Concept of Sustainability, Ecological Footprint

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What is concept of sustainability?
Sustainability is a complex concept with many facets, but at its core, it's about meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs. This means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of our
decisions and actions, and working to find ways to live that are beneficial for all three over the
long term.
Here are some key aspects of the concept of sustainability:
1. Environmental sustainability: This is about protecting the natural world and its
resources, such as clean water, air, and soil. It also means reducing our impact on
climate change and biodiversity loss.
2. Social sustainability: This is about ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to live
a healthy and fulfilling life. It includes things like access to education, healthcare, and
affordable housing.
3. Economic sustainability: This is about building an economy that is fair and equitable,
and that uses resources efficiently. It means finding ways to meet our needs without
depleting the Earth's resources or creating unsustainable levels of debt.
The three pillars of sustainability are interconnected, and it's important to consider all of them
when making decisions. For example, a decision that is good for the environment might not
be good for the economy, and vice versa. It's important to find solutions that meet the needs
of all three pillars.
The concept of sustainability is becoming increasingly important as we face challenges like
climate change, population growth, and resource depletion. By working together to find
sustainable solutions, we can create a better future for ourselves and generations to come.
Here are some examples of sustainable practices:

• Using renewable energy sources like solar and wind power

• Conserving water and energy
• Recycling and composting
• Eating locally-grown food
• Supporting businesses that are committed to sustainability

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What is Sustainable Development?
• Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs’.
• This most widely accepted definition of Sustainable Development was given by the
Brundtland Commission in its report Our Common Future (1987).
• Sustainable development (SD) calls for concerted efforts towards building an inclusive,
sustainable and resilient future for people and planet.

Core Elements of Sustainable Development

• Three core elements of sustainable development are economic growth, social
inclusion and environmental protection. It is crucial to harmonize them.
• Sustainable economic growth, achieving sustainable livelihood, living in harmony with
nature and appropriate technology are important for sustainable development.
• Environmental Sustainability:
➢ It prevents nature from being used as an inexhaustible source of resources and
ensures its protection and rational use.
➢ Aspects such as environmental conservation, investment in renewable energy,
saving water, supporting sustainable mobility, and innovation in sustainable
construction and architecture, contribute to achieving environmental
sustainability on several fronts.

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 • Social Sustainability:
➢ It can foster gender equality, development of people, communities and
cultures to help achieve a reasonable and fairly-distributed quality of life,
healthcare and education across the Globe.
• Economic Sustainability:
o Focuses on equal economic growth that generates wealth for all, without
harming the environment.
o Investment and equal distribution of economic resources.
o Eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions.

Integration of Scientific and Traditional knowledge

• If the people are able to contribute their local resources and practices into the process
of change, the development becomes not only sustainable but also gets accelerated.
• Combined traditional and scientific knowledge is called community knowledge.
Moving towards SD in many areas will require community knowledge.
• Indigenous knowledge is also a potential source for the conservation of biodiversity.
• Significance of traditional knowledge has been recognized in India through initiatives
such as National Ayush Mission (NAM) and the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
(TKDL).

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Global issues Related to Sustainable Development

• Inequitable growth of national economies (North-South Divide)

• Loss of Biodiversity: Despite mounting efforts over the past 20 years, the loss of the
world’s biodiversity continues.
• Climate Change: As a global problem, climate change requires a global solution. Within
climate change, particular attention needs to be paid to the unique challenges facing
developing countries.
• Tackling climate change and fostering sustainable development are two mutually
reinforcing issues.
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs): There is a need for welfare for all rich and poor to
have affordable access to the results of innovation that can lead to sustainable
development.

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Global Initiatives on Sustainable Development
• The Stockholm Conference,1972: It was the first step towards putting
environmental concerns on the global agenda.
• It resulted in the Stockholm Declaration which contained principles and an Action
Plan containing recommendations for environmental policy.
• UNEP was set up in 1972 to serve as a catalyst in developing and coordinating an
environmental focus in the programmes of other organizations.
• The Earth Summit, 1992: This was a direct consequence of the Brundtland
Commission’s Report. It was held in Rio de Janeiro. The results of the Conference
were the following documents:

➢ The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

➢ The Convention on Biological Diversity
➢ The Statement on Forest Principles
➢ The Rio Declaration
➢ Agenda 21
• Kyoto Protocol,1997
• Rio +10, 2002: A 10-year assessment of the Rio outcomes (Rio +10) took the shape of
the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg.
• Ramsar Convention, 1971
• The World Heritage Convention, 1972: It identifies and conserves the world’s cultural
and natural heritage. It draws up a list of ‘heritage sites’, which are cultural, natural or
mixed areas of ‘outstanding universal value’ and therefore need to be preserved for all
humanity.
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), 1973
• Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), 1979
• Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 1985
• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, 1987
• Basel Convention, 1989
• Convention on Biological Diversity,1992
• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification,1994
• Rotterdam Convention,1998
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,2001
• Global Tiger Forum,1993

