005 noted that ch ances of survival for a person born in sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2005 are not much better than those of individuals living in England and Wales during the 1840s.Ways to improve this issues is by trying to help out our underdeveloped countries. With our developed countries we already have more than we need. So we should help transport goods to the countries that are in a more poorer state. With the resources and goods, if we do not need them, then we do not need to buy them. Also people could cut back on much water we use, food being wasted, etc. We could all recycle bottles and anything else that needs to be recycled because those recycle bottles can be reused, that way it does not build up our pollution of waste. People should try to find a way to stop polluting the air.