North America's ecological footprint is the largest of any continent in the world, almost doubling the ecological footprint of industrialized Europe; WWF's Living Planet Report puts the United States as the world's worst culrpit per-capita after the United Arab Emirates, with Canada not far behind as the eighth worst country in the world.

Indeed, if everyone in the world lived as Americans do we would need 5 planets to support us. As the world's largest energy consumer, producer, and importer, the United States is the world's single largest emitter of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels - accounting for ¼ of all greenhouse gas emissions on our planet. Americans own more and bigger cars and use 4.5 times the amount of gas used by Europeans. 31% of America's natural fresh water resources - mostly in the western part of the country - chronically suffer "severe water stress". Americans generate more municipal waste, and spend more money treating it, than any other country in the world.

There is evidence that the problem has been getting worse in recent years. Achieving One Planet Living in the North American context is a tremendous challenge.

At the same time, North Americahas been in the forefront of developing innovative solutions to reverse this trend by reducing consumption levels and increasing resource use efficiency and biocapacity, with vigorous market demand for green buildings and more sustainable forms of transportation, such as hybrid vehicles.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTING: FRAMING THE PROBLEM

- The Ecological Footprint is a rigorous means of measuring how our lifestyles impact both the planet and other people. It calculates how much productive land, freshwater and sea is needed to provide all the food, water, energy and materials we use in our everyday lives. It also calculates the emissions generated from the oil, coal and gas we burn, and determines how much land is required to absorb our wastes. By comparing rates in different places, it gives a concrete measure of how the lifestyles of some areas are affecting others, via their resource use and waste production.

- The global Ecological Footprint was 13.5 billion hectares in 2001, the most recent year for which global figures are available, or 2.2 'global hectares' per person.

- This demand on nature can be compared with the Earth's biocapacity, based on its biologically productive area. This stands at approximately 11.3 billion global hectares, or a quarter of the Earth's surface. The productive area of the biosphere translates into an average of 1.8 global hectares per person, making this the 'fair share' of the world's resources available to each person.

- Comparing these numbers shows that humanity's Ecological Footprint currently exceeds global biocapacity by 0.4 global hectares per person, or 21 percent.

- This 'overshoot' means we are consuming resources faster than they are being regenerated, and are now eating into the earth's 'natural capital'. The end result is the destruction of assets on which our economy and life itself depends. Examples include disappearing forests, eroding soils, collapsing fisheries, and falling water tables. A key manifestation of this overshoot is climate change, which is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

- The problem of overshooting existing resource capacity is particularly associated with richer, industrialised nations. For example, if everyone in the world lived as Americans do, we would need five planets to maintain our lifestyle over time.

- Canada is an example of a country whose ecological footprint is greater than might be expected. The country's per capita footprint is 8th in the global ranking, well above that of all other G8 countries (excluding the United States), including Germany and Japan.

- According to the Global Footprint Network, the current Canadian footprint is equivalent to 7.5 hectares per person per year, yet available global biocapacity is just 1.8 hectares per person. In other words, if everyone in the world lived like Canadians, we would need more than four planets (7.5 / 1.8 = 4.16) to meet our demand for natural resources and absorb our waste and pollution.

- According to the Global Footprint Network, the current U.S. footprint is equivalent to 9.7 hectares per person per year, yet available global biocapacity is just 1.8 hectares per person. In other words, if everyone in the world lived like Canadians, we would need almost five and a half planets (9.7 / 1.8 = 5.38) to meet our demand for natural resources and absorb our waste and pollution.

- At the same time as our ecological footprint is increasing, the "Living Planet Index" (LPI) is receding. The LPI is an indicator of the state of the world's biodiversity. It measures trends in populations of vertebrate species around the world, and currently tracks changes in abundance of 555 terrestrial species, 323 freshwater species and 267 marine species. Between 1970 and 2000, the index fell by about 40 percent.

- While the LPI fell by some 40 percent between 1970 and 2000, the terrestrial index fell by about 30 percent, the freshwater index by about 50 percent, and the marine index by around 30 percent.

- Over the same period, the global Ecological Footprint grew by 70 percent while the world's human population grew by 65 per cent.

RESPONDING TO THE FOOTPRINT CHALLENGE

- Global ecological debt will continue to grow as long as the Ecological Footprint exceeds biocapacity. The resulting risk for humanity, and the Earth's biodiversity, can only be ended by shrinking and ultimately eliminating the debt - i.e., by living within the biocapacity of one planet.

- Measures required to reduce our ecological footprint include:
- Improve the efficiency with which goods and services are produced
- Reduce per capita consumption of goods and services
- Increase biocapacity by conserving and restoring ecosystems, thus maintaining biological productivity and ecological services.

- As part of the wider One Planet Communitiesinitiative, the work of One Planet Communities in North America is a highly positive contribution not just to solving North Americal's problems, but also the challenges facing humanity.