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 • International Whaling Commission,1946
• Minamata Convention,2013
• Climate change mitigation strategies: Carbon sequestration, Carbon sink, Carbon
Credit, Carbon trading, Carbon offsetting, Carbon Tax, Geo-engineering.
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• Climate Finance Architecture: Green Climate Fund (GCF), Adaptation Fund (AF) and
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and REDD+
• Paris Agreement 2015
• The Clean Development Mechanism is a way to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs)
emissions through efficient and sound technologies.
• Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA)
• Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• The United Nations approved the Sustainable Development Goals in India (SDGs), also
known as the Global Goals, in 2015 as a global action call to eradicate poverty,
safeguard the environment, and guarantee that by 2030, everyone would live in peace
and prosperity.
• All the 17 SDGs are interconnected, that recognizes the actions in one area have an
impact on outcomes in others and that development must strike a balance between
social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
• The Sustainable Development Goals in India (SDGs) aim to eradicate poverty, quality
education, clean water and sanitation, hunger, AIDS, and discrimination against
women and girls, health.
• To bring sustainable development in the mainstream United Nations (UN) launched
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs.
• This universal, integrated and transformative agenda aims to spur actions that will end
poverty and build a more sustainable world over the next 15 years.
• There are 17 goals and 169 targets specific targets to be achieved by 2030. Reaching
the goals requires action on all fronts – governments, businesses, civil society and
people everywhere all have a role to play.
• SDGs are not legally binding.

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The sustainable goal in India
• India played a key role in the development of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Agenda 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goals in India mirror
much of India’s National Development Agenda (SDGs). The world’s progress towards
achieving the SDGs is primarily dependent on India’s success. However, the SDGs may
be difficult to absorb and understand, with 17 goals, 169 targets, and 306 national
indicators, and defining and quantifying progress may be tough.
• While governments around the globe debate how to implement and monitor progress
toward the Goals, the NITI Aayog has taken the initiative by releasing the SDG India
Index – Baseline Report 2018, which demonstrates how the SDGs will be measured in
India. The NITI Aayog published the Baseline Report of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG) India Index, which details the progress achieved by India’s states and union
territories in achieving the 2030 SDG objectives.
• The SDG India Index was created by NITI Aayog and covers 13 of the 17 SDGs (leaving
out Goals 12, 13, 14, and 17). The Index measures the success of all States and Union
Territories (UTs) on a set of 62 National Indicators, which track the outcomes of the
Government of India’s actions and programs. The SDG India Index aims to present a
comprehensive picture of the country’s social, economic, and environmental situation,
as well as those of its States and UTs.
• The SDG India Index is a broad metric that governments, corporations, civil society,
and the general public can all understand and apply. It was made to give an overall
evaluation of all Indian states and union territories, and to assist leaders and
changemakers in evaluating their performance on social, economic, and
environmental aspects. Its goal is to track India’s and its states’ progress forward
towards 2030 SDGs.

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India in SDG
India’s Preparedness Worsened:
India is not placed well to achieve the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development
Goals (SDG) and its preparedness has worsened over the years in comparison with other
countries.
Major Challenges:

• The country continues to face major challenges in achieving 11 of the 17 SDGs, which
has pushed down its global ranking on SDG preparedness.
• Ensuring decent work (SDG 8) has become more challenging.
• According to the report, India is on track to achieving SDG 13 on climate action.
• However, The State of India’s Environment, 2022 flagged that the country was facing
major challenges in this area.
• India’s performance on climate action — (SDG) 13 — has slipped from 2019-2020.
• This decline in India’s overall performance is primarily due to eight states — Bihar,
Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and
Jharkhand — whose scores have dipped under SDG 13 in the two years.
Progress Made:

• The progress in around 10 of these goals is similar to those in 2021.

• These include SDG 2 on ending hunger, SDG 3 on good health and well-being and SDG
6 on clean water and sanitation.

Sustainability Indices
Sustainable Development Index (SDI), 2019

• It is released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

• The SDI seeks to help countries identify gaps that must be closed in order to achieve
SDGs by 2030 and to identify priorities for early action.
• India ranked 115 out of 162 countries.

