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Tharp, Sean Patrick. "Architecture's ecological footprint." Thesis, Montana State University, 2007. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2007/tharp/TharpS0507.pdf.
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Chikoti, I. "The ecological footprint." Thesis, Видавництво СумДУ, 2012. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/26505.
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Johnson, Peter. "Exploring the Ecological Footprint of Tourism in Ontario." Thesis, University of Waterloo, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/997.
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Once considered a 'green' industry, tourism and its associated ecological impacts are now widely acknowledged. Focus within tourism planning has aimed to reduce the ecological burden placed on a destination area, and move towards a more sustainable tourism industry. This research proposes the use of the Ecological Footprint (EF) as a tool to compare the ecological costs of different types of tourism. The EF shows the relative amount of productive land appropriated by the activities and choices of an individual tourist.
The main goal of this study was to analyse and compare the ecological resource use of tourism in Ontario. Surveys were conducted with tourists staying at 9 different types of accommodations throughout Ontario. Additional data were collected from personal interviews with accommodation managers at each location and incorporated into the EF calculation. Four areas of tourism ecological impact were identified; tourists' personal consumption, transportation, activity, and accommodation costs. These four components contributed in varying degrees to each tourist Ecological Footprint, and this variation became the main area of analysis.
The findings of this research demonstrated that air travel contributes significantly to the total ecological cost of a particular tourism experience. Comparably, travel by personal car made a much smaller contribution to the tourist EF. Thus, local area tourists who could drive to a destination had a smaller EF than those long-distance domestic and international tourists who flew. Accommodation ecological costs were primarily a factor of the amount of built space available, and total energy usage per guest. Accommodations that had a large number of occupants for a given area and level of energy consumption achieved a scale of efficiency. In this manner, larger, more efficiently constructed accommodations often made smaller contributions to the tourist EF than small-scale, but inefficient accommodations.
The main conclusion was that the ecological impacts of tourism can be quantitatively recorded, and that a complete trip view of tourism ecological resource use is necessary. When considering practical applications in the tourism industry, an Ecological Footprint analysis could be used by tourism managers as an evaluative tool to compare the ecological outcome of various construction, programming, and operational changes. For the tourist, the EF can serve as an 'eco-label', to distinguish one type of 'green' tourism from another, creating a more informed consumer. Ultimately, the Ecological Footprint serves one purpose- to demonstrate that less ecologically consumptive tourism choices are possible for both tourists and tourism managers.
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MANCINI, MARIA SERENA. "New methodological insights into Ecological Footprint Accounting: flow vs stock distinction and carbon Footprint revision." Doctoral thesis, Università di Siena, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1005536.
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Natural capital is the primary and fundamental pillar allowing humans to thrive on Earth and sustain the functioning of human society and economy. Several ecosystem services (i.e. of the kind of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services) are the tangible benefit to humans and are generated by natural capital in the form of stocks and flows of resources. Fully understanding and evaluating these ecosystem services is thus crucial for tracking the consumption of natural resources and properly managing natural capital.
This thesis presents an in-depth analysis of the Ecological Footprint methodology, which is one of the most popular environmental accounting tools able to evaluate ecosystem services from a biophysical perspective. Ecological Footprint is defined as the biologically productive surface required to provide a specific sub-set of ecosystem services humans demand. It is compared with the capacity of existing biologically productive surfaces to produce such ecosystem services (i.e. biocapacity).
Despite its growing popularity, Ecological Footprint has been subject to critical views on its rationale, methodology, and policy usefulness. This thesis aims at addressing part of these criticisms, specifically those related to the method’s inability to track depletion of natural capital stocks as well as those concerning a specific component, the carbon Footprint.
Since Ecological Footprint is currently a measure of the use of resources and services in their flow dimension, the thesis presents a preliminary analysis of the feasibility of implementing a measure of stock depletion within this methodology. As such, this thesis first provides a comprehensive description of Natural Capital as well as of resources’ stocks and flows and their multiple relationships. Then, Ecological Footprint is explored according to its methodological premises, rationale and unit of measure and conceptually investigated for implementing the distinnction of stock vs flow of resources in the accounting framework. This issue was found to be vast and more complicated than expected; as such the thesis concludes this part by setting up a research agenda with the needed future steps to guide research on this topic.
Following this process of refinement and development, the thesis addresses the stock and flow distinction in one specific component of Ecological Footprint, the carbon Footprint. It represents the largest input on the overall result and a review process around its rationale, calculation steps and a key parameter (the Average Forest Carbon Sequestration, AFCS) is performed to increase transparency and accuracy of its accountings. As a consequence of this refinement process, a new AFCS value is provided according to accurate and reproducible dataset on forested surface and average biomass growth in forest. These results represent one of the major changes adopted in 2016 Edition of National Footprint Accounts, the main application of Ecological Footprint accounting at national and world level annually published by Global Footprint Network. As such, new results of carbon Footprint, as well as of total Ecological Footprint, have been tested at geographical level and compared at national level among countries.
This analysis highlights the relevant implications of the consumer approach adopted by the Ecological Footprint to assign responsibility of CO2 emissions. Finally, thesis supports the policy relevance of the Ecological Footprint method and its carbon Footprint component in light of the Paris agreement, the treaty stipulated in December 2015 to combat climate change and limit temperature rise below 2°C by 2050.
Despite acknowledged limitations and the need to keep improving the methodology of this relatively young accounting tool, Ecological Footprint could still represent a relevant monitoring tool to keep track of resources and help society flourishing within the limit of our planet.
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Janis, Jaclyn A. "Quantifying the ecological footprint of The Ohio State University." Connect to resource, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/28365.
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Thesis (Honors)--Ohio State University, 2007.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages: contains xii, 30 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-29). Available online via Ohio State University's Knowledge Bank.
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Flores, Panizo Maria Luisa. "Ecological footprint analysis for the Hong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3125455X.
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Yu, Sherman, and 余雪雯. "A study of sustainability indicators: Hong Kong's ecological footprint." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31228057.
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Knight, Kyle Walker. "The ecological implications of population aging a cross-national analysis of the ecological footprint /." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2008. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Fall2008/K_Knight_101608.pdf.
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Thesis (M.A. in sociology)--Washington State University, December 2008.Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 31, 2008). "Department of Sociology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-45).
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Cranston, Gemma. "Carbon and ecological footprints for the 21st century." Thesis, University of Bath, 2010. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.532709.
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Environmental and carbon footprints have recently come to the fore of the media’s, governmental and general public’s attention. They offer an excellent indication of humanity’s demands upon Nature and allow evaluation of ecological deficit by contrasting supply and demand. The ecological debt many nations find themselves in is unsustainable, globally inequitable and adds to the growing effects of climate change. These footprints need to be further investigated, looking at historic and future trends in order to better understand, not only the global overuse of natural capital, but also the imbalance between nation states of the world. The value and limitations of the footprint must be recognised; the footprint alone cannot represent the full anthropogenic impacts upon the Earth. This thesis focuses on developing the definitions of the ecological and carbon footprints, analysing the significant factors that affect their composition. The selected parameters are diverse, ranging from a host of economic, geographic and climatic factors. It is shown that both the carbon and ecological footprints are primarily driven by economic welfare, a result that reflects the consumptive nature and fundamental basis of the footprint. Analysis of the resultant correlating equations, for both the environmental and carbon footprints, highlights the differences between the developing and industrialised world in terms of their profligate or frugal use of Nature’s resources. This concludes the stark contrast between these regions of the globe in terms of their per capita and total footprint values. The disparity between the populous South and the prosperous North is further investigated to the year 2100, with the use of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s scenarios and adaptation of the correlating ecological footprint equation. Four separate scenarios are adopted, each having different underlying assumptions regarding economic development, demographic transition and environmental awareness for various regions of the world. For all scenarios the Southern regions rapidly increase their levels of total ecological footprint; in contrast the industrialised world maintains a relatively conservative evolution. Although different scenarios suggest contrasting future pathways, the hope of contraction and convergence among global footprint levels is not completely lost. The intensification of carbon emissions from both the affluent North and the majority South are considered with respect to population, economic and energy use trends from 1900 to the end of the twenty-first century. It is overwhelmingly shown that affluence will drive growth in carbon emissions across the world by the end of the century. Global inequality must be reduced; the footprint is utilised to demonstrate the trends in resource misuse and contrast between the ecological debtors and ecological creditors of the world.
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Teixidó, Figueras Jordi Josep. "The international distribution of the ecological footprint: an empirical approach." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/127106.
