04/13/06

WATCH YOUR STEP!!

The Victorian Essential Learning Framework dictates that :

"all students need to develop the capacities to understand the world in which they live and act effectively in that world". Students will need to create a future which is sustainable- developing an understanding of the interaction between social, economic and environmental systems and how to manage them."

Sounds impressive but where do we start?

The need to develop a sense of where we fit in the world and the impact our lifestyle has on the earths resources is crucial to the survival of our planet. Without it we are facing ecological disaster.  While conservationists would generally regard technological advances as having a negative environmental impact, they have also provided us with the capacity to measure our lifestyles against the earths capacity to sustain us.

ECOLOGICAL

FOOTPRINTS

What do they measure and what do they tell us???

• The Ecological Footprint is a measure of the environmental impact of a nation, region, company, organisation or individual.

• It provides an indication comparison of the number of hectares of bioproductive land/sea are needed against what is available.

Current practices and trends in the developed world paint a rather bleak picture.  Australians in particular have much to learn about the importance of living lightly.  There are approximately 1.9 hectares per person of bioproductive land/sea.  We are currently using 2.3 hectares per person. 

Clearly this is not sustainable.

How lightly are you treading?

You can gauge how well you are faring in this regard by having a look at the ecological footprints found on the Victorian Governments Environment Protection Authority Website at  http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/Eco-footprint/

For information and assistance about answering the questions and interpreting the data from the footprint exercise,a guide is available at :