Ecological footprint

Ekološki otisak pokazuje koliki pritisak na Zemlju vrši čovječanstvo, pri čemu je koristeći se usporedbom biokapaciteta i ekološkog otiska moguće izmjeriti točan utjecaj čovjeka na okoliš. Biokapacitet predstavlja količinu prirodnih resursa koje Zemlja proizvodi kako bi se zadovoljile ljudske potrebe. Dio ekološkog otiska je i ugljični otisak, ali on se usredotočuje na stakleničke plinove koji se oslobađaju izgaranjem fosilnih goriva. Predmet ovog rada jest definirati koncept ekološkog otiska i pojmove koji su s njim uskopovezani. Fokus je stavljen i na metode kojima se računa ekološki i ugljični otisak, te su predstavljeni načini za smanjenje otisaka. Prikazane su razlike između europskih zemalja s najvećim i najmanjim ekološkim otiskom, te su uspoređene razlike između količine biokapaciteta svake od država.The ecological footprint shows how much pressure humanity is putting on the Earth, and it may be used to calculate the actual impact of man on the ecosystem by comparing biocapacity and ecological footprint. The amount of natural resources produced by the Earth to meet human requirements is known as biocapacity. The carbon footprint is part of the ecological footprint, however it concentrates on greenhouse gasses emitted by burning fossil fuels. The goal of this paper is to define concept of ecological footprint, as well as topics that are connected to it. The focus is also on methods for calculating ecological and carbon footprint, as well as suggestions for reducing footprints. The differences between the European countries with the highest and smallest ecological footprint are presented, as well as differences in biocapacity of each of the country are compared