The Importance Of Footprint

Footprint is a measurement for sustainability and unsustainability based on consumption of resources on goods and activities made by humans. It is a relevant measurement in sustainability since its balance depends on natural resources which is crucial for humanity (Moore, 2011). Footprint analysis can be done on different scales: individual, regional, national and global, depending which areas are considered in the analysis. If the footprint exceeds biocapacity at the global scale, it means that people are using more than can be regenerated (Moore, 2011). According to the Figure 1, it appears that the lifestyle of people in Western countries causes a larger footprint (more than 5 hectares per capita) than the developing countries, whose footprint

It shows the ecological impact due to human activities in terms of land area which is required to afford these activities. Defining the ecological impact, the amount of raw materials used and carbon dioxide emitted are considered and converted. The capacity is an estimated amount of land and water required to supply these resources or store the wastes created (Moore, 2011). The special feature of the Footprint analysis is that all human activities related to resources and environment is compact into a single dimension (Moffatt,

In contrast with the Ecological footprint, Carbon footprint takes in account a supply chain or the life-cycle of a product, not measuring area. It analysis eight categories: construction, shelter, food, clothing, mobility, manufactured products, services, and trade (Hertwich & Peter, 2009). Activities which cause direct emissions are using car and heating, meantime indirect occurs during generation of electricity and production of goods and services (Wiedmann & Minx, 2008). Depending on methodology, Carbon footprint stands mostly for gaseous emissions that are relevant to climate change and associated with human production or consumption activities (Wiedmann & Minx, 2008). However, there is no general rule which gaseous emissions must be considered either procedure for quantifying and units for Carbon footprint are not