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Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2022

• It is a global assessment of countries' progress towards achieving the Sustainable

Development Goals.
• India was ranked 121 out of the 163 countries in 2022. It was ranked 117 in 2020 and
120 in 2021.
• Earlier, in February 2022, the Prime Minister addressed the “The Energy and Resources
Institute’s (TERI) World Sustainable Development Summit”.
• It is published by a group of independent experts at the Sustainable Development
Solutions Network (SDSN).
➢ SDSN was launched in 2012 to mobilize global scientific and technological expertise
to promote practical problem solving for sustainable development and implement
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
➢ Following their adoption, SDSN is now committed to supporting the
implementation of the SDGs at national and international levels.
• It is the first GSDR prepared by the United Nations. It is entitled “The Future is Now:
Science for Achieving Sustainable Development”.
• It evaluated progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The overall score
measures the total progress towards achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG)
• The report finds that the current development model is not sustainable, and the
progress made is in danger of being reversed through worsening social inequalities
and potentially irreversible declines in the natural environment that sustains us.
• The 2022 SDG Index is topped by Finland, followed by three Nordic countries –
Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
• The amount of modern renewable energy in the total global energy supply has
increased by an average of approx. 5% annually over the past decade. Meanwhile,
since 2009 the price of renewable electricity (solar and wind) has dropped for five
years in a row.

Environment Performance Index (EPI)

• The Environment Performance Index (EPI) is an international ranking system that

measures environmental health and sustainability of countries.
• The EPI, a biennial index, was started in 2002 as Environmental Sustainability Index by
the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Yale Center for Environmental
Law and Policy and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science
Information Network.
• The 2022 EPI leverages 40 performance indicators grouped into 11 issue categories.
• Denmark tops the 2022 rankings — an achievement rooted in strong performance
across nearly all issues tracked by the EPI, with notable leadership in efforts to promote
a clean energy future and sustainable agriculture.
• With a paltry score of 18.9, India’s 180th ranking comes after Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Vietnam and Myanmar.

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Need for sustainable development
• In the areas of economic development and environmental depletion, several issues
require attention. As a result, the concept of sustainable development is critical to
address the following issues:
• To slow or halt the deterioration of the environment
• To ensure that human life is not jeopardized
• Checking exploitative technology and looking for alternatives
• To prevent the overuse and wastages of natural resources
• Renewable energy resources to be regenerated

Components of sustainable development:

Various criteria have been used to discuss the components of sustainable development,
depending on the context and decision-making levels. The elements can be broken down into
three categories: social, economic, and environmental.
Social components

• Workers Health and safety

• Quality of life and impact on the local communities
• Underrated groups’ benefits
• Reduce the negative influence on human health
Economic components:

• New markets are being created, as well as prospects for sales growth
• Cost savings are achieved through increased efficiency and improvements, as well as
lower raw material and energy inputs
• Additional value creation
Environmental components:

• Reduce waste, wastewater output, and environmental pollution

• Utilization of renewable resources
• Toxic chemicals must be removed

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Concept of sustainable agriculture
The concept of sustainable agriculture is about meeting the current food and fiber needs of
our growing population while protecting the environment and ensuring its ability to support
future generations. It's a complex approach that considers various factors beyond just
production, aiming for long-term viability and positive impacts on all three pillars of
sustainability: environment, society, and economy.
Environment:

• Protecting soil health: This involves practices like crop rotation, cover cropping,
composting, and avoiding excessive tillage to maintain soil fertility, structure, and
organic matter.
• Water conservation: Efficient irrigation techniques, water harvesting, and drought-
resistant crops help minimize water usage.
• Reducing pollution: By minimizing the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides,
sustainable agriculture aims to protect water quality and prevent air and soil
contamination.
• Biodiversity enhancement: Creating diverse ecosystems within and around farms
attracts beneficial insects and pollinators, promotes natural pest control, and protects
threatened species.
Society:

• Fair labor practices: Ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, and access to
healthcare for farmworkers is crucial for a sustainable food system.
• Supporting local communities: Sustainable agriculture often emphasizes local food
production and distribution, promoting connections between farmers and consumers,
and strengthening rural communities.
• Food security and nutrition: Focusing on nutritious and diverse crops helps address
malnutrition and ensure food availability for all.

