Putting Earth First: Eating and Living Green

Putting Earth First: Eating and Living Green — page 1
Troubling Times Humans are using more resources than Earth has to offer Resources are the sources of a country's wealth such as minerals and land Our increasing demand for resources has exceeded what our planet can provide So what exactly does this mean Humans are cutting down trees faster than they can be regrown We harvest more fish than oceans can replenish or replace We send more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels than forests and oceans can absorb or take in In fact it would take approximately one and a half Earths just to keep up with the rate at which we are currently using resources The amount of land and natural resources needed to produce the goods and services we use to support our lifestyles is called our ecological footprint This measure can be for an individual a region or the entire world population Not everyone is using the world's resources equally Some are using more than others Average ecological footprints are larger in some areas than others This graph shows how many planets would be needed if everyone on Earth had the same footprint as the average residents of the countries listed below Number of Earths Needed South Africa Argentina Slovakia South Korea United States Qatar