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La desigualtat internacional en el volum de recursos naturals consumits per part dels diferents països és un aspecte clau en un context internacional on l’escassetat d’aquests recursos es fa cada cop més palesa. En conseqüència, es generen tensions geopolítiques que posen traves a l’objectiu últim d’un desenvolupament sostenible, tant des del punt de vista ecològic com social. La tesi analitza empíricament l’evolució i les causes d’aquesta desigualtat i proposa mesures de política ambiental emmarcades en la governabilitat internacional per la sostenibilitat. Concretament, la tesi té com a principal objectiu l’anàlisi de la distribució internacional de la Petjada Ecològica (PE), com a indicador de consum de recursos naturals. L’anàlisi proposat contribueix a la tradició literària de l’Economia Ecològica que tracta qüestions distributives des de l’enfocament de l’Economia de la Desigualtat. L’anàlisi es justifica des de quatre racons d’aquesta literatura: en primer lloc, considera que l'escenari d'escassetat de recursos exigeix un seguiment minuciós de la distribució d’aquests. En segon lloc, des d’un plantejament normatiu, es defensa la necessitat de perseguir una distribució equitativa dels recursos naturals. En tercer lloc, la governabilitat global per temes ambientals pot millorar considerablement la seva eficàcia si té en compte els patrons de la distribució internacional. Finalment, les teories d'intercanvi ecològic desigual serveixen de paraigües teòric des de l’economia política. La metodologia utilitzada per a l’anàlisi distributiu de la PE és la de l’Economia de la Desigualtat. Aquesta metodologia, àmpliament acceptada en l’anàlisi de la distribució de la renda, s’ha utilitzat de manera més aviat escassa per avaluar qüestions de l’economia ambiental i ecològica. En aquest sentit, la tesi aporta discussions que permeten adaptar aquestes eines empíriques a l’anàlisi de la desigualtat ecològica (en lloc de la merament econòmica). Per tant, a més de les contribucions purament empíriques, la tesi aporta contribucions metodològiques. Addicionalment, la tesi també analitza la distribució internacional de la PE des de l’enfocament de la polarització.Ecological distribution refers to the social, spatial and temporal asymmetries in the human use of environmental resources and services. This doctoral thesis focusses on empirical analyses of such ecological distribution from an Inequality economics perspective and also makes its primary contribution in this area. We analyse the international distribution of natural resource consumption as measured by the Ecological Footprint (henceforth, EF). Our main contributions represent an assessment of the international distribution of EF by analysing its change over time, as well as its underlying drivers. In the process, some methodological aspects are discussed in order to properly repurpose them from the income inequality viewpoint to that of environmental inequality. Additionally, the inequality approach has been complemented by the polarization approach. The thesis has been orientated towards contributing to the discussion of the range of topics found in the ecological economics literature, which usually have been tackled with different methodologies: firstly, the current scenario of resource scarcity unavoidably demands the monitoring of the distribution issues; secondly, fair consumption natural resources is also driven by the ethical motivation of environmental justice; thirdly, global environmental governance may improve its effectiveness if it considers distributional issues; and finally, the political economy of ecologically unequal exchange may underlie the distribution of natural resources itself. The conclusions drawn from the analyses point towards using the information derived from distributional analyses as an additional tool in order to build a more sustainable and equitable world. On the other hand, the conclusions are framed under a political economy umbrella and so contribute to the discussion of unequal exchange theories and world-system analyses.
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Frey, Sibylle D. "Development of new ecological footprint techniques applicable to consumer electronics." Thesis, Brunel University, 2002. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5245.
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In order to extend ecological footprint analysis (EFA) to electronic products, new methods had to be developed which associate the world average bioproductive space per capita and year - the fair Earth share - with an individual product. The problem analysed in this thesis is the need for an environmental assessment tool for electronic products, which uses natural capital accounting. This need arose because so far, electronic products were mainly assessed using life cycle analysis with a focus on toxicity. Since the ecological footprint (EF) is a sustainability indicator, the sustainability discussion and in particular its relevance and implications with regard to the EF is reviewed. The electronic products assessed in this thesis are a personal computer (PC) in an exploratory study, and three mobile phones (two main case studies and one updated case study). To establish the land areas used by the mined materials used in electronic products, a database was developed based on site specific data found in the literature, and on approximations from the density of materials and their overburden. A life cycle energy approach was used to determine the burdens from producing and using a mobile phone. In order to estimate energy requirements for materials for which no data was available, the relationship between abundance and rucksack / overburden values was used in a regression analysis. Direct land use data and results from the energy analysis were used as an inventory for the subsequent EFA. An EF time series was applied to represent a more accurate picture of PC and phone use. This was also necessary since the EF reflects the instantaneous rate (a snapshot) of resource consumption. Key results are that the EF of electronic products are much larger than their actual size and that different electronic products have different EF. Our methodology proved sensitive enough to reveal differences even in small electronic products, given the high benchmark of a fair Earth share, and useful in monitoring space-efficient technology.
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PROCTOR, RONALD GORDON. "MEASURING ARCHITECTURAL SUSTAINABILITY USING ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS: A CASE STUDY." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/555989.
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Flores, Panizo Maria Luisa. "Ecological footprint analysis for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2000. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25438876.
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Tanrikulu, Melda. "Environmental Performance Of Urban Patterns In Terms Of Their Ecological Footprint." Master's thesis, METU, 2010. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12611907/index.pdf.
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Within the twenty&ndashfirst century, nearly three billion people, half of total population of the world, live in cities. It is estimated that in the forthcoming twenty&ndash
five years, two billion more people will settle in urban lands. Essentially most of these devastating changes will occur in developing countries, both in terms of the total global urban population as well as increased percentage of the individual country&rsquo
s population living in urban areas. For many developing countries, the urban population is already large. Further increases in size and rates of growth will no doubt stress already impacted environments and living quality. All cities, however, are not impacting the ecology of the world similarly. On the one hand, developed cities have mostly cope with their environmental problems regarded as traditional
concern has focused to their impacts on ecosystems as well as those larger in scale. Cities in the developing world are more concerned with other issues. However, it is not only the development level of countries but the urban planning and development tendencies of their cities impacting the environment differently should be considered, which comprehensively shows us environmental performance of urban patterns. Environmental performance basically refers to the abilities and capabilities of urban patterns to mitigate their impacts on environment and ecology of the world and to cope with the negative of all. As an indicator of environmental performance of urban patterns, ecological footprints, its reasons and long term effects should be specified as inseparable part of urban development and inevitably ecological footprints of different urban patterns and their effects on climate change should be concerned while taking planning and development decisions for urban areas. The basic purpose of the thesis is to specify the environmental performance of different urban patterns in terms of their ecological footprints through defining the relationship between implications of urban patterns and their contributions to the ecological footprint.
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Wada, Yoshihiko. "The myth of sustainable development, the ecological footprint of Japanese consumption." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape7/PQDD_0015/NQ46441.pdf.
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Barrett, John Richard. "Sustainability and the ecological footprint : comparing human demand with nature's supply." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2000. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/5529/.
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There is a growing concern that current levels of economic activity have outgrown the physical limits of the planet. In the face of global constraints, humanity continues to deplete nature, through resource harvesting and waste generation, faster than nature can regenerate itself. The UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) introduced the idea of sustainable development in 1987, with the release of Our Common Future. Sustainable development has since become a powerful and controversial theme, creating seemingly impossible goals for policy makers. Sustainable indicators can be a key mechanism for encouraging progress in the right direction by providing a measuring tool that gives a clearer understanding as to whether sustainability is being achieved. The ecological footprint has emerged as an innovative technique to measure the ecological dimension of sustainability. The research tests the ecological footprint as a tool for guiding humanity towards sustainability. The research establishes whether or not the ecological footprint provides an effective accounting framework for the biophysical services that a given society requires from nature. With Guernsey as the case study, the research investigates whether or not the ecological footprint is a comprehensive tool for local policy decision-making. Considering the methodology of the ecological footprint, its use for time series analysis and the development of scenarios does this. The ecological footprint is also tested for its ability to act as a tool to communicate the ideas of sustainability. In conclusion, while containing some limitations, the ecological footprint is a tool that can facilitate the comparison of policy choices society inevitably must face. At the local level, the ecological footprint is a valuable part of the sustainable indicator tool kit. The use of the ecological footprint as a communication tool for sustainable development is invaluable. It is an indicator that can be understood by the general public and one that links individual lifestyle choices to global environmental problems. The ecological footprint is only an empirical tool and in itself cannot change anything. It is a first step in a process of change and the political will and desire to change must be the driving force. Its great advantage over other sustainability indicators is that it is holistic and makes connections between different activities and impacts. However, the ecological footprint is based on assumptions as the ratios/equations calculated by others. In conclusion, the ecological footprint demonstrates that intelligent rationalisation of means and prudent moderation of ends is the only solution. By providing common ground, the ecological footprint builds bridges between different worldviews and amplifies the resonance between all disciplines working on sustainability.
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Cole, Victoria. "Using ecological footprint analysis to measure sustainability in a Himalayan tourist centre." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ51696.pdf.
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Pouder, Jessica Anne. "Using Human Footprint Models and Land-Cover Variability to Predict Ecological Processes." W&M ScholarWorks, 2014. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626953.
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Huang, Ning 1971. "A modified ecological footprint method for assessing sustainable transport in the Auckland Region." Thesis, University of Auckland, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/6753.
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Ecological Footprint (EF) indicator was created by Wackernagel and Rees in 1996. Since its
appearance this method has been developed through much research into the detailed weighting of each
factor and through using it in case studies. With its improvement more researchers are now using it to
understand human impacts on environmental issues and more governments are adopting it as an
analytical tool for policy-making.
This thesis uses the EF indicator for a detailed analysis of various transport modes in the Auckland
Region in 2004. A component EF model is adopted, which involves all EF estimations for each
transport mode over its life cycle. The EF components of each mode can be divided into five parts: the
EF from fuel consumption for its daily operation, the EF from embodied energy for its manufacture and
maintenance, the EF from energy for constructing and maintaining its relevant infrastructures, the EF
from energy for operating its infrastructure, and the EF from the physical area of its infrastructures. In
this thesis, the modes analyzed in detail are: cars, buses, trains, flights, ferries, motorcycles, bicycles,
and walking for passenger transport; HCVs, LCVs, rail freight, airfreight, and sea freight for freight
transport; and off-road vehicles, cruise ships, and pleasure craft, bicycle, walking for leisure transport.
After calculating these EF components for each mode, the total EF and component EF for every mode
can be compared. Hence, a sustainable hierarchy of transport modes in each category can be worked
out. This sustainable hierarchy focuses on the eco-burden placed on the earth by transport systems as
represented by the EF figure.
A component EF method for assessing transport modes has been developed and tested in this thesis.
This should be suitable for transport EF analysis in other regions and other nations.
Although this thesis has made some detailed contribution to EF methodology, for example, by
developing the component model for transport systems and applying it to an analysis of the transport
sector, there is still a need for further research. This will especially relate to a more accurate calculation
of the embodied energy EF from constructing and maintaining transport infrastructures.
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Anderle, Kathryn. "Integrating life cycle analysis and the ecological footprint calculator to foster sustainable behaviors." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2002. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3294/.
