Towards a deeper and broader ecological footprint

Abstract

A revised methodology for calculating ecological footprints is proposed. The method considers anthropogenic disturbances at a finer level of geographical desegregation than previous methods; instead of a single national land area it considers 1408 smaller regions within Australia. It also addresses a previous gap in disturbance based ecological footprint calculation, that is, the exclusion of ecotoxic emissions. The method is described and illustrated using a case study. The resulting ecological footprint is larger than previous calculations, but it avoids a current methodological problem in which the energy used to treat exhaust gases or wastewaters increases the ecological footprint of communities without any corresponding benefit associated with reduced emissions to the environment.