...------------------------------------------------- THE UNITED ARAB emirates AND THE ECOLOGICAL AND CARBON FOOT PRINTS A report done for ENS205 course July 7, 2013 Abu dhabi university Safaa Ismail (1028296) July 7, 2013 Abu dhabi university Safaa Ismail (1028296) UAE’s Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint Introduction: What is ecological footprint? The Ecological Footprint is a type of measurement that measures how much biologically useful land and sea is used by a given people or action, and relates this to how much land and sea is presented. The actions and resources needed by humans include food, fiber, timber, energy, and space for groundwork. Keeping in mind that these areas also include the space needed to dump all the waste that comes from that population. The Ecological Footprint processes the amount of these land, wherever they actually occur on the world. The Ecological Footprint is used broadly as a controlling and communication tool by governments, companies, informative institutions, and non-governmental establishments. (ecological foot print FAQ, n.d.) What is carbon footprint? The complete quantity of greenhouse gases created to directly and indirectly upkeep human actions. It is usually stated in equal tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). For example, when you drive a vehicle, the machine burns petroleum which generates a certain quantity of CO2, depending on its fuel intake and the driving distance. When you warm your household with fuel, gas or coal...
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...Assignment I Carbon and Water Footprint Report Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at the University of Wollongong Name | UOW ID | Kazi Swad Abdullah | 5220683 | Sherin John | 4806670 | Samir Bastola | 4739218 | Sanju Kunjammattil Babu | 4873622 | table of contents 1. Executive Summary………………………………………………………………….…3 2. Introduction………………………………………………………....................................3 3. Description of Problem…………………………………………………………...……3 4. Method - Carbon Footprint.…………………….…...…............…........…….…………..4 5. Method - Water Footprint………...………………….................….……......…………...4 6. Assumptions…………………..………….............…..........……………………………..5 7. Limits………………………………………………………………………..…………5 8. Results - Carbon Footprint………...………………............………........……………..…6 9. Results - Water Footprint………………………………………………………………6 10. Discussion of Footprint Indicators………………...………...………………………….7 11. Comparison of Footprint Indicators……………………………………………….…...7 12. Conclusion & Recommendations………………………………………………………8 13. References…………………………………………………………....................……….9 14. Appendices.......................................................................................................….........................10 Executive Summary The ecological footprint of the SBRC building at the University of Wollongong was investigated; this includes investigating the water and the carbon footprint of the building...
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... Dhurim Gjureci The Measure of Ecological Footprint in Hopes to Reduce Human Consumption on the Earths Resources To: Benjamin Bradshaw GEOG*2210 (DE) S14 Environment and Resources From: Dhurim Gjureci 0678764 Thursday, July 17, 2014 The Measure of Ecological Footprint in Hopes to Reduce Human Consumption on the Earths Resources 1 GEOG 2210 S14 Dhurim Gjureci The Measure of Ecological Footprint in Hopes to Reduce Human Consumption on the Earths Resources By: Dhurim Gjureci Table of Contents What is Ecological Footprint? How is Ecological Footprint Measured? The Current State of the Earth Canada’s Ecological Footprint The Importance of Knowing Our Ecological Footprint Reduction Efforts Conclusion Bibliography...
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...EAS510 Homework 1 Huang Hua A. Calculate your ecological footprint (EF), and indicate how many planets would be needed if all humans on earth had your footprint. Answer: My ecological footprint is 30.40gha. If everyone one the planet live my lifestyle, we will need 1.93 Earths. Figure 1. Ecological Footprint calculated with www.myfootprint.org. B. Describe the principles and assumptions used in the metho. Answer: The Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates the area of land and ocean required to support our consumption of food, goods, services, housing, and energy and assimilate our wastes. The ecological footprint is expressed in "global hectares" (gha) or "global acres" (ga), which are standardized units that take into account the differences in biological productivity of various ecosystems impacted by our consumption activities. Our footprint is broken down into four consumption categories: carbon (home energy use and transportation), food, housing, and goods and services. Our footprint is also broken down into four ecosystem types or biomes: cropland, pastureland, forestland, and marine fisheries. My life style currently is: a family of three living in a family house of around 200 square meter, own a car, healthy food diet, and once per year family trip. C. Explain quantitatively the relative impact of each of the input items on the footprint. Figure 2 Composition of my Ecological Footprint and it’s comparison with the country’s average (note that the...
