Ways to Reduce Ecological Footprint

One of the biggest questions is, why is it important to know about your ecological footprint and what exactly does it mean? A simple definition of ecological footprint is, the amount or the part of nature used by a person to satisfy his needs. It is a measure of the demands and the consumption of natural resources by people. It is a yardstick which gives an idea, whether a man is living within the means of what is available in nature for him or to what extent he exceeds this limit. More precisely, measuring your ecological footprint is the determination of the land area and water resource used, for providing the daily needs of a person, energy production, absorption of the waste and greenhouse gas emissions. This area is measured in global hectares (gha) and according to estimates, earth can sustain the use of about 1.9 gha per person.

Common Ways to Reduce Ecological Footprint

The share of the global resources consumed by a large part of the society is very high. This has led to tremendous imbalance in the ecology. Ecological footprint reduction should be carried out by every responsible citizen of this planet, in order to secure a decent future for the coming generations. The ways to this are quite simple and can easily be practiced in the daily routine with a bit of determination and responsibility.

• A sure way to achieve a goal is to set realistic goals and to create awareness for the need to solve environmental issues. Involve every member of your family and friends to pro actively get necessitated in raising awareness about the need to reduce the ecological footprint on an individual level.
• Small steps like buying organic and locally grown food can help in a big way. It reduces the footprint generated by food or goods transported around the world, which forms a part of unnecessary spending and wastage of resources like, fuel and manpower. The sustainability and proper use of local resources, a healthy and fresh consumption of food leading to a much better society is guaranteed by this small endeavor. A 2007 United Nations survey points out the fact, that global livestock resources are a big cause of environmental pollution, more than even transportation footprints effect. Meat eating leads to demand for more livestock and hence necessitates heavy deforestation and utilize more grazing lands. Thus, changing from a meat eating to a vegetarian person is more effective in reducing ecological footprint than changing from a conventional high vehicle to a fuel efficient one.
• The use of public transport in most of the cases, and walking or cycling short distances, is another way to ensure less damage to earth's ecology. This reduces your carbon footprint, ensures a good physical and mental health, save money and ensure greener, uncrowded and a healthy ecology.
• Use clean and green sources for electricity generation. Use of alternative sources like wind, solar or tidal energy must be encouraged as the existing fossil fuel use is degrading the quality of environment. Green house gas emissions can be significantly reduced by use of halogen bulbs instead of the conventional lighting, turning off devices when not in use, conservation and avoiding excess use of electricity are vital for bringing down ecological footprint.
• Use recycled products, avoid the use of plastic bottles, plastic bags and cans, encourage community use of tap water rather than bottled ones, stop over use of water. These are a very small steps for an individual but a huge positive impact in reduction of global warming and an impact of climate change.
• Plant and nurture tress as much as possible. These are our best friends and ensuring their presence in large numbers is the best way to ensure a clean, green and lively planet.

These can be the most easily accomplished targets, if you are firm about lowering your share of ecological footprints. In America, eating meat is a bigger pollutant and contributes more to emission of green house gases than use of automobiles. Thus, a simple step of reducing on the consumption of meat may be a small effort. But if every American follows it, the positive effect that it can render to the environment, can be heartening.

Thus, however small your initiative may appear, always remember that reducing your ecological footprint will definitely have a positive impact on you and your forthcoming generations.