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Many tools have been developed to assess global, national or regional sustainable development policies. However, as governments develop sustainable policies, individuals must also feel empowered to affect their personal impact on the planet. This thesis integrates three sustainability concepts that lend themselves to individual sustainability: The natural step, life cycle assessment, and the ecological footprint. TNS serves to provide the meaning and substance toward sustainable development. LCA helps provide the framework for assessing sustainability. The EF calculator determines the driving components and measures the qualitative decisions made through TNS and LCA. From the analysis of the household footprint calculator a simplified footprint calculator was developed to assist individuals and communities in setting benchmarks and goals as they move away from over-consumption and towards a sustainable lifestyle.
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Ryu, Hyung Cheal. "Modeling the per capita ecological footprint for Dallas County, Texas: Examining demographic, environmental value, land-use, and spatial influences." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/2404.
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This study addresses factors driving the variation in the per capita Ecological
Footprint (EF) in Dallas County, Texas. A main hypothesis was that scientifically
estimated demography, environmental values, spatial attributes, and land-use patterns
surrounding an individual are significant factors in the size of per capita EF. This study
was based on the survey method and GIS routines. Additionally, a multiple regression
method was employed to address the study question. The survey measured respondents??
EF using an ??Ecological Footprint Quiz?? consisting of sixteen questions regarding
individual food, mobility, housing, and goods/services consumption. GIS technologies
were used to objectively measure spatial attributes. The environmental values were
measured by selected questions regarding ecological crises.
This study found from the descriptive analysis that Dallas County??s average
personal EF was 26.4 acres: food (5.1), mobility (3.3), shelter (8.3), and goods and services (9.8). The study indicates that the residents need ecologically productive land
more than 105 times the area of the county.
Based on the explanatory analysis, the following summary points can be made
about the factors driving of the variance, not only in the per capita composite footprint
but also in each of the personal footprint components:
First, a highly educated, non-married, older male living in a high income
household located in a low population density area is more likely to have a larger
personal composite footprint. Second, a person with a weak environmental awareness
living where the ratio of employment opportunities (places to work) is worse, and living
far from freeways and major lakes but close to major malls, is more likely to have a
larger personal food footprint. Third, a younger person living in a high income
household located close to major malls but far from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is more
likely to have a larger mobility footprint. Fourth, a highly educated non-married older
male living in a highly developed area is more likely to have a larger shelter footprint.
Fifth, a highly educated non-married older male living in a high income household
located in a low population density area is more likely to have a larger goods and
services footprint.
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Pongsakornrungsilp, Pimlapas. "Energy consumption and the ecological footprint of tourism in an island destination : the case of Koh Samui, Thailand." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/3247.
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This thesis aims to apply the concept of the Ecological Footprint (EF) to examine the impact that the tourism industry has on the environment through energy consumption and also investigates patterns of energy-consuming behaviour among tourists and tourism businesses. EF is becoming an increasingly popular analytical tool in tourism studies. However, at present most attention has fallen on its value for studying tourism in international level. Moreover, very few studies have taken account of the influence of social factors when making EF calculations linked to tourism. As a consequence of these biases, there is currently a need for studies of tourism which take account of EFs at the destination level and how the behaviour of tourists and tourism businesses affects energy consumption at holiday destinations. This study addresses this gap by investigating the EF of energy-consuming behaviour linked to tourists and tourism businesses at a particular holiday destination, namely Koh Samui in Thailand, and also by exploring the factors which influence this kind of behaviour. The findings of this study show that most tourists rely on modes of transport which release high levels of CO2 (especially long haul flights). In the case of Thailand, a majority of tourists fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui and then use private cars to get around the island. Energy intensive electrical appliances such as air conditioning and tankless hot water heaters were widely used in accommodation, while beach activities, which generally have a low carbon footprint, attracted the largest numbers of tourists. It was also found that demographic factors, including travel behaviour and concern for the environment, influenced these kinds of behaviour in various ways. As regards different types of tourism business, in the accommodation sector hotels used the largest quantities of electricity while tour operators used more diesel and petrol than any other type of tourism business. Furthermore, it was also found that even though respondents who stayed in five-star hotels expressed the greatest level of concern for climate change, they still considered their own convenience and satisfaction to be their highest priorities. Tourism on Koh Samui consumed about 54.55 PJ of energy in 2007 and thus needed 3.41 gha of forest land to absorb the resulting CO2 emissions. Given that this figure exceeds the current world-average biocapacity of 1.8 gha, it can be stated that tourism on Koh Samui is currently unsustainable. This study highlights the relationship between the EF of tourism at a particular holiday destination and the energy-consuming behaviour of both tourists and tourism businesses. In this way, it is shown here that excessive energy consumption combined with a lack of effective energy management in the business sector can lead to the development of an unsustainable EF. In response to this finding, practitioners and policy-makers should consider ways of mitigating EFs linked to tourism.
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Kuki, Yu. "Analyzing Canada’s ecological footprint embodied in international trade : a unidirectional multi‐regional input‐output approach." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/35700.
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The ‘Ecological Footprint’ (EF) of a specified population is a comprehensive sustainability index that estimates the ‘bio‐capacity‘ (hectares of global average productivity) required to produce the resources consumed by that population and assimilate its carbon emissions. The greater the population’s material consumption and waste production, the larger its eco‐footprint (EF).
The standardized method for Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is maintained and regularly updated by the Global Footprint Network (GFN), a non‐profit organization in
California. In recent years, various EF analysts have experimented with wedding Input‐Output (I‐O) analysis to the standard method. I‐O based models are potentially
superior for estimating the trade portion of the footprint because: (1) they account for country‐specific technological efficiencies when estimating the trade component of eco-footprints (rather than world‐average techno‐efficiency); (2) they account for the service‐related consumption which is absent from the existing method; and (3) they provide more detail on the origins of the imports.
This thesis contributes to I-O based ecological footprint estimates. I develop a unidirectional trade‐inclusive multi‐regional input-output (MRIO) model for Canada using
2005 data. The results show that Canada relies for about 25% of its consumption-related resource needs on bio-capacity imported from other countries, compared to 44% using the GFN approach. Over 60% of Canada’s import‐embodied footprint comes from the U.S. and China. Food‐related sectors including agriculture were the largest contributors to Canada’s footprint overseas. Overall, my MRIO model yields a larger EF for Canada (9.77 gha) than
the GFN standard method (7.33 gha). This difference is explained by the fact that the GFN standard method overestimates the footprint of exports for Canada (which presumably has production efficiencies that are higher than world-average) and hence leading to an underestimate of the footprint of consumption. Therefore, I conclude that while the MRIO approach is possibly more accurate, the important finding is that the two methods mutually
reaffirms the fact that Canadians on average use four to five times more bio-capacity compared to their “fair share”. I discuss several policy implications of my analysis from an environmental, economic and social perspective using an interregional analytic framework.
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Dhanju, Amardeep. "An analysis of the ecological footprint mapping by urban areas as a sustainable development indicator." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file, 104 p, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1597633921&sid=7&Fmt=2&clientId=8331&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Brown, Crystal Jean. "Exploring the ecological footprint of the "average" American student case of The University of Alabama /." Thesis, [Tuscaloosa, Ala. : University of Alabama Libraries], 2009. http://purl.lib.ua.edu/59.
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Ferro, Denis <1994>. "Unbalanced ecological footprint and foreign aid in the perspective of long-term global economic development." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/13603.
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The unbalanced ecological footprint existing today among countries around the world is an economic problem that has historic roots. It represents the result of many years of exploitation of the natural resources that some countries were able to find in abundance in foreign lands. By appropriating those resources, some countries experienced an economic growth that was much faster than the economic growth of the nations whose resources were being exploited. An uneven global economic growth translated in uneven consumption levels among countries around the world. By consequence, the ecological footprint of some countries became much bigger than others.
Nowadays, those countries having the higher levels of ecological footprint (e.g.: USA or some European nations) are somehow trying to “give back” what they have been able to appropriate to less developed countries. The act of “giving back” is happening in the form of foreign aid. The global aid system represents an effort to take less developed countries out of poverty, so that, in the long-term, all countries will be equally economically developed.
However, the aid system has failed in its mission. No matter if foreign aid comes from governments, NGOs or for-profit organizations, the evidence suggests that it is not working. Nations have adopted the wrong system to solve a global economic problem that has made some countries less developed than others. At times, foreign aid has been a tool to actually impose donors’ will on recipient countries, in an attempt to pursue personal economic interests abroad. Governments, sometimes having NGOs doing the job for them, were driven by personal objectives in the allocation of foreign aid. For-profit organizations, on the other hand, were able to use foreign aid as a marketing tool to improve their image and increase their sales.
The global aid system has caused more harm than it tried to alleviate. It has proven to be the wrong approach to equally balance the economic development of countries around the world.
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Li, Ruisi. "Assessment of Water Footprint in Industrial Park : A Case Study of Yixing Economic Development Zone." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-177393.