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...Name Tutor Course Date Ecological footprint Introduction The planet Earth is the only planet that supports and sustains human life. The human activities carried out on the planet are gradually making the planet unfavorable to live on (Perman 81). Ecology involves the study of relationships between living organisms and their usual natural environment. This paper will define ecological footprint, present a deep understanding of the ecological footprint and show how it applies in measuring the peoples’ effects to the environment. The paper will also explain how the ecological footprint can be used in making choices that go in line with people’s lifestyles. The principles of ecological footprint date back to literatures related to geography, ecology and economics. However, the idea of the earth’s ecological footprint has been present since early 90’s (Wackernagel 35). William Rees in 1992 produced the first academic publication on ecological footprint. The concept of ecological footprint and calculation criteria was later developed by Mathis Wackernagel as a PhD dissertation under the supervision of Rees at British Columbia University in Vancouver. Originally, the concept was called the appropriated carrying capacity. Rees later came up with the ecological footprint term in order to ensure that the concept is accessible. The ecological footprint in the planet has transpired as the earth’s vital gauge of the individual’s demand on the environment and the...
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...Ecological Footprint Since the industrial revolution, human’s demand for natural resources is greater than ever. Consumption and waste are extremely high in some countries and this is negatively impacting on our natural environment. If human’s develop the world by destroying the environment, that will not be lasting and sustainable development. We need to find the way to deal with the human development and also preserve the natural resources. The definition of the ‘ecological footprint’ is a way of measuring our impact on the natural environment as a result of our resource use(WWF, n.d). The purpose of this essay is to find out the ecological footprint in different countries and how resources being used and give to my personal suggestions. This essay, will compare the ecological footprint between two countries, Japan which is developed country and China --- developing country. China consumes 15% of the global biocapacity, and is in the second place in the world but also has the largest population. In 2003, China’s ecological footprint was 1.6(China Ecological Footprint Report, 2012), under the global per capita average of ecological footprint. Carbon footprint occupies half of the whole ecological footprint. From the same year’s figure of The Ecological Footprint Countries (China Ecological Footprint Report, 2012), Japan 4.4 per capita is in the first of Asian countries. Japanese mountain accounted for 73% of total land area, in addition to agricultural land, one percent...
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...CARBON FOOTPRINTS OF STUDENTS OF SCMS-UG, PUNE Name : Amogh Koranmath Class : TY -C PRN No: 11020621035 INTRODUCTION What is Carbon Footprint A carbon footprint is defined as the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). In other words: When you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. (CO2 is the chemical symbol for carbon dioxide). When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO2. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. When you buy food and goods, the production of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO2. Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame. Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year. A carbon footprint has historically been defined by Championne as "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person. Greenhouse gases can be emitted through transport, land clearance, and the production and consumption of food, fuels, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, and services. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms...
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...Assignment 1 – Environmental Footprint TABLE A. Ecological Footprint |Footprint Results | |(Answers to the following 2 questions will be given upon completion of footprint) | |If everyone lived like you, how many planet Earth’s would we need? |4.9 | |To support your lifestyle, how many productive global acres area needed? |21.8 | | | |Ecological Footprint Breakdown | |(Values can be obtained by scrolling over pie chart generated at completion of footprint) | |Percent of emissions from Food |14% | |Percent of emissions from Shelter |7% | |Percent of emissions from Mobility |14% | |Percent of emissions from Goods |25% ...