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Economy:

• Economic viability: Sustainable agriculture practices aim to be profitable for farmers,

ensuring long-term financial stability and encouraging adoption.
• Resource efficiency: Reducing dependence on external inputs like chemical fertilizers
and pesticides minimizes costs and promotes efficient resource use.
• Innovation and knowledge sharing: Sustainable agriculture encourages continued
research and development of new practices and technologies, and promotes
knowledge sharing among farmers and communities.
Examples of sustainable farming practices include:

• Organic farming: Eliminates synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, relying on natural

methods like organic compost and pest control.
• Agroforestry: Combines agriculture with forestry practices, creating diverse
ecosystems and improving soil health.
• Aquaponics: Combines fish farming with plant cultivation, creating a closed-loop
system that uses fish waste to fertilize plants.
• Integrated pest management (IPM): Uses a combination of natural and biological
control methods to manage pests, minimizing reliance on chemical pesticides.
Sustainable agriculture is not a one-size-fits-all approach, as specific practices will vary
depending on local context, climate, and type of farm. However, it offers a promising path
towards a more resilient and equitable food system for the future.

National Action Plan on Climate Change

• The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was launched in 2008 by the
Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
• It aims at creating awareness among the representatives of the public, different
agencies of the government, scientists, industry and the communities on the threat
posed by climate change and the steps to counter it.
• There are 8 national missions forming the core of the NAPCC which represent multi-
pronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in climate change.
These are-
1. National Solar Mission
2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
4. National Water Mission
5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
6. National Mission for A Green India
7. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

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Salient Features
NAPCC is guided by following principles-

• Protection of poor and vulnerable sections of society through inclusive and sustainable
development strategy, sensitive to climate change.
• Achievements of national growth through qualitative changes enhancing ecological
sustainability.
• Deployment of appropriate technologies for both adaptation and mitigation of
Greenhouse Gases emissions extensively and at an accelerated pace.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission

• Governed by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

• It was launched in 2010 with the primary aim of achieving grid parity by 2022 and with
coal-based thermal power by 2030.
• Aims to increase the share of solar energy in India's energy mix.
• It takes the measures of increasing R&D efforts, promoting decentralized distribution
of energy by creating cheaper and more convenient solar power systems.
• Emphasis on manufacturing solar panels at the local level and to tie up local research
with international efforts.

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 • Seeks to reduce the absolute cost of solar energy to bring it down and make it
affordable.
• The ultimate objective is to develop a solar industry in India, capable of delivering solar
energy competitively again the fossil fuel options.
National Mission for Green India

• Governed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

• It has the mandate of reviving degraded forest land with a focus on increasing forest
cover & density and conserving biodiversity.
• Works towards reducing fragmentation of forests, enhancing private public
partnerships for plantations, improving schemes based on joint forestry management
etc.
• Makes plans to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
• Enhancing carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests.
• Enhancing the resilience of vulnerable species and ecosystems to adapt to climate
change.
• Enabling forest dependent communities to adapt to climate variability.
• Double the area to be taken up for afforestation.
• Increase greenhouse gas removals by Indian forests.
• Enhance resilience of forests and ecosystems falling under the mission.
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

• Governed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

• It works towards devising strategies to make Indian agriculture less susceptible to
climate change.
• It would identify and develop new crop varieties, use traditional and modern
agricultural techniques.
• This mission sees dry land agriculture, risk management, access to information and
use of biotechnology as areas of intervention.
• Strengthening agricultural insurance, develop a system based on Geographic
Information System (GIS) and remote sensing to map soil resource and land use.
• Providing information and collation of off-season crops and preparation of state-level
agro-climatic atlases.
• Strategies to evolve low input agriculture with enhanced water and nitrogen efficient
crops.
• Nutritional strategies to manage heat stress in dairy animals.
• Using of micro irrigation systems.
• Promotion of agricultural techniques like minimum tillage, organic farming and rain
water conservation.
• Capacity building of farmers and other stakeholders.
• Production of bio-fertilizer, compost along with subsidies for chemical fertilizers.
• Strengthening of National Agricultural Insurance Scheme.

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National Environment Policy, 2006
The National Environmental Policy, 2006, was released in August by the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MOEF) to establish a set of regulations for environmental
protection, Environmentalists welcomed it wholeheartedly because it is the dire need of the
hour to have such regulations to prevent environmental degradation.
Below are the objectives of the National Environmental Policy, 2006:

• To protect and conserve ecological systems and natural resources

• To confirm equitable access to environmental resources and quality for all sections of
society
• To ensure the rational use of environmental resources to encounter the needs and
aspirations of the present and future generations
• To incorporate environmental concerns into policies, plans, programmes, and projects
for economic and social development.
• To ensure efficient use of environmental resources in the sense of reduction in their
use per unit of economic output, to minimize unfavorable environmental impacts.
• To apply the principles of good governance in the management and regulation of the
use of environmental resources
The National Environment Policy, 2006 is an umbrella document that has covered the
provisions that were separately governed by different acts earlier like National Forest Policy,
1988, National Agriculture Policy, 2000, National Population Policy, 2000 and the National
Water Policy, 2002 etc. this act has made the environmental provisions more comprehensive
and clearer. The points showing the relevance of the Policy are