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This thesis has established models of water footprint in the Eco-industrial Park. The model was presented in three different levels, namely the level of Eco-industrial Park, the level of enterprises and the level of products. There are two parts of each model. The first part is the schema tization of different components of the water footprint. The second part is the mathematical model of water footprint counting. After the models, we made several case studies using these m odels established in this thesis. The first case is the water footprint assessment of the Yixing Economic Development Zone (YEDZ). There are water footprints of the YEDZ in the year of 2009, 2012 and 2015 separately, which are 6787613.6 10 × m3, 61110018 10 × m3 and 62413749 10 × m3. Considering the different scales of the YE DZ, for example, the increasing industrial production and economic development, we also make the water footprints per capital of the YEDZ in the year of 2009, 2012 and 2015. The results are 19690.34 ×103m3/capita, 24667.07 ×103m3/capita and 48274.98 ×103m3/capita. In the level of Eco-industrial Park, we take several enterprises as case studies. The enterprises are within different types of industries including Chemical industry, Textile and dye ing industry, Optoelectronic industry, and Mechanical, Photovoltaic industry and machinery manufacture industry, etc. These enterprises are investigated by surveys and statistical documents. From the results, we can see that the enterprises with big footprint are mostly in Chemical industry, Textile and dyeing industry and Photovoltaic industry. In order to make the data more reasonable, we also calculated the water footprint per unit out-put value. What’s interesting, the enterprises in Chemical industry, Textile and dyeing industry and Photovoltaic industry also have big water footprint per unit out-put value. In the level of product, we take the surfactants produced by Jiangsu Guanyang Fine Chemical Co., Ltd. This enterprise has moved to a new place and made some improvement in the production. On one hand, they have increased the scale of production for three times than before; on the other hand they have adopted a lot of water saving facilities and measures, such as the use of rain wa ter, the increase of water recycling and the involvement of water cascade utilization. So in this thesis, we comp ared the water footprint of surfactants before and after moving. The Water Footprint of surfactants per year before moving is 22914.8(m3), after moving is 56804.4 (m3). However, the Water Footprint of surfactants before moving is 2.52 (m3/t), while after moving is 2.08 (m3/t). Finally, we gave some response options after the analysis and discussion of the results. The suggestions are given in three levels as well. The first one is to the gov ernment or so-called policy makers; the second one is to the enterprises; the third one is to the staff members in the Yixing Economic Development Zone.
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Kissinger, Meidad. "Interregional ecology - resource flows and sustainability in a globalizing world." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/1021.
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In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe.
The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind).
I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world.
Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions.
I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in
the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings
show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries.
This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others.
While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning.
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Cameron, Christopher John. "Design of Multifunctional Body Panels in Automotive Applications : Reducing the Ecological and Economical footprint of the vehicle industry." Licentiate thesis, Stockholm : Skolan för teknikvetenskap, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-10661.
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Truelove, Heather Barnes. "An investigation of the psychology of global warming perceptions, predictors of behavior, and the persuasiveness of ecological footprint calculators /." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2009. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Dissertations/Summer2009/H_Truelove_082209.pdf.
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Franson, Melissa Park-Gates Shari. "The impact of classroom exposure to sustainability, course content, and ecological footprint analysis on student attitudes and projected behaviors." Auburn, Ala., 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10415/1551.
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Olerud, Jon, Niklas Gullström, Niklas Wesslander, Robin Åstrand, and Victoria Söderqvist. "Ekologiskt fotavtryck av metallerna i en smartphone." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för fysik, kemi och biologi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-157745.
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This bachelor thesis aims to decide the ecological footprint of a smartphone and examine the ways the production of asmartphone can be improved. This is done by examining the ecological and the social aspects that are related to theproduction of smartphones. We focused on the production of metals, because metals represent a major part of asmartphones environmental impact. Ten metals were chosen based on earlier studies regarding smartphonesenvironmental impact. These metals were aluminium, lead, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, palladium, silver andrare earth metals. To be able to evaluate the metals, a Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) was done. Sevenrelevant aspects were chosen: i) problem at production ii) health risk iii) Job opportunities iv) recycling v) CO2emission vi) use of land vii) use of water. For these aspects each metal was assigned a grade representing how criticalthe metal is regarding the specific aspect. The results show that land use and health risks when spillage in environmentare the aspects where the metals have the highest negative impact. Further, several metals were critical when it comesto environmental impact. For instance, cobalt mining involves bad working conditions, gold production contributes totoxic spillage in the environment and lithium requires large quantities of water. Opportunities of improvement thathave been identified is to further focus on recycling, improve the transparency regarding the manufacturing of asmartphone, as well as implementing life cycle assessment in the design of smartphones.
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Siche, Jara Raul Benito. "Avaliação ecologica-termodinamica e economica de nações : o Peru como estudo de caso." [s.n.], 2007. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/256265.
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Orientador: Enrique Ortega RodriguezTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
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Resumo: Durante as últimas décadas tem se incrementado as preocupações relacionadas à degradação de sistemas sócio-ambientais. Este trabalho permite acrescentar o interesse na busca de métodos adequados de contabilidade ambiental que ajudem a medir a sustentabilidade. Os métodos aplicados nesta tese foram: a Pegada Ecológica, Análise exergética, e Análise Emergética. A base de nosso cálculo foi a economia do Peru tomando dados do ano 2004 como referência. Os resultados da aplicação destes métodos mostram que a tendência da economia do Peru é de diminuir sua sustentabilidade, tendência que se explica pela dependência crescente dos recursos não renováveis, principalmente combustíveis fósseis. Se bem a sustentabilidade do Peru é boa atualmente, uma diminuição de sua capacidade de suporte, como esta ocorrendo, reverteria a sua condição atual. Na parte final deste trabalho se apresentam duas propostas, que integram conceitos da Pegada Ecológica e Análise Emergética, para avaliar o desempenho ecológico de um sistema nacional, os quais pretendem ser mais abrangentes e compreensivos que os métodos convencionais
Abstract: In recent decades has increased the preoccupations related to the deterioration of socioenvironmental systems. This work allows add the interest in the search for appropriate methods of environmental accounting to help measure the sustainability. In this thesis, the methods following were applied: the Ecological Footprint, Exergy Analysis and Emergy Analysis. The basis for our calculation was the Peruvian economy taking data from year 2004 as reference. The results of the application of these methods show that the tendency of the Peruvian economy is decrease its sustainability; trend can be explained by the growing dependence of non-renewable resources, particularly fossil fuels. Although, the Peruvian sustainability is good now, a decrease of its ability to support, as this occurs, revert its current condition. At the end of this work are presented two proposals, which include concepts of Ecological Footprint and Emergy Analysis, to assess the environmental performance of a national system, which claim to be more widespread and understanding that the conventional methods
Doutorado
Engenharia de Alimentos
Doutor em Engenharia de Alimentos
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Peron, Darci. "Das glebas aos continentes: um diálogo sobre indicadores socioambientais." Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 2010. https://repositorio.ufscar.br/handle/ufscar/1679.
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Previous issue date: 2010-04-22This study has been carried out in a rural settlement of the Agrarian Reform National Institute Wesly Manoel dos Santos, also known as Gleba Mercedes V, located in the municipal district of Sinop, Mato Grosso. It involves elements for the analysis of Human Welfare of people settled there, through three socio-environmental indicators: the Ecological Footprint, the Human Development Index and the Happiness Index. Based on the case study methodology, this research triangulates quantitative and qualitative data and it uses the following methods: 1- the Ecological Footprint Method through the variables: water consumption, power, fuel and wastes generation; 2- the Happy Planet Index Method, which relates Happiness to the Ecological Footprint, in which the program: Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) has been used, in order to systematize the gathered data; and 3- Method adopted by PNUD to check the Human Development Index, through the variables of longevity, education and health. Through these collected data and the figures found for the three magnitudes: Ecological Footprint, Happiness Index and Human Development Index, we have examined the impacts brought about by the activities put into practice by the inhabitants of that community in the natural environment, life pattern of the inhabitants and their happiness, trying to assess the human welfare condition of the community dwellers, aiming to evaluate the sustainability degree of the referred settlement. Using a previously structured questionnaire we could assess the satisfaction level towards life, which is 5.62 (in a 0 to 10 scale). Based on the Happy Planet Index Method, through the relationship between the local Ecological Footprint and the satisfaction level, we have calculated the Happiness Index of 0.68 (in a 0 to 10 scale). Both the quantitative and the qualitative data have been gathered between January to December, 2008. After the analysis of the results of the Ecological Footprint: 0.433 gha/per capita and the Biocapacity: 6.34 gha/per capita, the settlement can be considered ecologically sustainable and we can say it presents a confirmed ecological superavit.
Este estudo foi realizado num assentamento do Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agrária Wesly Manoel dos Santos, conhecida como Gleba Mercedes V, localizado no município de Sinop, Mato Grosso, envolvendo elementos para análise do Bem-estar Humano dos assentados através de três indicadores socioambientais: Pegada Ecológica (PE), Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH) e Índice de Felicidade (IF). Com base na metodologia de estudo de caso esta pesquisa triangula dados quantitativos e qualitativos, e vale-se dos métodos: 1) Ecological Footprint Method através das variáveis: consumo de água, energia, combustíveis e geração de resíduos; 2) Método do Índice de Planeta Feliz que relaciona a Felicidade com a Pegada Ecológica, onde usamos o programa Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) para sistematização dos dados coletados; e 3) Método adotado pelo PNUD para se chegar ao IDH através das variáveis de longevidade, educação e saúde. Através dos dados coletados e dos valores encontrados para as três grandezas, PE, IF e IDH, examinamos os impactos causados pelas atividades exercidas pelos habitantes da comunidade no ambiente natural, o padrão de vida de seus habitantes a Felicidade dos mesmos de forma a avaliar a condição de bem-estar humano dos moradores da comunidade . Foram levantados dados históricos, socioeconômicos e ambientais da comunidade, com o objetivo de avaliar o grau de sustentabilidade do assentamento. Através de questionário previamente estruturado foi avaliado o nível de satisfação com a vida que é de 5,62 (numa escala de 0 a 10). Com base no método do Índice de Planeta Feliz, através da relação entre a Pegada Ecológica local e do Nível de Satisfação, foi calculado o IF para os moradores da comunidade que apresenta valores de 64,8 (numa escala de 0 a 100). O IDH do assentamento é de 0,68 (numa escala de 0 a 10). Os dados quantitativos e qualitativos foram coletados entre os meses de janeiro a dezembro de 2008. Através da análise dos resultados da Pegada Ecológica que é de 0,433 gha/per capita e da Biocapacidade, que é de 6,34 gha/ per capita, pode ser considerado que o assentamento apresenta superávit ecológico confirmando que é sustentável ecologicamente.
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Giratalla, Waleed. "Assessing the environmental practices and impacts of intentional communities: an ecological footprint comparison of an ecovillage and cohousing community in southwestern British Columbia." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29407.
