The Environmental Fingerprint. A Case Study

Abstract

.  The new concept of ”ecological fingerprint” is approached in this paper, together with a case study concerning the ”carbon fingerprint”. The scientific bases of this concept were elaborated by Rees and Wackernagel, at University of Columbia in early ‘90s. Their overall significance last in the ability of our planet to produce all resources needed for a healthy food, goods, and services supplies, in order to satisfy the consumption needs of population, and also to absorb the waste produced by the earth population and their activities. Thus, the concerned resources, consumptions, waste, etc. are transformed into a single variable. The basis of this approach is represented by the ratio between the human consumption of natural resources and the global capacity of earth to regenerate natural resources. The ”global hectares” represents the measure unit for the ecological fingerprint, and it has four components. These four components of the ecological fingerprint are represented by: the carbon fingerprint, the food fingerprint, the housing fingerprint, and the goods and services fingerprint.