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...Literature Review on households / individual carbon footprints Households’ carbon footprints have fluctuated on a regular basis for many years. Why is this the case? Surely our carbon footprint should be reducing with ever increasing pressures from Governments and NGOs to consider the consequences of our lifestyles on the future of our planet. This is not the result though, “our needs and desires are expressed in the consumer demand for commodities, and it is this demand for goods and services which drives the production processes that consume resources” (Druckman, Jackson, 2009). Druckman and Jackson aim to understand carbon dioxide emissions from economic activity and “explore the variation in carbon footprints across different segments of society.” Druckman and Jackson found that affluence was a big factor in determining carbon emission disparities but it was not the only factor. Using a Local Area Resource Analysis (LARA) model, they realised that dwelling type and household composition also played a part. Using a variety of different methods and data, Druckman and Jackson tried to understand the variations in the UK’s carbon emissions. Examples of the different types of data in the literature were: “Allocation table for high level functional uses”, trends in CO2 and household expenditure in the UK and “CO2 emissions attributable to Supergroups”. In almost all research projects there are assumptions and limitations and this was also the case in this literature. Druckman and...
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... In the article, An urban metabolism and ecological footprint assessment of Metro Vancouver (2013), Moore, Kissinger, and Rees present extensive data regarding urban metabolism analysis (UMA) of residential consumption and ecological footprint analysis (EFA) of the Metro Vancouver region for the year 2006. The authors first collect Metro Vancouver’s urban metabolism data from local and provincial government, and provincially owned corporations and include: Metro Vancouver reports, Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority reports, Province of British Columbia reports, as well as BC Hydro reports (Moore et al, 2013, p. 54). The authors then collect Metro Vancouver’s ecological footprint estimates, in global average hectares (gha), of the ecosystem area required on a continuous basis by the region’s population to produce the products and carbon emissions in which it produces (p. 54). The third figure accompanying the article (p. 57), which summarizes the urban metabolism and ecological footprint of Metro Vancouver for 2006 (p. 56), indicates that water represents the largest material flow through Metro Vancouver of 424,860,000 m3, but has the smallest ecological footprint of 34,550 gha (p. 57). The results on figure three (p. 57) also display that food (1,753,000 tonnes) contributes the largest component to the ecological footprint of 4,514,400 gha (p. 57). The authors determine that Metro Vancouver’s total ecological footprint in 2006 is equivalent to 10,054,400 gha, which...
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...city of our earth. Our ecological footprint already disastrous will become much more detrimental with the staggering population growth.1 Our ecological footprint is largely comprised of three main elements of consumption: food, wood, and land. However, components such as energy consumption also need to be accounted for.2 Food availability, to a great extent, determines the carrying capacity for every population of species. The growth of industrial agriculture has caused a tremendous increase in food production around the world.3 Be that as it may, these practises consist of mechanization and fertilization both of which are dependent on petroleum. The United States uses 12% of its oil intake on food production alone. As the amount of oil in the world begins to decrease, so will the production of food.4 As Thomas Robert Malthus quotes in his An Essay on the Principle of population, “... the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.” 5 Malthus explains that the production of food cannot keep up with the rapidly increasing population.6 Wood consumption includes all the paper, packaging, wood furniture and firewood that we use day after day. 7 This part of the ecological footprint also needs to include the wood products that an individual uses in the systems and organizations that support them. Today, the world’s consumption of wood products, and therefore its ecological impact, is far greater than the carrying capacity of our ...