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The ecological footprint of the average Canadian is three times greater than the global per capita biocapacity of the planet. The purpose of this research is to gain insights from intentional communities on how to reduce household ecological footprints in Canada. Intentional community is an inclusive term for a variety of community types, including ecovillages and cohousing, where residents have come together to achieve a common
purpose. Studies show that intentional communities have per capita ecological footprints that are less than those of conventional communities. I corroborate these findings through my own ecological footprint analyses of Quayside Village and OUR Ecovillage, in southwestern British Columbia. These communities have per capita ecological footprints that are smaller than some conventional averages. Overall, Quayside Village and OUR Ecovillage also have comparatively similar per capita ecological footprints, suggesting that residents of both urban and rural intentional communities may demonstrate similar
environmental behaviours. Intentional community living is currently confined to small‐scale grassroots initiatives so
even the aggregate environmental benefits are insignificant. Municipalities and land developers can help to advance the pro‐environmental practices of intentional
communities by increasing incentives for this community model and adapting intentional community practices to a conventional context.
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Dexheimer, Leticia. "A pegada ecológica dos incidentes rodoviários." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/61381.
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Este estudo tem por finalidade modelar a pegada ecológica de incidentes rodoviários que interrompem o fluxo normal de circulação. A pegada ecológica é um indicador que mede o impacto das atividades humanas em quantidades de áreas de terra, água e energia utilizadas para sustentar uma população de determinada região. Em transportes, esse impacto é medido pela área hipotética que deveria ser reservada para a absorção do CO2 emitido que tem constituído, nos últimos anos, a fatia mais significativa das pegadas ecológicas na maioria dos países. A vantagem de utilizar essa abordagem reside na facilidade de entendimento, na simplicidade e na utilização de uma unidade única de comparação entre emissões de diferentes setores. O método proposto e aplicado neste trabalho proporciona a identificação dos impactos dos incidentes, particularmente acidentes viários e obras de manutenção viária, em termos de pegada ecológica. O estudo de caso constou de uma rodovia de pista simples cujas emissões foram avaliadas com a utilização de simulação de tráfego. Como resultado obteve-se uma pegada ecológica de cerca de 2.180 hectares decorrente dos incidentes ao longo de um ano de operação da via. Este valor corresponde a 4% da pegada ecológica da via em condições normais de operação. Ainda, os resultados indicam que os incidentes com maior impacto sobre o meio ambiente são as obras para a manutenção da rodovia que contribuem com 60% do total gerado pelos incidentes.The purpose of this study is to model the ecological footprint of road incidents that interrupt the normal flow of vehicles. The ecological footprint is an accounting framework that measures the impact of human activities considering amounts of land, water and energy areas used to sustain the population of a region. In transportation, this impact is measured by the hypothetical area required to absorb CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels that has been responsible, over the last years, for the largest share of the ecological footprint of nations. The advantage of using this approach is the ease of understanding, simplicity and the use of a single unit for comparing emissions from different sectors. The method proposed and deployed in this work enables identifying the impact of incidents, basically road accidents and maintenance works, on the transportation ecological footprint. The case study was composed of a single lane highway whose emissions were evaluated with the use of traffic simulation. We obtained an ecological footprint of 2,180 ha due to road incidents over a period of one year. This corresponds to 4% of the ecological footprint of normal road operations. Results also indicate that the incidents with the greatest impact on the environment are the works for the maintenance of the highway which contribute with 60% of the total value.
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Pereira, Lucas Gonçalves. "Sintese dos metodos de pegada ecologica e analise emergetica para diagnostico da sustentabilidade de paises : o Brasil como estudo de caso." [s.n.], 2008. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/256261.
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Orientador: Enrique Ortega RodriguesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
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Resumo: O homem está enfrentando um desafio sem precedentes: há um consenso de que os ecossistemas da Terra não podem sustentar os níveis de atividade econômica e de consumo de energia atuais. Para determinar o impacto das atividades humanas sobre o meio ambiente e seus níveis de sustentabilidade são necessários parâmetros ou indicadores obtidos por metodologias que cumpram esses objetivos. A Análise Emergética pode avaliar o capital natural e os serviços ecossistêmicos. O método é capaz de quantificar o trabalho feito pela natureza na produção de bens e recursos. Por outro lado, a Pegada Ecológica vem sendo promovida como uma ferramenta de planejamento da sustentabilidade. Apesar de ser um dos métodos mais populares atualmente, ele tem recebido muitas críticas, especialmente devido à sua visão antropocêntrica. Um cálculo modificado combinando esses dois métodos foi proposto por Zhao et al. (2005), mas não foi suficiente para solucionar todas as deficiências encontradas na metodologia convencional da Pegada Ecológica. O objetivo desse trabalho é sugerir modificações e incluir não só o conceito, mas o método da Análise Emergética nos cálculos. A biocapacidade foi estimada como função dos recursos renováveis disponíveis no sistema. O consumo foi agrupado em categorias: cultivo, produtos florestais, produtos animais e recursos energéticos. Todos os fluxos de energia foram calculados em Joules e depois convertidos para emergia solar (seJ/ano) utilizandose o fator de conversão chamado de ¿transformidade¿ (seJ/J). Os fluxos de emergia foram, então, divididos pela densidade emergética global (seJ/ha) para se obter uma área equivalente global da pegada. Para demonstrar o mecanismo da metodologia proposta, aplicou-se para o caso do Brasil. Os resultados obtidos foram que o país apresenta uma pegada de 41,88 gha/pessoa e uma biocapacidade de 64,71 gha/pessoa. Comparando-se com o método convencional da Pegada Ecológica, a abordagem emergética demonstrou resultados mais pessimistas para a realidade ecológica brasileira
Abstract: Mankind is facing a challenge without precedents: there is a consensus that Earth¿s ecosystems can no longer support today¿s levels of economic activities and energy consumption. In order to determine the impact of human activities on the environment and the levels of sustainability, parameters and indicators are necessary. Emergy accounting can evaluate natural capital and ecosystem services. It is able to quantify the work done by nature to produce resources. On the other hand, the Ecological Footprint method has been promoted as a planning tool for sustainability. Despite being one of the most popular methods nowadays, it has received many critiques, especially because of its anthropocentric point-of-view. A modified calculation combining those two methods was proposed by Zhao et al. (2005), but it is not adequate for solving all the problems found in the Ecological Footprint. The aim of this work is to suggest some modifications and include the full concept of emergy into the calculation. The biocapacity was estimated as function of the renewable resources available. Consumption was grouped in categories: cropland, forestry, animal products, and energy resources. All the energy flows were estimated in Joules and then transformed into solar emergy (seJ/year) using the conversion factor ¿transformity¿ (seJ/J). The emergy flows were divided by the ¿global emergy density¿ (seJ/gha) to obtain the ¿equivalent global area¿. To demonstrate the mechanics of this new method, we applied it to the case of Brazil. The results were that Brazil has an ecological footprint of 41,88 gha/cap and a biocapacity of 64,71 gha/cap. Compared with conventional footprint calculations, the emergy based approach showed more pessimist results for Brazilian ecological reality
Mestrado
Mestre em Engenharia de Alimentos
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Souza, Carolina Herrmann Coelho de. "Proposta de método para avaliação da sustentabilidade ambiental de pequenos municípios." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/17156.
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Esta pesquisa partiu da reflexão sobre a aplicabilidade dos conceitos de sustentabilidade, utilizando como foco a cidade. Pela primeira vez na história, em 2008 a população urbana ultrapassou a rural em níveis mundiais. No Brasil, cerca de 80% da população vive em áreas urbanas, sendo que 75% dos municípios brasileiros possuem até vinte mil habitantes. A Agenda 21 e a Agenda Habitat para Municípios abordam que os atuais padrões de desenvolvimento degradam os recursos naturais, afetando as condições de vida da população nas cidades. Esses documentos alertam para que haja respeito pela capacidade de absorção dos ecossistemas. A Pegada Ecológica, desenvolvida por Mathis Wackernagel e William Rees, é uma ferramenta de análise que permite estimar, em termos de área produtiva correspondente, o consumo de recursos e a capacidade de assimilação dos impactos ambientais gerados por uma determinada população ou economia. Para se utilizar essa ferramenta, de forma a ser implementada nas cidades brasileiras, é preciso adaptá-la, para que seja inserida em um instrumento de política urbana local, o Plano Diretor. O objetivo da presente pesquisa é desenvolver um método de avaliação da sustentabilidade ambiental para pequenos municípios, baseado na Pegada Ecológica, inserido no processo de elaboração de Planos Diretores de Desenvolvimento Urbano. O procedimento metodológico utilizado foi a pesquisa construtiva, dividida nas etapas de inspeção, a qual se refere à compreensão do processo, por meio da revisão da literatura; seguida da etapa de imaginação, onde é possível criar alternativas de transformação do processo atual, a qual contou com a experiência de especialistas; e finalmente, pela etapa de aplicação, em que se colocam em prática as alternativas desejadas. Nesta etapa houve a aplicação da ferramenta em município de pequeno porte (Feliz/RS). A contribuição da pesquisa se refere à apresentação detalhada da aplicação de uma ferramenta de avaliação da sustentabilidade ambiental, a qual discretiza as atividades mais sustentáveis, considerando-as como de reduzido impacto ambiental, e contribui na compreensão de que as decisões de planejamento afetam todo um sistema, que vai além das fronteiras políticas.This research resulted from the reflection on the applicability of sustainable concepts focused on the city. For the first time in history, in 2008 urban population surpassed rural population at the global level. Around 80 percent of the Brazilian population lives in urban areas, considering that 75 percent of the Brazilian municipalities have up to twenty thousand inhabitants. Agenda 21 and Agenda Habitat for Municipalities address that the current development standards damage natural resources, and thus affect life conditions of the urban population. These documents stress the need to respect ecosystems absorption capability. The Ecological Footprint is an analysis tool developed by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees. It enables to estimate resource consumption and assimilation capability of environmental impacts generated by a specific population or economy, in terms of corresponding productive land. Its implementation in Brazilian cities requires it to be adapted in order to incorporate it in a local urban policy instrument, the Master Plan. The aim of this research is to develop an assessment method of environmental sustainability in small municipalities. It was based on the Ecological Footprint incorporated in the elaboration process of Urban Master Plans. The methodological procedure used was the constructive research, which was divided in inspection, imagination and intervention: the first phase refers to the process comprehension through the review of previous research and references. The second phase refers to the development of alternatives for changing the current process, which had the support of experts' experience. Finally, the third phase refers to the application of the planned alternatives. In the latter phase, the tool was applied in a small municipality (Feliz/RS). The contribution of this research refers to a detailed presentation of an assessment tool of environmental sustainability which points out more sustainable activities, reckoning them as having less impact on environment. The study also contributes in showing that planning decisions affect a whole system, which goes beyond political boundaries.
