Ecological Footprint Analysis and Personal Resource Use – Reflective Learning Journal
Weighting: 30%
Word limit: 2000 words
Introduction to the task
Human activities consume resources and produce waste, and as our populations grow and global consumption increases, it is essential that we measure nature’s capacity to meet these demands. The Ecological Footprint has emerged as one of the world’s leading measures of human demand on nature. Simply put, Ecological Footprint Accounting addresses whether the planet is large enough to keep up with the demands of humanity.
Source: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/
Brief description of task
This task is an individual project that consists of two parts. Part 1 involves you completing an online assessment of your ecological footprint. For Part 2 you must make a pledge to lower your footprint, and then, complete an online journal reflecting on the issues faced in trying to maintain your pledge.
Unit Learning Outcomes assessed
ULO2: Reflect on the drivers and barriers for sustainable living and suggest how and where individuals can contribute to a positive change to the environment.
Within your reflections, you will be required to illustrate that you appreciate the link between your personal choices and the impact these have on natural resources, suggesting ways you may be able to reduce this impact.
Detail of student output
Final submission for this task is in the form of a written report of approximately 2000 words. All students must:
assess their current environmental impact using the EPA footprint calculator;
suggest how and where they as individuals can contribute to a positive change to the environment;
reflect on what the drivers and barriers are to making that change.
include a short reflection on how they have used feedback received for previous work in preparing the report.
Details of the task
Step 1: Determining your ecological footprint
This assignment allows you to examine your personal ‘ecological footprint’ on our planet. An ecological footprint is a measure of the resource use that an individual or group has on the Earth. It is usually presented as the amount of area (e.g. hectares) that is needed to support an individual’s lifestyle. It can also be used to find ways to reduce human impact or resource use.
The following exercise will introduce you to ecological footprint calculators, enable you to determine your own footprint, and in some cases your household’s footprint, and finally will highlight steps that you can take to reduce your ecological footprint.
Go to the Global Footprint website and calculate your personal footprint. The output of the calculator will provide an estimate of how much land it takes to support your current lifestyle. The results also estimate your areas of greatest resource consumption, and will suggest what you can do to tread more lightly on the earth. http://www.footprintcalculator.org/
Go to the website above and click on the footprint and then enter your Deakin email. You will then be taken to the first questions about food. In order to calculate a more accurate footprint, select the option to ‘Add details to improve accuracy’. Make sure you always select this option for all questions if it is available. Keep a record of what you noticed about the types of information the calculator asked for, the categories you were offered, and whether they left out aspects of your lifestyle.
Once complete click See Details or click the across arrow to see your breakdown. Write down the number of global hectares needed to support your current lifestyle and the number of planets needed if everyone lived like you. Take a screen shot of the results page and save this as it must be included in the Results section of your final report. You will also need to to refer to these results within your journal at the beginning, and also at the end of the pledge period in you final journal entry.
Step 2: Analysing the calculator accuracy and effectiveness
Look back at the questions asked in order to calculate your footprint. Do you think it is an accurate representation of your personal footprint? What were the assumptions made? Was anything missing.
Step 3: Making a pledge to reduce your impact
Identify the areas (e.g. food, transportation, housing) that make the largest contribution to your footprint.
Select one of these areas where you feel you can limit the size of your footprint. Do some research to find out what environmental impact your reduced resource use could have.
Make a ‘Pledge’ to change your behaviour for two weeks that will help to reduce your ecological footprint. For example, if food has the greatest impact then you might pledge to reduce the number of times you eat meat each week; if transport is your largest contributor why not pledge to catch public transport for a period of time?
NOTE: It is important that your pledge is not seen as a ‘hardship’. Try to choose something that you believe you could continue in the future. For those of you who have made a similar pledge before, choose a different area of resource use for this exercise.
Step 4: Writing a reflective journal
Reflect on your ecological footprint and your pledge within a weekly journal. This can be done in a Word document that you will add to each week. This will also be submitted as part of your final report. See the week headings below for details of what you need to reflect upon each week.
Week 1
How many planets and global hectares does it take to maintain your lifestyle using the Global Footprint calculator?
Note: This information must be discussed in your first journal entry.
