Final Project ES

Carolina  Hernández  Franco                                                                                                                                                          3/sept/16  A01650476                                                                                                                                                                                                            304     First  Partial  Project   “Sustainability”    INTRODUCTION  As  humans  our  main  goal  has  always  been  to  survive  and  achieve  progress  by  testing  and  overcoming   our   own   capacities.   This   exact   same   way   of   thinking   has   lead   us   to   gain  knowledge   about   how   things   work   in   our   world   and   how   we   can   live   in   harmony   with   our  environment.  Unfortunately,  our  thirst  to  satisfy  our  needs  have  reached  a  point  where  we  no   longer   care   about   the   consequences,   we   take   what   we   want   without   thinking   of   the  possible  permanent  damage  we  are  make  to  the  biocapacity  of  our  planet.    Nowadays,   countries   have   polluted   the   air   with   toxins,   exponentially   increased   the   CO2,  deforested  millions  of  hectares  etc.,  all  because  of  the  need  to  become  the  most  powerful  country   of   the   world.   These   actions   had   caused   things   such   as   the   climate   change,   the  accumulation  of  green-­house  gases,  the  extinction  of  species,  the  melting  of  the  poles  etc.  Fortunately,   people   have   become   more   aware   and   most   countries   have   joined   special  programs,  such  as  the  Global  Footprint  Network,  to  stop  the  deterioration  of  the  environment  and  reach  sustainability.  In  this  case,  countries  need  to  register  their  ecological  footprint  which  lets  them  know  how  much  land  they  are  require  to  satisfy  their  need  while  letting  the  environment  to  regenerate.  Some  of  them  end  up  being  ecological  creditors,  meaning  that  their   footprint   does   not   exceed   their   biocapacity.   On   the   other   hand,   there   are   some  ecological  debtors  which  means  that  countries  do  surpass  their  biocapacity  and  affect  the  environment.    In  addition  to  what  has  been  said,  I´ll  analyze  the  footprints  and  biocapacity  if  15  countries  to  see  if  they  are  contributing  or  contaminating  more  the  environment.          METHODS  First  of  all,  I  searched  for  the  page  which  analyses  the  footprints  and  biocapacity  of  a  country  and  stablished  if  there  were  an  ecological  debtor  or  ecological  creditor.  I  was  able  to  infer  it  because   all   the   creditors   have   a   bigger   biocapacity   than   its   footprint,   in   the   same   way,  debtors  posses  a  bigger  footprint  than  their  biocapacity.  I  chose  countries  from  5  continents  and   they   were:   Canada,   Mongolia   USA,   Uruguay,   Chile,   Brazil,   Greece,   Germany,   Spain,  Congo,   China,   Australia,   Korea,   Russia,   Egypt,   Mexico   and   my   footprint.     After   that  compared  each  of  them  and  stated  the  reasons  why  they  were  considered  debtors/creditors.  I  put  them  in  a  table  and  finally  I  discussed  about  the  contribution  of  each  country  as  debtors/  creditors.      RESULTS  (1961-­2012)     FOOTPRINT   (per   BIOCAPACITY   DEBTOR/CREDITOR   capita)   CANADA   8.6   16.0   7.8          CREDITOR   MONGOLIA   6.1   15.7   9.6          CREDITOR   USA   8.  2   3.8   -­4.5        DEBTOR   URUGUAY   2.9   10.3   7.4          CREDITOR   CHILE   4.4   3.6   -­0.7        DEBTOR   BRAZIL   3.1   9.1   6.0          CREDITOR   GREECE   4.4   1.6   -­2.8        DEBTOR   GERMANY   5.3   2.3   -­3.0        DEBTOR  

SPAIN   3.7   1.3   -­2.4        DEBTOR   3.1   2.3          CREDITOR   CONGO   0.8   0.9   -­2.4          DEBTOR   16.6   7.3          CREDITOR   CHINA   3.4   0.7   -­5.0        DEBTOR   6.8   1.1          CREDITOR   AUSTRALIA   9.3   0.6   -­1.6        DEBTOR   1.3   -­1.6    DEBTOR   KOREA   5.7   3.6   2.7        DEBTOR   RUSSIA   5.7   EGYPT   2.  2   MEXICO   2.9   MY   FOOTPRINT   0.9   (COLOMBIA)     Footprint Canada Mongolia USA Uruguay Chile Brazil Greece Germany Spain Congo Korea Russia Egypt Mexico China Australia My  Footprint 10 8.6 9.3 9 8.2 8 7 6.1 5.3 6 5.7 5 4.4 5.7 4 4.4 3 3.1 3.73.4 2 2.9 1 2.9 2.2 0 0.8 0.9   Debtors/creditors  

Biocapacity Canada Mongolia USA Uruguay Chile Brazil Greece Germany Spain Congo China Australia Korea Russia Egypt Mexico My  Footprint18 16 16.61614 15.712 10.310 9.186 3.83.612.6.31.303..190.67.80.61.33.6420 Debtors/creditors  In   respect   of   the   given   information   above,   we   can   see   that   the   creditor   countries   are:  Canada,   Mongolia,   Uruguay,   Brazil,   Congo,   Australia,   Russia   and   my   own   footprint,   while  the  debtors  are:  USA,  Chile,  Greece,  Germany,  Spain,  Korea,  Germany,  China  and  Mexico.    DISCUSSION  The   result   showed   that   creditor   countries   are   the   ones   whose   footprint   is   lower   than   its  biocapacity,   therefore,   in   a   way,   they   allow   the   environment   to   regenerate   while   they   use  resources.  Creditor  countries  such  as  Canada,  Brazil  and  Australia  use  very  little  electricity  and,  even  though  the  produce  a  lot  of  oil/coal,  most  of  it  is  exported,  in  this  way  less  pollution  is  concentrated  in  their  countries  and  it  allows  them  to  continue  using  their  natural  resources  without  making  a  great  damage  to  the  ecosystem.  However,  we  have  some  countries  which  export  very  little  but  their  biocapacity  is  so  big  that  it  does  not  affect  that  much;;  for  example,  Brazil  produces  110.1  Mtoe  of  oil  which  mainly  goes  to  the  transport  sector  and  very  little  is  exported,   though   it   can   still   be   considered   a   creditor   because   of   the   biocapacity   of   their  country  which  is  of  9.1  vs  their  footprint  of  3.1  per  capita.  Apart  from  that,  we  have  to  take  into   account   that   creditor   countries   do   not   spend   much   electricity   in   general,   they   spend  much   of   their   time   trying   to   make   use   of   oil   for   the   transportation   field;;   this   works   on   their  advantage   because   it   helps   them   save   energy,   reduce   the   amount   of   heat   produced   and  improve  their  economy.  In  my  case,  my  footprint  was  of  0.9  compared  to  the  biosphere  of  my  place  (Colombia  in  this  case)  which  is  of  3.6,  this  meant  that  I  am  considered  as  a  creditor  because  I  do  not  overexploit  the  resources  the  environment  provides  me  with.      On  the  other  hand,  we  have  countries  such  as  China  and  USA  which  are  considered  debtors  because  they  excessively  use  resources  in  order  to  produce  a  lot  in  factories  plus  they  export  very  little  quantities.  They  are  also  humongous  producers  of  biowaste  products  which  only  contributes   to   the   contamination   of   their   own   environments.   These   types   of   countries   use  more   energy   than   their   environment   can   sustain,   they   use   most   of   it   in   factories   which  produce  astonishing  quantities  of  CO2  every  single  day.  The  problems  with  this  is  that  their  economy  is  solely  based  on  the  production  of  machinery  and  thus  they  depend  on  factories  a   lot.   If   they   were   to   reduce   the   amount   hours   the   factories   work   they   would   drastically  damage  their  economy  and  they  were  need  even  more  resources  to  compensate  for  it.  If  we  specifically   analyze   China’s   case,   we   can   see   that   they   mostly   produce   coal   to   sustain  

internal  factories  and  create  electricity;;  their  population  is  so  high  that  they  extract  and  use  1895  Mtoe  of  coal  per  year,  and  that  is  also  why  they  are  not  able  to  export  it.  At  the  end  this   results   in   the   accumulation   of   pollution,   the   need   to   use   more   and   more   natural  resources   everyday   and   enabling   the   environment   to   restore   itself   and   resulting   in   the  increase  of  their  ecological  footprint.    However,  not  all  creditors  have  low  footprints,  this  is  possible  because  of  the  biocapacity  of  each  country.  Their  footprint  may  be  high  but  it  does  not  exceed  their  biosphere  because  of  the   implementation   of   renewable   resources,   the   quantity   of   goods   they   export   and   the  natural   protected   areas   they   posses.   In   a   way,   all   of   this   helps   to   maintain   the   balance   of  their   ecosystem   because   the   majority   of   the   resources   are   exported   and   the   remaining   is  used  to  sustain  the  transportation  and  industry  of  the  country.  A  clear  example  of  this  would  be  Mongolia;;  its  footprint  is  of  6.1,  which  is  a  very  high  one,  though  its  biocapacity  is  15.7  which  makes  up  for  the  resources  they  take.  It  produces  15,478  Mtoe  of  coal  though  12,415  Mtoe   are   exported   and   with   the   earnings   they   make   they   can   increase   their   economy.  Nonetheless,  it  is  important  to  reduce  each  of  the  countries’  footprints  because  they  all  have  the  same  relevance  towards  the  contamination.  Even  if  countries  have  a  little  footprint,  when  you  sum  it  up  to  the  worldwide  footprint  you  can  see  that  it  is  a  lot.  If  all  countries  got  together  and  agreed  to  lower  even  10%  of  their  emissions,  it  would  have  a  great  worldwide  impact  at  the  end.  For  instance,  Canada’s  footprint  is  a  little  more  than  half  of  it  biocapacity  (8.6  of  16)  though  it  still  is  considered  a  creditor  because  it  allows  the  environment  to  regenerate  while  providing   them   with   resources,   but   if   it   were   to   reduce   its   footprint   not   only   will   its  environment   recover   but   the   biosphere   too.   All   in   all,   if   the   majority   of   the   countries   were  more  conscious  about  the  resources  they  take,  how  it  affects  the  world  and  the  importance  of  sustainable  development  we  would  have  less  production  of  CO2,  cleaner  air,  less  drastic  droughts  and  floods,  less  extinctions,  more  diversity  and  we  could  peacefully  live  with  the  environment  without  worrying  too  much  about  the  future  generations  and  their  survival.    .        BIBIOLGRAPHY  https://www.iea.org/Sankey/    http://www.footprintnetwork.org/ecological_footprint_nations/