• Stimulates partnership between stakeholders: The policy also seeks to stimulate

partnerships of different stakeholders, i.e. public agencies, local communities,
academic and scientific institutions, the investment community, and international
development partners, in harnessing their respective resources and strengths for
environmental management.
• Concerns on Freshwater Resources: While dealing with freshwater resources, the NEP
expresses alarm over the wasteful and inefficient use of surface as well as groundwater
and points to a slew of actions that need to be taken for conservation. The policy also
refers to the levy of proper user charges to reflect water
• Biodiversity Conservation: Biodiversity conservation has received adequate attention
in the NEP. An important object of the Biological Diversity Act, of 2002 is to check
piracy of biomaterial and traditional knowledge and to enforce intellectual property
rights (IPRS) over them. The Policy reiterates the letter and spirit of the Act.

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• Enhancing Forest Cover: The MOEF is trying to find out ways and means to achieve the
target of increasing the forest cover to 33 per cent by 2012. This task has been set by
the Planning Commission under the Tenth Plan and approved by the National
Development Council. The involvement of people-particularly at the grassroots level-
and agencies outside the government will be crucial.
• Forest and Wildlife Conservation: Forest and wildlife conservation have been the forte
of the MoEF. The NEP breaks new ground in pleading for “legal recognition of the
traditional rights of forest-dwelling tribes” to “remedy a serious historical injustice”.
• Participation in coastal and marine areas: The Government earmarks encouraging
stakeholder participation in solving problems related to multi-user conflicts in coastal
areas in keeping with effectively integrated coastal zone management principles and
philosophies.
• Information on air pollution: The Government developed a registration programme for
all listed activities that emit specific air pollutants to assess their contribution to air
pollution, which will lead to the development of an air emissions inventory in Trinidad
and Tobago.
• Participation in wetlands: The Government using national environment policy will
promote public awareness and understanding of the wetland resources of Trinidad and
Tobago and actively encourage the participation of landowners, nongovernmental
organisations and institutions in wetland conservation

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Ecological Footprint
• The “ecological footprint” is a measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems.
• It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with
the planet’s ecological capacity to regenerate and represents the amount of
biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human
population consumes, and to assimilate associated waste.
• The units for ecological footprint are global hectares (gha).
• Global Footprint Network (GFN) every year presents a report on ecological footprint
which maps consumption and requirement of natural resources to sustain it. The
lifestyle adopted in developed countries is unsustainable and it will require five Earths
to fulfill their lifestyle demands.
• On the other hand, the Indian lifestyle is sustainable where one earth is sufficient. The
• Earth Overshoot Report has indicated that the Ecological Footprint of developed
countries ranges from 8 to 4 whereas India is at 0.9.
• The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to
measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to
support people and their economies.
• It tracks this demand through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast
the biologically productive area people use for their consumption to the biologically
productive area available within a region, nation, or the world (biocapacity, the
productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature). In short, it is
a measure of human impact on the environment and whether that impact is
sustainable.
• Footprint and biocapacity can be compared at the individual, regional, national or
global scale. Both footprint and demands on biocapacity change every year with
number of people, per person consumption, efficiency of production, and productivity
of ecosystems.
• At a global scale, footprint assessments show how big humanity's demand is compared
to what Earth can renew. Global Footprint Network estimates that, as of 2019,
humanity has been using natural capital 75% faster than Earth can renew it, which they
describe as meaning humanity's ecological footprint corresponds to 1.75 planet
Earths. This overuse is called ecological overshoot.

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• Ecological footprint analysis is widely used around the world in support of
sustainability assessments. It enables people to measure and manage the use of
resources throughout the economy and explore the sustainability of individual
lifestyles, goods and services, organizations, industry sectors, neighborhoods, cities,
regions, and nations.
• The “carbon footprint” is the amount of carbon being emitted by an activity or
organization. The carbon component of the ecological footprint converts the amount
of carbon dioxide being released into the amount of productive land and sea area
required to sequester it and tells the demand on the Earth that results from burning
fossil fuels.
• The carbon footprint is 54% of the ecological footprint and its most rapidly-growing
component having increased 11- fold since 1961.
• Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by the Global Footprint Network. It is calculated by
dividing the world biocapacity (the number of natural resources generated by Earth
that year), by the world’s ecological footprint (humanity’s consumption of Earth’s
natural resources for that year), and multiplying by 365.

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