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Kumar, Arvind School of the Built Environment UNSW. "Towards an integrated sustainability assessment of the built environment : the convergence of ecological footprint and spatial analysis to map the urban dynamics of a city." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of the Built Environment, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/26124.
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This research examines ways to assess the built environment (BE) for its impacts on the ecosystems and its sustainability in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects on an urban scale. The examination is based on the argument, acknowledged in the literature, that urbanisation is one of the leading causes of unsustainable development, and that the BE makes a significant contribution to this. In order to accomplish this, urban dynamics are identified and mapped with respect to the built environment, and the relationship between urbanisation, the built environment, and the ecosystem is closely examined. The thesis argues that the common denominator in all efforts to move closer to sustainability is an effective assessment method, which not only quantifies the impacts but also informs and educates. The current methods used for assessment of the impacts of BE are found to be inadequate. An appraisal of contemporary assessment methods addressing sustainability and environmental issues at micro (individual building) and macro (urban system) levels is conducted to understand the mechanics of assessment theories. Based on this, a framework for a new assessment system which has the potential to overcome some of the observed weaknesses of the existing ones is proposed. Using multi-criteria analysis principles, this system uses ecological footprint and spatial analysis as its operational engine. It is then applied to a part of the Sydney Central Business District (CBD) for an integrated sustainability assessment. The ecological footprint of the building stock, transport, roads, waste disposal and water supply is calculated as a measure of the environmental impact of the built environment. In addition to this, ???return on investment??? (rental return on construction costs) as a measure of the economic aspect, embodied energy as a measure of material consumption, and ???proximity to facilities??? as a measure of the social benefit of the building stock, are calculated to assess the study area performance on these aspects. These are used to compute an integrated sustainability index for the study area. Various attributes of the built environment, such as total constructed area, height of building, road density etc., are analysed against the ecological footprint to understand the patterns of relationships between urban morphology and the state of sustainability.
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Barros, Márcio Vinicius Araújo de. "Pegada ecológica: um estudo aproximativo para aplicabilidade nas indústrias do pólo industrial de Manaus (PIM)." Universidade Federal do Amazonas, 2014. http://tede.ufam.edu.br/handle/tede/2556.
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This dissertation aimed to apply the indicators of Ecological Footprint to measure the current state of the art company studied the Industrial Pole of Manaus. For this, there was a comprehensive review of existing methodologies for adaptation on a smaller scale .Then the consumption variables necessary for the calculation of the Ecological Footprint in Corporate Environment were identified .It was used at first exploratory research and approach the second moment of theoretical and descriptive research by collecting primary data within an enterprise PIM . The literature for composition of a theoretical and documentary research for access to secondary data required for calculation of the indicators were also used .Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire , with explanatory text at the beginning , which was answered by those responsible for the requested data. The quantitative method is related to the use of quantification of variables ,use of formulas for the calculation of indicators and statistical techniques to ensure accurate results . As a result of the research, it was found that the Ecological Footprint Company ( -894.62 gha ) is within the standards set nationally ( 2.9 gha ) and that may encourage more consumption of fish instead of beef . It is relevant attention to the sustainability of our green areas, because of the 44 hectares of the Urban Zone of Manaus, 28 000 have been deforested.
A presente dissertação teve por objetivo aplicar os indicadores da Pegada Ecológica para mensurar o estado da arte atual da empresa em estudo do Polo Industrial de Manaus. Para isto, foi feita uma ampla revisão das metodologias existentes para adaptação em uma escala menor. Em seguida foram identificadas as variáveis de consumo necessárias para o cálculo da Pegada Ecológica no Ambiente Corporativo. Utilizou-se em um primeiro momento uma pesquisa exploratória e no segundo momento a abordagem de pesquisa teórico-descritiva através da coleta de dados primários dentro de uma empresa do PIM. Também foram utilizadas a pesquisa bibliográfica para composição do referencial teórico e a pesquisa documental para acesso aos dados secundários necessários para os cálculos dos indicadores. A coleta de dados foi realizada através de um questionário, com um texto explicativo no início, que foi respondido pelo responsável pelos dados solicitados. O método quantitativo está relacionado ao emprego da quantificação de variáveis, uso de fórmulas para o cálculo dos indicadores e técnicas estatísticas para garantir a precisão dos resultados. Como resultado da pesquisa, verificou-se que a Pegada Ecológica da Empresa (-894,62 gha) está dentro dos níveis estabelecidos nacionalmente (2,9 gha) e que se pode incentivar mais o consumo de peixe em substituição à carne bovina. É relevante a atenção para a sustentabilidade de nossas áreas verdes, pois dos 44 mil hectares da Zona Urbana de Manaus, 28 mil já foram desmatados.
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Mattos, Ely José de. "Desenvolvimento e meio ambiente : o papel dos indutores de impacto." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/54614.
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Esta tese é composta por três ensaios que versam sobre a complexa relação entre desenvolvimento e meio ambiente. No primeiro ensaio é feita uma revisão das principais abordagens teóricas que tratam do assunto, com destaque para a Curva Ambiental de Kuznets (CAK) e para os conceitos de sustentabilidade fraca e forte. Ambos apontam o crescimento econômico como um importante indutor de impacto ambiental. No entanto, a CAK afirma que a geração de riqueza pode ser aliada na proteção ambiental quando o país alcança um patamar de desenvolvimento suficientemente elevado para que o meio ambiente passe a ser incorporado como um bem superior. Já a conceituação de sustentabilidade não reforça esta conclusão ao passo que sugere que o capital natural precisa ser preservado: seja relativamente (conceito fraco) ou absolutamente (conceito forte). Para estes, a relação entre crescimento e impacto é sempre direta. As abordagens multidimensionais vão além e afirmam que a relação entre o homem e os ecossistemas se dá uma forma impossível de ser mensurada através da simples relação entre crescimento econômico e degradação. Para se aproximar minimamente deste modo de pensar, um conjunto maior de indutores precisa ser considerado. O ensaio 2 desta tese apresenta modelos na literatura que buscam estimar impactos ambientais causados pela atividade humana através de um número maior de indutores (produtivos, populacionais, institucionais, entre outros). Estes modelos (IPAT e STIRPAT) têm como característica a possibilidade de estimar o impacto ambiental esperado através da verificação das variáveis consideradas indutoras. Mas, duas fragilidades são especialmente importantes: i) a variável que mede impacto ambiental é, em geral, reportada com poluição apenas; e, ii) os modelos não fornecem cenários não lineares nos indutores, ou seja, o patamar das variáveis não faz diferença no tamanho do impacto gerado. Então, é proposta a aplicação de um modelo logístico ordenado que seja capaz de estimar as probabilidades de diferentes níveis de impacto ambiental, que é medido através do tamanho da Pegada Ecológica dos países. A metodologia proposta, além de contar com uma medida mais ampla e completa de impacto ambiental, também é capaz de fornecer cenários com maior riqueza informativa, pois levam em consideração os níveis das variáveis indutoras. No trabalho, foram avaliados cenários a partir de um modelo que contou com as seguintes variáveis: percentual de população urbana, percentual de população entre 15-64 anos, densidade demográfica, PIB per capita e percentual de área agrícola. Os sinais e magnitudes das variáveis utilizadas são condizentes com o que a literatura vem apresentando. O diferencial da proposta é, de fato, a possiblidade de análise de cenários através de outra perspectiva. O ensaio 3 da tese aplica este modelo estimado para o globo aos municípios gaúchos. A partir da suposição de que os impactos ambientais são homogêneos ao redor do mundo, foi possível estimar as probabilidades de impacto para cada município. Com estes resultados, foi elaborada uma análise regional dos potenciais impactos ambientais dos municípios a partir dos indutores que apresentavam. Trata-se de um exercício interessante quando se considerada a carência de informações ambientais neste nível de desagregação.This thesis presents three essays on the complex relationship between development and the environment. On the first essay is performed a survey of the main theoretical approaches on this matter with an emphasis on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and the weak and strong sustainability concepts. Both approaches points out the economic growth as an important driver of environmental impact. However, the EKC sustains that the pursuit of economic wealth can be responsible for environmental protection as the country reaches a certain level of income which turns the environment into a superior good. On the other hand, the concepts of sustainability do not enforce this conclusion either in relative terms (weak concept) or absolute terms (strong concept); in this scope, the relationship between growth and environment is constantly direct. The multidimensional approaches propose that the relationship between humankind and the ecosystems are established in a way which is impossible to measure through economic growth and environmental degradation. To become closer to this sort of approach it is necessary to consider a wider set of drivers. The essay 2 of this thesis analyses some statistical models that aim to estimate environmental impacts caused by human activity based on a larger number of drivers (production, population, institutions, etc.). These models (IPAT and STIRPAT) present as a major characteristic the ability to estimate the expected environmental impact grounded on the drivers considered. Nevertheless, two important caveats should be considered: i) the impact variable is most of the time just a pollution measure; and, ii) the models do not offer a nonlinear analysis on the drivers, i.e., the level of the drivers does not make any difference in terms of impact. So, we propose an ordered logistic model that is suitable for estimating the probabilities of different levels of environmental impact which is represented by the size of the Environmental Footprint. The proposed methodology, besides counting on a wider and more complete measure of environmental impact, is capable to offer scenarios with a richer degree of information because the level are effectively taken into consideration. The study has evaluated scenarios base on the following drivers: percentage of population in urban areas, percentage of population between 15-64 years old, demographic density, GDP per capita, and the percentage of agricultural land. The signs and magnitudes of the drivers have proven to be the same as those found in the literature. The main difference of this proposal is, in fact, the possibility of analyzing scenarios through a different (wider) perspective. The essay 3 applies the model, which was prior estimated for the globe, to the municipalities of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Based on the assumption that the environmental impact generated by those drivers is homogeneous around the world, it was possible to estimate the probabilities of environmental impact for each municipality and to draw a regional study of these results. It is an interesting exercise if you take into account that there exists a huge lack of information of environmental conditions for municipalities.
