What’s the difference between our ecological and our carbon footprints?

What’s the difference between our ecological and our carbon footprints?

Here at Tilly & Jasper, we love products that are organic baby clothes, sustainable and fair trade. We also love to share what we learn about our environment and how we can interact with the world we live in the way nature intended. Now, you’ve probably already heard that each and every one of us has what’s known as a ‘carbon footprint’. But did you know that we have an ‘ecological footprint’ too? In this post, we’ll be taking a look at both sets of footprints. We’ll illustrate the difference between the two, and explain how they are both connected.

Carbon and ecological footprints are two very important factors used by environmental experts to measure the impact humans are having on the planet. The ecological footprint compares the resources we consume with the water and land we need to replace those resources. The carbon footprint is also used to calculate the impact we have on our environment, but it’s much more focused on the greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels. Primarily, they are used to draw our attention to the role greenhouse gases play in climate change.

Measuring our demands on nature

You can think of an ecological footprint as a kind of balance sheet for our planet. It measures the demands put on nature by the world’s population. On the minus side we have activities that support human life and consume resources, such as fishing, farming, logging, building construction, and the use of energy in general, not forgetting all the waste we produce during those activities. On the plus side, we have what’s known as the ‘bio-capacity’ of Earth, or the ability of our planet to replace the resources we use and how well our environment absorbs the waste we produce.

So, now we know what they are, how are the two footprints connected? Well, the quantity of greenhouse gases we produce has a direct impact on our ecological footprint. Greenhouse gases need vast areas of sea and forest to clean those gases from the atmosphere, which means the bigger the carbon footprint, the bigger the ecological footprint is likely to be.

 

Tell us how you keep your footprints small 

With so many factors involved, measuring your own individual carbon and ecological footprint can be quite complicated. But with our wide range of low impact, Organic Cotton Baby Clothes for kids and babies, we like to think we are doing more than just ‘our bit’. Of course, when it comes to saving our planet, we could all be doing a little bit more. Drop us a line and share your tips for keeping the size of our carbon and ecological footprints as small as possible. We’d love to hear from you!

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