Ecological Footprinting. A Case of Cardiff University (South Wales, UK)

      Аннотация: The burgeoning unsustainable consumption and production patterns of human are creating more burdens to our planet and there should be an urgent attention required to address these concerns to lower the damage. Ecological foot-printing is a sensitive tool which measures the population's demand for resources against nature's supply. It provides a measure of these global ecological impact and shows the insights into natural resource use and the effectiveness of policies to pursue sustainable developments or improvements. The current study (first of it's kind) focuses on analysis of Ecological Footprints of Cardiff University (Case Study) and compare the results with City, Region & Global Ecological Footprint values. The analysis/ results include detailed breakdown of consumption & production patterns (‘big hitters’: food & drink, housing (energy use), travel, shopping & recreational activities, waste production and water consumptions). These results helped in developing a series of recommendations and policy proposals that would show a drastic decrease in overall burdens created by Cardiff University. (Motto: Think Global & Act Local. Save Earth & Save Yourself)

Ключевые слова: sustainability, comparative analysis, Sustainable Consumption, Cardiff University, Consumption patterns, Ecological Footprint, Ecological Footprint Calculator, Policy Tool, Cardiff City, Staff and Student Population, Footprint results