organic connections
there is a growing international movement, made up of a wide diversity of concerned individuals and groups, which is starting to take the initiative in creating an awareness of the precarious situation humanity finds itself in as a result of over-consumption of natural resources. the loosely grouped activists are advocating sustainable living, eco-friendly products and architecture, responsible farming and food consumption and the concept of "green business", where we leave as small a carbon-footprint as possible in the production of goods and services. they understand that our present global lifestyle has resulted in critical climate changes and vastly polluted areas of the Earth. organic connections is a non-profit information resource of contemporary websites and organisations which are in the forefront of understanding the plight we find ourselves in and who are working towards solutions which could enable us to live a more accountable and sustainable lifestyle.
Ecological footprint: what is it?
An analysis that gauges our impact on the planet's biological systems, the ecological footprint measures human consumption of natural resources in comparison to Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate them. Individually, each of us has "a footprint," and, collectively, they aggregate across geographical zones and other means of classification. Calculation of the footprint takes into account just about everything we do; from the food we eat, to the house we live in, to the car we drive and the other consumption habits we practice each day. It's a very complex calculation that answers a straightforward question: how much of the Earth's resources do our lifestyles require?
The expression of the size of our individual or collective footprint is usually expressed in the number of planets we'd need to support our current lifestyles (hint: everyone reading this on a computer is assuredly above 1). It's a very widely-used measure, and is most useful as a way to take a small amount of information and apply it to a wider population.www.mac.com
Keep reading to learn how to define and determine ecological footprints.
We really do only have just this one Earth!
Strangely, most humans don’t seem to realise or want to accept the fact that this actually is the only habitable planet we know of which will support our species. There are probably a few more out there in deep space, but being millions of light years away, we certainly aren’t going to be able to simply trade this one in and start up again in some other friendly solar system.
The people who do take the ecological destruction of our planet seriously often struggle against entrenched resource intensive industries in an effort to plant a seed of reason .
This is not to say that those of us who have not been fortunate enough to have owned a motor car or a washing machine or never taken a holiday by aeroplane should necessarily be denied these labour-saving appliances or well deserved vacations, rewards for many years of hard work.
What the new green movement is advocating is SUSTAINABILITY.
Innovative products, designs, materials and lifestyles do not have to be tedious and uninspiring.
On the contrary, the opportunities for doing and making things in ways that are in harmony with the planet’s eco-system could develop an enormous growth industry which will employ and enrich the lives of the millions now suffering as a result of our previous greed.