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Pierre, Johanna. "Hållbar utveckling och CSR inom foderindustrin för hund och katt : Med fokus på det ekologiska perspektivet." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för naturvetenskap, miljö och teknik, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-25783.
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Pets like dogs and cats have a considerable importance for humans and research demonstrate a variety of positive economic and social effects in society due to our pet companions. The presences of pets are increasing on a global scale with correlation to economic development in low- and middle income countries. For example dogs have doubled in India over a five year period. The feed industry for dogs and cats is also the fastest growing sector in the food industry and certain pets have a significant animal protein intake which, depending on the choice of resources may provide a high ecological footprint. Examples of environmental effects with distribution and manufacturing of pet food are increased greenhouse gas emissions, waste, use of water and energy. Pet food producers have an important role to play in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development efforts, especially in their choice of sustainable protein resources as by-products from sustainable fisheries and livestock production. The purpose of this study was to investigate how pet food industry for dogs and cats generally working on sustainable development and CSR from primarily an ecological perspective in terms of ingredients, communication and production process. Ecological sustainability within pet food industry is more or less unexplored, and this study aims to create a broader understanding and interest for further studies in this field. This study was conducted using the multi method research including qualitative and quantitative methods on a global and national scale. The result is not possible to generalize, but some conclusions can be drawn. In relation to resources, by-products from food industry are a commonly used pet food content. But several companies are also marketing pet food containing “real meat, fish, poultry” with no or less byproducts. This seems to be a consumer driven trend. Indications that resources in pet food partly competes with human food system, give further considerations how to feed a growing human and pet population within planetary boundaries. All national and multinational cooperation’s in this study work more or less with CSR and sustainability from an ecological perspective. Generally there is visibly a weak relationship between companies’ sustainability activities and animal protein which should be a prerequisite in a production that is largely made of this resource, in relation to acute environmental degradation like climate change and depletion of fish stocks. Another conclusion is that corporate communication of environmental CSR and sustainability efforts on different pet food brand websites are almost non-existent. Finally, working with this study gave rise to many further questions and study subjects in relation to ecological sustainability within Pet food industry, not at least it´s relation to food industry and how this may effect global human meat consumption.Sällskapsdjur i form av hund och katt har stor betydelse för människan och forskning påvisar en mängd positiva ekonomiska och sociala effekter som dessa ger oss. Förekomsten av sällskapsdjur visar en tydlig korrelation med ekonomisk utveckling och hundägandet har exempelvis fördubblats i Indien under en femårs period. Foderindustrin för hund och katt är samtidigt den snabbast växande sektorn inom livsmedelsindustrin. Hund och katt har som regel ett högt intag av animaliskt protein vilket beroende på resursval kan ge ett påtagligt ekologiskt fotavtryck. Själva foderproduktionen samt transporter ger också upphov till miljöpåverkan i form av t.ex. ökade utsläpp av växthusgaser, ökad vatten- och energianvändning samt avfall. Foderproducenterna har en viktig roll att fylla vad gäller sitt företagsansvar (CSR) samt arbete med hållbar utveckling ur ett ekologiskt perspektiv. Exempel på detta kan vara val av proteinresurser som biprodukter ifrån hållbart fiske och animalieproduktion. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur foderindustrin för hund och katt generellt arbetar med hållbar utveckling samt CSR ur framförallt ett ekologiskt perspektiv vad gäller produktionsförfarande, kommunikation samt om foderingredienser kompletterar eller konkurrerar med livsmedelsingredienser. Området är relativt outforskat och studien syftar till att skapa en bredare förståelse samt intresse för djupare studier inom området. Undersökningen har utförts med hjälp av flermetodsforskning i form av kvalitativ samt kvantitativ metod på global och nationell nivå. Resultatet går inte att generalisera på foderindustrin globalt även om vissa slutsatser kan dras. I relation till resurser är förekomsten av biprodukter ifrån livsmedelsindustrin vanligt foderinnehåll men flera företag marknadsför också foder som innehåller ”riktigt kött, fisk, fågel” med frånvaro av eller lägre innehåll av biprodukter. Detta verkar vara en konsumentdriven trend. Både nationella samt multinationella företag i studien arbetar mer eller mindre med CSR och hållbarhet ur ett ekologiskt perspektiv. Generellt är det dock en svag koppling mellan miljöarbetet och animaliskt protein, vilket borde vara en förutsättning i en produktion som till stor del består av denna resurs i relation till akuta miljöproblem som klimatförändringen samt utfiskning. Ytterligare en slutsats är att företagens kommunikation av miljömässigt CSR- och hållbarhetsarbete på sina varumärkens hemsidor är närmast obefintlig. Slutligen väckte arbetetet med uppsatsen ett antal djupare frågeställningar samt ideér till fortsatta studier i relation till ekologisk hållbarhet inom foderindustrin. Inte minst avseende foderindustrins relation till livsmedelsindustrin och hur detta samband eventuellt kan påverka global köttkonsumtion. Foder för hund och katt konkurrerar dessutom till viss del med livsmedel vilket skapar utmaningen att föda både en ökande befolkning samt population av sällskapsdjur som skall livnära sig inom planetens gränser i framtiden.
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Pereira, Lucas Gonçalves. "Análise multiescala multicritério do desempenho energético-ambiental brasileiro." [s.n.], 2012. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/256253.
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Orientador: Enrique Ortega RodriguezTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
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Resumo: Tendências de crescimento econômico têm sido observadas tanto para o mundo como para o Brasil. No entanto, para se analisar o desempenho de um sistema, é fundamental contabilizar todos os fluxos de energia e material, o uso e a ocupação da terra, a taxa de uso de recursos renováveis e não renováveis, o bem estar social, e não só parâmetros econômicos. O presente estudo segue a visão segundo a qual, o uso de uma seleção de metodologias de avaliação do desempenho energético-ambiental apresenta resultados robustos, uma vez que os diferentes indicadores obtidos funcionam de maneira complementar. Foram aplicados os métodos de Avaliação Emergética, Análise de Energia Incorporada, Mochila Ecológica, Inventário de Emissões Indiretas, e Pegada Ecológica para o caso do Brasil em 2008, além do estado de São Paulo e do município de Campinas, em razão da importância para a economia nacional. Uma discussão acerca da relevância dos métodos selecionados foi feita e concluiu-se que a metodologia emergética é a mais robusta por lidar também com os aspectos econômicos e contabilizar as contribuições da natureza para os sistemas avaliados, porém é a que apresenta mais inconsistências devido à falta de padronização dos cálculos e de fatores de conversão confiáveis. A aplicação da metodologia à série história do Brasil demonstrou que o desempenho ambiental vem piorando de 1981 a 2008: a Renovabilidade caiu de 82 % para 45 %, a ELR subiu de 0,21 para 1,12, o ESI passou de 74,17 para 5,70 e a fração importada de emergia subiu de 6 % para 16 %. Por outro lado, no mesmo período, o PIB per capita aumentou de US$ 3.760 para US$ 9.355. Em 2008, verificou-se que o PIB per capita foi maior para Campinas com US$ 14.217, seguido por São Paulo com US$ 13.587. O estado e o município apresentaram alta dependência de recursos externos (91 % e 99 %) e baixa capacidade de suporte (0,08 e 0,04). Campinas apresentou valores per capita inferiores à média brasileira para materiais abióticos e para o Potencial de Aquecimento Global (GWP), e valores próximos em termos da demanda de água. O estado de São Paulo, por sua vez, apresentou valores muito superiores para esses indicadores se comparados aos outros dois casos. No entanto, o estado tem a maior participação na economia nacional com mais de 30 % do PIB do Brasil e é responsável por exportar grandes quantidades de produtos e energia para os outros estados. A riqueza econômica de Campinas não está associada a aspectos produtivos e de energia, e sim a uma economia baseada em serviços (polo de ensino e alta tecnologia), que ainda não são devidamente contabilizados pelas metodologias aplicadas. De uma maneira geral, foi possível perceber que os indicadores econômicos e os ambientais caminham em direções opostas, ou seja, o crescimento econômico está associado a um aumento do consumo e da demanda por materiais e energia, e consequente dependência por recursos não renováveis externos. Nesse sentido, o modelo de crescimento econômico acelerado proposto pelo governo federal deveria ser revisto tendo como ponto de partida um desenvolvimento baseado em menor consumo, maior preservação e recuperação das áreas florestais naturais, menor dependência de recursos estrangeiros e maior valorização dos produtos e dos recursos locais
Abstract: Economic growth tendencies have been observed for the world as well as for Brazil. However, in order to assess the performance of a system, it is important to account for all the energy and material flows, the use and the occupation of land, the use of renewable and nonrenewable resources, the social wellbeing, and not only economic parameters. This study follows the view according to which, the use of a selection of methodologies to evaluate the energetic environmental performance presents robust results, once the various indicators work in a complementary way. The following methods were applied: Emergy Evaluation, Embodied Energy Analysis, Ecological Rucksack, Indirect Emissions Inventory and Ecological Footprint to the case of Brazil in 2008, besides the state of Sao Paulo and the municipality of Campinas, due to their importance to the national economy. The relevancy of the selected methods was discussed and conclusion is that the emergy methodology is the most robust one for dealing with economic aspects as well as accounting for the contributions from nature to the systems. However it is the most inconsistent method due the lack of standardized calculations and trustful conversion factors. The evaluation applied to a historical series have shown that the environmental performance have been worsening from 1981 to 2008: Renewability has dropped from 82 % to 45 %, ELR increased from 0.21 to 1.12, ESI decreased from 74.17 to 5.70 and the emergy imported fraction rose from 6 % to 16 %. On the other hand, in the same period, the GDP per capita increased from US$ 3,760 to US$ 9,355. In 2008, the GDP per capita for Campinas was the highest with US$ 14,217 followed by Sao Paulo with US$ 13,587. The state of Sao Paulo and the municipality of Campinas presented high dependency on imported resources (91 % and 99 %) and low carrying capacity (0.08 and 0.04). However, Campinas has presented lower values that the national average for abiotic materials and GWP, and close values in terms of water demand. The state of Sao Paulo has the highest share of the national economy with over 30 % of the Brazilian GDP and it is responsible for large amounts of exported products and energy to other states. The economic wealth of Campinas is not associated with productive or energetic aspects, but with an economy based on services (center of learning and development of new technologies), which are not yet accounted by the applied methodologies. Generally, it is possible to observe that economic and environmental indicators tend to evolve in opposite directions, in other words, the economic growth is associated with an increase on the consumption and on the demand of materials and energy, and consequent dependency on nonrenewable imported resources. In this sense, the accelerated economic growth model proposed by the current Brazilian federal government should be reviewed having as basis the development based on low consumption, increased preservation and recuperation of natural forest areas, lower dependency on foreign resources and higher appreciation for local products and resources
Doutorado
Engenharia de Alimentos
Doutor em Engenharia de Alimentos
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Mamouni, Limnios Elena Alexandra. "Incorporating complex systems dynamics in sustainability assessment frameworks : enhanced prediction and management of socio-ecological systems performance." University of Western Australia. Faculty of Business, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2009.0012.
