esd05

Ecological Footprint

In my past post on readings..."The Precautionary Principle", I said that I didn't think government systems were taking the time to assess precautionary measures in regard to ecological sustainability. However, it seems there is a way that is being adopted by Australian state governments which without being a direct precautionary measure, addresses sustainability. An Ecological footprint is a physical way of measuring society's resource consumption rate. This weeks reading stated that "the State Government has recently committed to developing an Ecological Footprint account for South Australia's a priority action for the South Australian State Strategic Plan." This shows that Australian Governments are beginning to realise that sustainability is a problem that needs addressing, even if it isn't a problem here and now. It is a problem that is best avoided at all costs because the ramifications are unknown and could be catastrophic in later generations.
One major issue i think we should be addressing with regard to ecological footpints is the situation in china. A good description of them I heard recently was a 'black hole". I think that if their ecological footprint was calculated they would be using a considerable amount more than other societies, purely due to the severly large population they support. And with the economy unstable under the influence of oil production being stilted from the cyclone in south america, I think it will be interesting to see how severly it affects our way of life as we know it.

posted by Mel Binks @ 10:07 AM