Ecological Footprint Activity
Canadian ecological footprints are among the biggest in the world, surpassed only by those of
the U.S. and Australia. Big feet you ask? Not really. Canadians are topping the heap because of their
large Ecological Footprints- the amount of productive land each person needs to maintain his
or her current lifestyle. So how much productive land do we need? A whopping 7.8 hectares per
person. That equals about 15 football fields. This is almost four times more than the approximately
two hectares of productive land available per person on the planet. Clearly, as the earth’s population
grows there will be even less productive land to go around. We’re running out of room, and
Canadians need smaller feet.
You will first calculate your ecological footprint and then write a brief report on both its implications
and how you could change it’s size. After completing the ecological footprint questionnaire, you will
write a brief report, which includes the following aspects:


The size of your ecological footprint
Which section of the questionnaire (housing, food, transportation, purchases and waste) you
feel you scored the highest on and why
 Which section of the questionnaire you feel you scored the lowest on and why
 Name and describe at least three ways in which you could dramatically decrease your
ecological footprint
 A conclusion which presents if you think that you would actually change your footprint and why
or why not
Ecological Footprint Questionnaire
You can either :print this entire document out and circle your answers OR.
record the title of each section ie. “housing” rewrite the question and write the answer that
best fits your life with the amount of points. Be prepared to share your answers in a group.
I. Housing

How many people are in your household?
i) 1
ii) 2
iii) 3
iv) 4
v) 5 or more

Points
(30)
(25)
(20)
(15)
(10)
How is your house heated?
i) natural gas
ii) electricity
iii) oil
iv) renewable (solar, wind)
(30)
(40)
(50)
(0)

How many individual faucets (taps in your kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room and outside) and
toilets do you have in your house?
i) less than 3
ii) 3 to 5
iii) 6 to 8
iv) 8 to 10
v) more than 10

(5)
(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
What type of home do you live in?
i) apartment/condominium
ii) house
(20)
(40)
II. Food

How many meals per week do you eat meat or fish?
i) 0
ii) 1 to 3
iii) 4 to 6
iv) 7 to 10
v) more than 10

How many home-made meals do you eat per week (including those you bring to school/work)?
i) under 10
ii) 10 to 14
iii) 14 to 18
iv) more than 18

(0)
(10)
(20)
(35)
(50)
(25)
(20)
(15)
(10)
When purchasing your food items, does your family try to buy locally produced foods?
i) yes
ii) no
iii) sometimes
iv) rarely
v) don’t know
(25)
(125)
(50)
(100)
(75)
III. Transportation

If you or your family own/use a car, what type of car is it?
i) motorcycle
ii) small compact
iii) mid-sized
iv) full-sized
v) sports utility vehicle or van
vi) pick-up truck

(15)
(35)
(60)
(75)
(100)
(130)
How do you get to school/work?
i) car
(50)
ii) public transit (bus, streetcar, subway, train)
iii) school bus
(20)
iv) walk
(0)
v) bicycle or roller blade
(0)

How many trips do you make per week on public transit that you would have otherwise used a
car?
i) 0
ii) 1 to 5
iii) 6 to 10
iv) 11 to 15
v) more than 15

(50)
(40)
(30)
(20)
Where did you go on your most recent vacation (within the last year)?
i) no vacation
ii) Ontario
iii) outside of Ontario, but within Canada
iv) the United States
v) outside of North America

(25)
(0)
(10)
(30)
(40)
(70)
How many weekends in the summer do you take weekend trips by car (e.g. going to a cottage,
camping etc.) ?
i) 0
ii) 1 to 3
iii) 4 to 6
iv) 7 to 9
v) more than 9
IV. Purchases
(0)
(10)
(20)
(30)
(40)

How many large purchases (e.g. stereo, TV, VCR, home computer, car, furniture, fridge, stove
etc.) has your household made in the last year?
i) 0
ii) 1 to 3
iii) 4 to 6
iv) more than 6

(0)
(15)
(30)
(45)
Have you bought any more energy-efficient products in the last year (e.g. light bulbs, fridges,
stoves, furnaces) ?
i) yes
ii) no
(0)
(25)
V. Waste

Does your household try to reduce the amount of waste generated in the house (e.g. buying
food in bulk, refusing junk mail/flyers, using reusable containers for storage, using natural
cleaners for household cleaning)?
i) always
ii) sometimes
iii) rarely
iv) never

Does your household compost?
i) always
ii) sometimes
iii) rarely
iv) never

(0)
(10)
(20)
(30)
(0)
(10)
(15)
(20)
Does your household recycle newspapers, cardboard boxes/ boxboard/ pizza boxes, fine
paper, aluminum cans, glass/plastic bottles and other materials?
i) always
ii) sometimes
iii) rarely
iv) never
(0)
(10)
(15)
(20)

How many garbage bags of waste do you leave at the curb each week for pick up?
i) 0
ii) one half-full garbage bag
iii) 1
iv) 2
v) more than 2
(0)
(5)
(10)
(20)
(30)
Estimating your Ecological Footprint
Total your score by adding up the circled values from the above questions.
Your score = ___________________
From the information collected in this questionnaire, your estimated “personal” ecological footprint is:
1. Less than 150
2. 150 to 350
- Ecological Footprint under 4.0 hectares
- Ecological Footprint is between 4.0 and 6.0 hectares
3. 350 to 550
- Ecological Footprint is between 6.0 and 7.7 hectares
(the Canadian average)
4. 550 to 750
5. More than 750
- Ecological Footprint between 7.7 and 10.0 hectares
- Ecological Footprint is greater than 10.0 hectares