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...My Ecological Footprint Report Introduction The objective of the Ecological Footprint (EF) Calculator has allowed me to calculate overall impact on natural resources and to explore opportunities for changing my current lifestyle choices. It has also made me understanding of the linkages between environment, economy, society, and inter and intra-generational equity that relate each other. As our economy is generated by the goods and services developed from natural, social, built/financial capitals, this calculator highlights me the importance of how my daily decision-making can effect largely on the environment and my consumption is overtaken the ability of the earth to sustain inter and intra generations' life cycles. We including humans and other species have only one planet on the earth to survive well. Currently we have an ecological overshoot of human demands on natural assets which have exceeded the Earth's regenerative capacity. (Global Footprint Network, 2012) There are needs for precautions and remedial actions on increased consumptions over natural capital given by the planet's limited natural resources and ecological degradation. To avoid this upcoming effects, we all have our own individual's responsibility to reduce our impact and go GREEN from small to big chances which require our daily informed choices, planning, management, strategy and investment. Moreover, we should set realistic reduction targets and meet them for inter and intra-generations. The report...
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...No: 15 B Tech. Mechatronics Environmental Issues and Concern in UAE The UAE is in the midst of several initiatives aimed at tackling some of the biggest environmental issues facing the country. According to a 2010 report by the World Wildlife Fund, the UAE was rated number one in the world for having the biggest ecological footprint. The ecological footprint is a measure of a country’s sustainability that compares the use of natural resources per person per capita, which is expressed by a unit of bio-productive land called the ‘global hectare’. A committee of scientists and experts was set up in order to study in detail the methods of energy consumption in the country and determine how they can be improved. This made the UAE the third country in the world to develop the ‘Ecological Footprint Initiative’ after Switzerland and Japan. Since then, the footprint per person in the UAE has gone down from 9.5 gha in 2010 to 8.4 in 2012. However, the UAE is aiming to lower this number even further still. The UAE’s 2030 plan involves reducing carbon emissions city-wide by 40 per cent. After seeing that houses account for over three-quarters of the UAE’s carbon footprint, the beginning of 2013 saw a number of regulation modifications which improved the standard of lighting equipment being used in UAE homes. The initiative taken to install water and electricity meters in people’s homes aimed to allow people to change their behaviour towards the environment and to think twice about excessive...
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...representing main continents and network links are migration of population as well as diffusion of carbon dioxide among nodes over years by identifying population, carbon dioxide emission, GDP, biodiversity and water resources as nodal factors. In the first part, we explore the relations of these factors within each node from three aspects which could be simplified as ecological footprint, water footprint and living planet index. For ecological footprint, we formulate a differential model to indicate the relations between population, GDP and carbon dioxide emission. With the help of forcal in MATLAB, we perform parameter optimization to elicit the change of each factor over time so that we can make predictions. For water foot print, we establish a model to indicate the amount of accumulated water each year. Water accumulation could be considered as the difference between precipitation and water consumption, by which we predict the accumulated water of Australia. For living planet index, we formulate a logistic model with fishing rate to represent the number of a certain species over years. We use MATLAB to find the solution and plot a figure which could predict future biodiversity. In the second part, we study the relations of the nodes by population migration and carbon dioxide diffusion. We use diffusion model to simulate global carbon dioxide diffusion. The tipping point in terms of carbon dioxide emission is viewed as the longest time when CO2 concentration reaches a limit value...
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...Homework #1 – Basic Terms and Concepts Name: Intro to the Environment - Eco Footprint - Homework #1 (HW1) – Fall 2012 1. An ecosystem is a community of organisms living in a particular environment and also the physical elements in that given environment, in which these organisms interact. Its diversity is profoundly substantial. An ecosystem can extend from the icy artic zones to the tropical forests. They occur in many different scales with smaller systems pierced inside larger systems. Depending on the scale, an ecosystem can be small or profoundly large. 2. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. In plants, photosynthesis generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct. 3. A producer in an ecosystem, converts energy from the environment into carbon bonds. For instance, green plants use energy from the sun to create more complex molecules like carbon dioxide into glucose. Consumers on the other hand are organisms that obtain nutrients from other organisms. They attain their energy from the carbon bonds made by the producers. An example of a consumer is animal that gets its energy from plants. It is also called an herbivore. A few examples of herbivores include cows, moose, gazelles, rabbits and elephants. The trophic level of an organism is where the organism is situated in the food chain. A food chain is similar to...
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