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Environmental challenges – WJECOur ecological footprint

Consumerism has been and still is a vital component in the world’s economies. There are many ways in which British consumers cause issues within our environment. Transporting goods, buying products online and going on holiday create some of our biggest environmental challenges. This can impact on ecosystems throughout our world.

Part of GeographyEnvironmental challenges

Our ecological footprint

Our ecological footprint is a measure of the impact each of us has on the environment. It includes the amount of land needed each year to provide food, water, energy and services per person. Our ecological footprint is measured in global hectares per person (gha). We have enough on earth for 2.1 gha each. If this amount increases, our lifestyles will become unsustainable.

The more energy we consume, the more travelling we do, and the more natural sites we visit, the larger our ecological footprint. The diagram shows the five components of our ecological footprint:

The five components of our ecological footprint are energy, waste, travel, food and wood.
Figure caption,
Our ecological footprint