Watch Your Step

Understanding the Impact of Your Personal Consumption on the Environment

Author:	Philip Camill Department of Biology Bowdoin College pcamill@bowdoin.edu
Abstract:	This case makes use of the concept of the "ecological footprint," developed by Wackernagel and colleagues to quantify the amount of land area required to sustain the lifestyle of a population of any size. Students calculate their consumption of energy and materials to determine their personal ecological footprint and in the process learn about concepts of sustainability, ecological efficiency, and energy flow up food chains as well as the moral and ethical dimensions of how our lifestyles impact the Earth. The case includes an Excel spreadsheet for students to track their personal consumption of resources, available from Supplemental Materials. Developed for an introductory biology course, the case could also be used in upper level courses such as ecology, conservation biology, evolution, diversity, and the biology of social issues, or in a non-majors biology course.
Objectives:	Examine the implications of a strict definition of sustainability. Understand how personal material consumption impacts the environment, particularly in relation to population growth. Use the concept of an ecological footprint to measure sustainability. Appreciate how our lifestyles, especially the attributes of living in a wealthy, suburbanized, automobile dependent culture, impact the global environment and the ability for citizens in other countries to acquire a fair share of Earth's resources. Understand how much land area it takes to support our direct and indirect consumption of food, housing, transportation, goods, services, and generation of waste. Consider the potential global environmental impacts as developing nations aspire to achieve industrial economies similar to that of the United States.
Keywords:	sustainability; footprint; biosphere; personal consumption; population growth; carrying capacity;
Topical Area:	N/A
Educational Level:	Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division
Formats:	PDF, Excel
Type/Method:	Directed
Language:	English
Subject Headings:	Biology (General) Ecology
Date Posted:	08/22/2002
Date Modified:	N/A
Copyright:	Copyright held by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Please see our usage guidelines, which outline our policy concerning permissible reproduction of this work.

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Supplemental Materials

The following spreadsheet is used for this case study.

footprint.xls

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