Name _________________________
11.4 My Lunch Used How Much Land!?!
Introduction: Have you ever thought about how much land it takes to grow all the
food you eat each year? What about how much land it took to raise the meat you eat?
Grow the cotton in your jeans? How much coal was mined to provide you with electricity? How much
oil was harvested for your gas? In this activity you will gain a pretty good idea of how much land it
takes to support you for a year, which can sometimes be pretty surprising!
Objectives:
1. To figure out how much land is used to support you, your community, and your country each year,
and to understand the implications and ramifications of this information.
2. To become familiar with the term Ecological Footprint and it’s significance to global impact
3. To gain perspective on how much land our lives require and to compare this information to our
country, other countries, and the world as a whole.
Materials:
This packet
Pencil / pen
Electronic Device (phone, tablet, computer)
Calculator (can be on phone or computer)
Resources Listed Below
Scratch paper for calculations
Resources:
1. Use this to review what ecological footprint means:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/basics_introduction/
2. Use this to calculate your own ecological footprint:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/
3. NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND BIOCAPACITY Class Handout - Provided by teacher
4. You will find the following conversions helpful while completing this packet:
1 hectare = 2.5 acres = 10,000 m2
100 hectares = 1km2 = 0.40 miles2
5. Huntley’s population is 24,291 and it takes up 14.1 square miles
Procedure:
Directions: Work through the following procedure and make sure to answer all
associated questions during the process.
Part I The Apple of My Eye (5min) http://www.populationeducation.org/content/earth-apple-our-eye
1. Observe the apple demonstration by your teacher, then answer the question
● About how much of the surface of the Earth can be used to grow our food?
● Do you think this amount of land is growing or declining? Support your answer with something
you have seen, read, or heard about.
Part II Your Ecological Footprint (1.5 days)
1. Open the two websites listed in the resources section on the first page of this packet.
2. In the first website read the pages titled “Introduction” and “Overview” which can be accessed from
the menu on the left hand side
● What does Ecological Footprint Mean?
3. Utilize the second website to calculate your own ecological footprint. While doing so be as detailed
as you can when providing information (use the bottom detailed options as much as possible)
● What is your ecological footprint in acres? ____________
● If everyone on Earth lived like you, how many earths would we need?___________
● Convert your ecological footprint acres into hectares using the conversions found in # 4 of the
resource section above. Show your work: ________acres = ________ hectares
4. Use the information in the NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND BIOCAPACITY handout
to look up information about the USA’s ecological footprint and answer the following questions.
● How many hectares of land does it take to support the average American each year (HINT:per
capita means per person)?_____________
● Huntley’s Population is 24,820. So how many Hectares of land does it take to support the
people in Huntley each year? Show your work:
● How many square miles is your answer above (use resource # 4 to convert hectares to miles)?
Show your work:
● The city of Huntley is 11.7 square miles. How does your answer above compare to how much
area Huntley takes up (how many times would the city of Huntley fit into the area of land needed
to support it? Explain:
● Use this information in the NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND BIOCAPACITY
handout to calculate how many total hectares of land it takes to support the US each year
(HINT: the US population and hectares per capita information is given on handout). Show your
work:
● How many square miles is the answer above (use resource # 4)? Show your work:
Part III How does the US compare to other countries and why do countries differ so much?
(1.5 work day, 1 presentation day)
1. Ask your teacher to assign a country to your group.
2. Use this information in the NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND BIOCAPACITY handout
and what you have learned so far to prepare a short (5min) presentation about the ecological footprint
of your country, why it has that footprint, and how it compares to the US.
Your presentation must address the following:
1. the ecological footprint for an average individual within your assigned country
2. how the ecological footprint of an average individual in your assigned country compares to
the US, and an interpretation of what this means
3. the total ecological footprint in miles squared for your country, and an interpretation of what
this means (Be sure to SHOW YOUR WORK)
4. how the ecological footprint for your country compares with US, and an interpretation of what
this means
5. if your country operates in an ecological deficit (uses more than it produces) or reserve
(produces more than it uses). This is found on the NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
AND BIOCAPACITY handout
6. analysis and explanation of why your country operates in an ecological deficit or reserve.
Here are some ideas to get you started on this one:
A. What is the country’s biocapacity per person (per capita) (This is found on the
NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND BIOCAPACITY handout)
B. Why is the biocapacity per person so high or so low? How does the population size
compare to land area of the country?
C. Is the reserve or deficit due to the lifestyle/habit of the country’s inhabitants, is it
government policy, is it technology, all three? And if so what are the habits, policies,
technologies that are used?
7. You must use at least two visuals (can use whiteboard, poster, document camera,
powerpoint, etc.) to help classmates visualize the above information. These visuals must be
convey relevant information (not just be some picture of the country...they must help you to
convey the information and meaning of your presentation)
Part IV What is Ecological Overshoot and why don’t we celebrate “Overshoot Day”? (1 day,
possibly homework)
1. Go back to the first website listed in the resource section and click on “World Footprint” on the menu
on the left side of the page.
2. Read through this page the page below it titled “Earth Overshoot Day” and watch the video about
Ecological overshoot (found in the menu to the left also).
● What is ecological overshoot?
● Does the world currently operate in an ecological overshoot? How many Earth’s does it take to
support the Earth’s population currently?
● What does this mean in terms of our natural resources?
Conclusion Questions: (continue on separate sheet if needed)
1. How does the US’s ecological footprint compare to the rest of the world? Describe in at least 3
sentences:
2. What does this mean for the future of the planet? Explain what and why in at least 3 sentences:
3. If the Earth’s population continues to run on an “Ecological Overshoot” what will eventually happen
to our resources? Explain what and why in at least 3 sentences:
4. Then what do you think will happen to the world after that?
5. What do you think is the bigger problem for a country’s ecological footprint: the individual habits of
it’s inhabitants or its population density? or are they both of equal concern? Explain your answer:
6. What are some of the reasons certain countries operate in an ecological deficit and others in a
reserve? (HINT: think back to the presentations and class discussion) Explain in at least 4
sentences: