GEOG101 Introduction to Geography for Organic Footprint

Part 1 - Organic footprint

• Renewable and non renewable energy sources
• greenhouse gases
• Rising sea level
• More extreme weather
• injustice
• Human Rights

Part 2 :

• Water
• Gemstones
• Oil
• land use
• Cultivable field
• Sand
• Forest
• Or other.

Answer     

Part 1: Organic Footprint

a) Measure of Ecological footprint with World Food Fund Calculator

The planet Earth supports life and therefore is the dwelling place of human beings. It also supports the life of various ecosystems too. Due to its nature, humans can identify their sustainable wants and establish a better means of survival. This, therefore, affects the ecological ecosystem and it's surrounding forming the basis of ecological footprint. In the previous years, the ecological footprint was solely established to measure the usage of resources produced and consumption-cycle internationally (Fang, Heijungs, & de Snoo, 2014).

There has been a growing demand for goods and services generated from earth’s resources which have surpassed what can be recycled from planet’s ecosystems. For instance, Land is an important natural resource that is used for food production hence influences humanity’s consumption cycle. Activities carried out by humans have a bigger influence on how they consume the earth's resources and production of wastes as a result. It is from this perspective that ecological footprint calculation is founded and used extensively for global assessment on the impacts of the environment. Ecological footprint, therefore, measures the quantity usage of biologically-productive earth’s resources like land, water etc. and its available space. The study of the ecological footprint is globally useful in the assessment of sustainability and development goals. It is a better tool for measuring and managing earth’s resources for various global economies (Al-Mulali, et al 2015). The ecological footprint is measured in world's scales, country's scales, city's scales, and individual scales.

Ecological footprint calculation plays a pivotal role in the consumer-based sector. By calculation, total quantity demanded by a country is given by the function; C=P+I-X. Where, P=production, I=imports, and X=exports. This principle is applicable to several established countries. Developed nations do have a stable population hence high index of well-being. This makes them consume a lot of resources which in the end has a corresponding increase in their ecological footprint (Galli et al., 2014). 

b) Organic footprint combined with Sustainable Development

Greenhouse Gases

Increased human activities have exerted a lot of pressure on the ecological environmental systems. This has resulted in a global climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and caused a lot of environmental impacts. To help solve this, the country should ensure sustainable development by focusing primarily on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and coming up with other measures to reduce such emissions (Weinzettel et al., 2014).

Renewable and Non-renewable energy sources

Proper waste management is equally key to a sustainable development. This can be achieved by recycling the renewable energy sources and disposing of properly the non-renewable energy sources that cannot be recycled. A proper policy guideline is necessary for better enactment, implementation, and compliance of the wastes generated.

Rising Sea level

The intense increase of human activities on the environment has contributed a lot to the global climate change hence rising level of sea level. Global warming has immensely caused the rising sea level. World leaders and global communities, therefore, should embrace measures that should help reduce global warming and encourage more research and innovation on global climate change (Wackernagel et al., 2013).

Extreme Weather conditions

Extreme weather condition is brought about by the acts of human activities clearing forested land in search of timber, firewood, charcoal and even for settlement establishment. This has often resulted in the encroachment of the earth surface leading to desertification. For a country to realize its sustainable development goal, it is important to encourage and support the protection of indigenous trees and planting more trees for better forest cover. Proper policies guiding forest-certification needs to be globally complied with (Wackernagel et al., 2013).

Injustices

Improper application and breach of existing local laws and regulations for global communities and products have contributed immensely to social injustices. To mitigate this, strict adherence to these existing local laws and regulations needs to be complied with. This will ensure better standards of consumer product safety. To promote fair justice and transparency, global communities should ensure proper waste minimization and better maximization of renewable energy sources.

Human rights

Respect for human rights is important for a sustainable development goal. Good practices of human rights will ensure a good relationship and corporate responsibility between business community and partners. It will promote freedom of interaction, collective-bargaining rights, better employment terms and free movement of people (Wackernagel et al., 2013).

Part 2: Conflict of Interest

Environmental effects on Cultivable Field

Sustainable food security is key globally. The demand for food has made it possible for the human population to clear land and cultivate it for food security. This has therefore resulted in less forest cover leading to soil erosion. As a result, the land remains bare leading to desertification. This has therefore led to food insecurity in end leaving a country's population with hunger triggering world concern (Ziadat & Taimeh, 2013).

Conclusion

It can be deduced that human activities have led to global climate change and therefore more research and innovation needs to be carried out to help create more alternative sources of energy. Global policies guiding climate change needs to be adopted by counties to mitigate the effects of global warming and encourage a green economy. This, in the end, will ensure a sustainable development in the field of food security and environmental conservation.

References

Fang, K., Heijungs, R., & de Snoo, G. R. (2014). A theoretical exploration of the combination of the ecological, energy, carbon, and water footprints: Overview of a footprint family. Ecological Indicators, 36, 508-518.

Al-Mulali, U., Weng-Wai, C., Sheau-Ting, L., & Mohammed, A. H. (2015). Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis by utilizing the ecological footprint as an indicator of environmental degradation. Ecological Indicators, 48, 315-323.

Galli, A., Wackernagel, M., Iha, K., & Lazarus, E. (2014). Ecological footprint: Implications for biodiversity. Biological Conservation, 173, 121-132.

Weinzettel, J., Steen-Olsen, K., Hertwich, E. G., Borucke, M., & Galli, A. (2014). The ecological footprint of nations: comparison of process analysis, and standard and hybrid multiregional input-output analysis. Ecological Economics, 101, 115-126.

Wackernagel, M., Lazarus, E., Lin, D., Iha, K., & Kitzes, J. A. (2013). Ecological Footprint.

Ziadat, F. M., & Taimeh, A. Y. (2013). Effect of rainfall intensity, slope, land use and antecedent soil moisture on soil erosion in an arid environment. Land Degradation & Development, 24(6), 582-590.