Uploaded on 2015-05-12 by KarinSilvana

The ecological footprint, as a concept proposed by Rees and Wackernagel in 1990, has become a primary tool of analysis for the work towards sustainability and put in mind that changes are needed in the way we interact with the world and in our demands on nature, if we want to survive as a species The importance of the introduction of strategies that aim to control the impact of our activities on the environment is crucial. When our ecological footprint is lower than that available in the environment bio-capacity, we are facing an environmentally sustainable community; when it is bigger, we are creating an ecological imbalances. This concept of ecological footprint can be measured not only in the scale of city or nation, but in its two extremes: the personal ecological footprint and global footprint. The ecological footprint per capita in the world is 2.2 hectares (Ha), which means it is 22% larger than the carrying capacity of the land per capita, estimated at 1.8ha. In other words, the earth takes at least one year and three months to regenerate what a person has used in one year. However, these figures vary regionally, Europe's ecological footprint is 3 hectares, while in USA it is estimated between 4 and 5 ha per person. This problem tends to get worse as far as the styles of American and European life are being imitated in both East and West and even in the south. This shows a balance in red that is increasingly consuming more of the resources available on Earth, equivalent to the availability of 1.3 or 1.4 planets to provide us resources and absorb our waste. Gráfica 1. Huella Ecológica mundial actual y futura ![enter image description here][1] Fuente: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/ [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14314719704609656.jpg