Discuss the pros and cons of using an eco-footprint calculator. To do this you will need to consider the questions asked when calculating your footprint and look at what the footprint designers say they are interested in measuring. To help you with this, have a look at the background information provided on the website about the calculator and their purposes. Is there anything that you think the calculator missed out, or should have considered?
Note: Remember to refer to the results of the calculator used with this journal entry.
Clearly outline your pledge. What is it that you are going to do over the next two weeks to reduce your personal ecological footprint? Why did you choose this particular aspect of your behaviour? If possible your pledge should be related to an area that makes a large contribution to your footprint. If you wish to choose another area for your pledge you will need to provide a clear justification for your choice.
How does your pledge contribute to lowering your eco-footprint? Include your research about the environmental impact of your chosen behaviour, and why your new/proposed behaviour will have a positive impact in reducing your footprint.
Consider and reflect upon the barriers that you may face when sticking to your pledge. For example, if you choose to reduce the number of times you eat meat each week, how difficult might this be within your household environment. Will your family/housemates support your pledge? Will you have to cook meals separately? Do you think you might crave meat during this period and succumb to your cravings?
Checklist Week 1
Your journal should include:
A reflection of your ecological footprint result from the Global Footprint calculator – how many planets needed to support your lifestyle?
Discussion of pros and cons of using the calculator
Your ‘Pledge’: how/why your choice of pledge will lower your footprint
A reflection on the barriers you might face in keeping your pledge
Week 2
How is your pledge going? What barriers have you faced?
Are your family members/house-mates/friends supporting your efforts?
How have your friends reacted to your pledge? Did this surprise you?
Have you been surprised by how easy or difficult the pledge has been? What things help you keep going?
Week 3
Sum up your overall impressions of the pledge. Was it hard to keep up, or did you find it straightforward? What were the main barriers that you faced? How did you try to overcome these barriers? What were the main supports?
What did you learn about yourself, and those around you? And about changing behaviour
Will you keep going with your pledge? Will you make any changes at all, or do you think you will go back to your previous behaviour/s. (You won’t be penalised for not keeping up your pledge!)
Step 5: Report – collating your results and experiences
Please follow the steps outlined below when preparing your report.
Introduction
An ‘Introduction’ sets the scene for the report – it outlines the purpose. For this report you will need to address the fact that we have an ever increasing number of people on the earth, and that people in different parts of the world use very different amounts of natural resources to support their way of living. Also, you must provide the reader with an understanding of what Ecological Footprint Calculators are and how they can be used as a tool to assist individuals to reduce their impact on the planet. Background information is available at the Global Footprint Network website: http://www.footprintnetwork.orghttp://
Your introduction must also include a clear aim that outlines the purpose of your report.
Results
Include your results from the eco-footprint calculator. You can copy and paste the results from the website, but make sure you provide a suitable figure number and label, as well as providing a reference to the website. This section should also include a brief description of what your results show. You should not discuss your results in this section, but describe the main trends and patterns. e.g. you should highlight your area of greatest impact.
Journal Entries
Copy your journal entries from each week into this section, making sure they include the sub-headings week 1, week 2 and week 3. Do NOT edit your journal entries. Looking back at your entries and reflecting on how you felt during the pledge is an important part of this exercise and will be addressed within the Discussion.
Discussion
Look back over your journal entries, and summarise your experience of using the calculators to reduce your environmental impact. What did you learn about your resource use? What have you learnt about your own behaviour, priorities and influences during this exercise? Discuss the role of ecological footprint calculators as an educational tool for you and for the community more generally.
You must include a conclusion at the end of the Discussion that addresses the aim of your report. Go back to your introduction and address your aim directly.
References
Include a list of all references cited within your report. This includes websites that have been used to calculate your footprint. Referencing will be discussed in detail during the workshops/seminars. The following link takes you to the Deakin Division of Student Life Guide to Referencing. Please follow the Harvard referencing guide:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing
http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing/harvard
If you have any questions about how and when to reference please ask your tutor, or post a question in the Discussion forum on the unit site. Referencing will be new to most of you, so please ask for help if unsure.
Ecological Footprint
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