The document discusses humanity's increasing ecological footprint and the concept of "ecological creditors" and "ecological debtors". It notes that humanity's footprint has exceeded what the Earth can regenerate since the 1960s and presents data showing the annual deficit accumulating into a global ecological debt. It advocates that countries, cities, and communities need to urgently reduce their footprints through transformational changes to achieve environmental sustainability.
20. Impact: The Eco-Footprint of a General Retailer (vintage poster facsimile)
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22. From nicety to necessity… FOOTPRINT FORUM 2009 THE OPPORTUNITY OF LIMITS Siena, Italy September 9-11
23. Winning together Get ready for “peak everything” For cities, the benefit of acting is overwhelming. [email_address]
Editor's Notes
Honor to be part of ICLEI – making huge impact just by creating synergies. Big opportunity – huge pot of gold sitting out there for humanity, and we are too blind to see and grab it. In essence – assuming we are moving into an ecologically constrained world, cities and countries that are not prepared will suffer the consequences. Don’t think about doing good to humanity, focus on your own future (which by the way is also good for humanity).
Normal? What’s the upper limit? Collision Course All these parallel trends, do they just mean it is normal? Or are they representing compounding risk? How much more can these curves rise? What’s the consequence? What’s the upper limit?
L’humanité utilise aujourd’hui l’équivalent de 1,3 planète pour satisfaire ses besoins. Les scénarios prudents des Nations Unies suggèrent que si cette tendance se poursuit, l’humanité aura besoin de 2 planètes en 2050. Nous ne respectons donc pas notre budget: chaque année, nous prélevons plus de ressources que ce que la Terre peut produire et nous émettons plus de déchets que ce qu’elle peut éliminer. Notre planète ne pourra pas indéfiniment répondre à cette pression croissante. L’avenir de chaque pays dépend ainsi des décisions que ses dirigeants prennent aujourd’hui. L’empreinte écologique évalue les surfaces biologiquement productives (terres et mers) qu’il faut à une population humaine pour obtenir les ressources qu’elle consomme et dégrader les déchets qu’elle produit. Le graphique montre que l’empreinte de l’humanité ne cesse de s’accroître. En 1961, nous consommions 50% de la capacité disponible de la Terre. En 2007, nous utilisions 30% de plus que cette capacité. L’empreinte de certains pays est même cinq fois supérieure à cette moyenne.
Supply versus Demand and “ SLOW THINGS FIRST” Moderate United Nations projections suggest that humanity’s footprint will grow to double the Earth’s capacity within five decades. The lifespan of infrastructure put in place today to a large extent determines resource consumption for decades to come, and can lock humanity into this ecologically (and economically) risky scenario. For each investment decision, we can ask ourselves, are we buying ourselves into traps or opportunities.
Shows the competition between sectors Future opportunities: What are the wedges needed – these are the emerging markets These are a few examples
Assessing Businesses and their Risk Exposure See www.footprintnetwork.org/casestudies
We’ll show case this through examples from the macro to micro level