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[Truncated abstract] The application of reductionism, breaking down problems to simpler components that can be solved and then aggregating the results, is one of the bases of classical science. However, living organisms, ecosystems, social and economic structures are complex systems, characterised by non-linear interactions between their elements and exhibit emergent properties that are not directly traceable to their components. Sustainability assessment frameworks oversimplify system interactions, achieving limited predictive capacity and causing managerial behavior that may reduce system's ability to adapt to external disturbance. Intrigued by the importance of complexity, we explore the central theme of how complex thinking can influence the understanding and progress towards sustainability. The purpose is to conceptualize the relationship of key terms (such as sustainability, functionality and resilience), and consecutively develop new or adjust existing sustainability frameworks to take into account complex systems interactions. We aim at developing theory and frameworks that can be used to raise awareness of the pitfalls of the growth paradigm and direct towards modest positions when managing complex systems. We seek to define the structural elements that influence system adaptive capacity, allowing identification of early signs of system rigidity or vulnerability and the development of knowledge and techniques that can improve our predictive and managerial ability. The focus has been on a variety of system scales and dynamics. At the collective community level, a number of stakeholder engagement practices and frameworks are currently available. However, there is limited awareness of the complexity challenges among stakeholders, who are commonly directed to a triple bottom line analysis aiming at maximizing a combination of outputs. An attempt is conducted to measure the functionality of the processes underlying a standing stock, in contrast to sustainability measures that only assess the variations of the standing stock itself. We develop the Index of Sustainable Functionality (ISF), a framework for the assessment of complex systems interactions within a large-scale geographic domain and apply it to the State of Western Australia. '...' Finally, we focus on smaller systems scales and develop a methodology for the calculation of Product Ecological Footprint (PEF) including elements from the accounting method of activity based costing. We calculate PEF for three apple production systems and identify significant differences from first stage calculations within the same industry. Cross-industry application will provide a practical way to link individuals' consumption with their ecological impact, reduce misperceptions of products' ecological impacts and develop a market-driven approach to internalizing environmental externalities. At the firm level PEF can be compared with investment costs, resulting in the opportunity to optimize both functions of financial cost and ecological impact in decision making. We have developed methods for incorporating complexity in sustainability assessment frameworks. Further work is required in testing and validating these methodologies at multiple system scales and conditions. Integrating such tools in decision making mechanisms will enhance long-term management of socioecological systems performance.
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Souza, Adriana Silva de. "Formas de mensurar a sustentabilidade: um estudo sobre os novos indicadores." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2011. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/9156.
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Previous issue date: 2011-05-26The reflection on the theme development, along with pressure from society in nature, led the growth in awareness of the environmental problems caused by incompatible standards of living through the process of regeneration of the environment. With that sustainable development has become the main choice for today's socioeconomic development. The finding of fact made researchers were in search of a development model that can guarantee the quality of life of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to survive and develop. Several tools have been developed in recent years with the aim of measuring the sustainability of economic and social systems. In an attempt to improve knowledge of sustainability indicators in this study evaluated three of the tools most widely used and recognized in the context of sustainability: the Ecological Footprint, the Dashboard of Sustainability, and the Barometer of Sustainability. The three tools were evaluated in order to identify the main elements of these indicators and their theoretical basis. The ultimate goal is to write a comparative analysis and improve understanding of sustainability indicators mentioned so that you can use these tools more clearly and consciously
A reflexão sobre o tema desenvolvimento, juntamente com a pressão exercida pela sociedade na natureza, levou o crescimento da consciência sobre os problemas ambientais gerados por padrões de vida incompatíveis com o processo de regeneração do meio ambiente. Com isso o desenvolvimento sustentável tornou-se a principal opção de desenvolvimento socioeconômico da atualidade. A constatação deste fato fez com pesquisadores fossem em busca de um modelo de desenvolvimento que possa garantir a qualidade de vida das gerações atuais sem comprometer a capacidade de gerações futuras de sobreviverem e desenvolverem-se. Várias ferramentas foram elaboradas nos últimos anos com o objetivo de mensurar a sustentabilidade de sistemas econômicos e sociais. Na tentativa de melhorar o conhecimento sobre os indicadores de sustentabilidade o presente estudo avaliou três das ferramentas mais usadas e reconhecidas no âmbito da sustentabilidade: o Ecological Footprint, o Dashboard of Sustainability, e o Barometer of Sustainability. As três ferramentas foram analisadas para que se identificassem os principais elementos formadores destes indicadores e seu embasamento teórico. O objetivo final do trabalho é fazer uma análise comparativa e melhorar o conhecimento dos indicadores de sustentabilidade mencionados para que seja possível utilizar essas ferramentas de forma mais adequada e consciente
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Yildirim, Nuray. "Effect Of Designed Environmental Education Lectures On Environmental Attitudes Of Primary School Students." Master's thesis, METU, 2008. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609377/index.pdf.
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This study aims to measure the effect of designed environmental education lectures that is based on general environmental problems on primary school students&rsquoattitudes toward environment. The participants of this study obtained from a governmental school in Yü
zü
ncü
Yil districts of Ankara and consists of 51 (18 fourth grade and 33 fifth grade) students. In the study that is held in 2006-2007 education year students implemented to environmental education lectures for one month. The lectures included the &ldquo
sustainable development&rdquo
and &ldquo
ecological footprint&rdquo
concept, as well as the general environmental problems, their reasons and recycling as solution for reducing environmental problems, and student-centered teaching methods such as discussion, role playing, cooperative learning and questioning were used during the lectures in addition to the traditional teaching method. The data concerning the effect of the lectures was obtained by the environmental attitude questionnaire implemented to the students before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were conducted for data analysis and the result of the study indicated that environmental education lectures increased the environmental attitudes of the students.
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Dai, Dan, and Xiuying Tang. "Transitioning towards sustainable management of building materials in China." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Avdelningen för maskinteknik, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-2666.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this research is to examine how The Natural Step Framework, combined with Life Cycle Assessment and Ecological Footprint could help to manage the sustainability challenges of construction materials in China and to consider how these tools and concepts might inform each other in combination. Based on a literature review regarding the current reality of building materials in China and industry experience with use of existing sustainability concepts and tools, we build a conceptual model to integrate the three above concepts and attempt to analyse how they could work better together in the management of a sustainable transition. We then analyse the likely strengths and limitations of such an integrated model and finally use this to inform a vision of a sustainable future for building materials, discussing how the model may help China move towards sustainability.
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CASTELLANI, VALENTINA. "Methodologies aand indicatores to assess sustainability in tourism and agriculture." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/10332.
Full textAbstract:
The PhD project is about methodologies and indicators to assess sustainability, especially relating to tourism and agriculture. Spatial planning processes need to be supported by instruments able to evaluate current situation and to measure long term effects of the policies for development that are implemented. The use of indicators for measuring sustainability of tourism addresses some important needs: (1) quantitative evaluation of current state of environmental, social and economic conditions in the destination; (2) the definition of measurable targets; (3) the possibility of comparing results through space (comparison with other destinations) and time (measure of evolution through time of local situation – measure of achieved results); (4) communication of results to relevant actors (political decision makers, local stakeholders).
The analysis of sustainability of tourism activities is performed from three different perspectives; to address the aim of an integrated evaluation of tourism sector in the area, three methodological models were developed:
• Tourism Carrying Capacity (TCC). The methodology aims to integrate physical carrying capacity assessment with the evaluation of managing capacity of environmental and public services.
• Ecological Footprint of tourism (EFT). Development of a model to assess EF of tourists according to the kind of accommodation they choose for their holiday and adaptation of biocapacity assessment method to Italian areas.
• Sustainable Performance Index (SPI). Development of a new index, the Sustainable Performance Index (SPI), to evaluate social, environmental and economic development opportunities given by sustainable tourism activities in marginal areas.
Furthermore, the role of participatory processes and stakeholder involvement for local planning is investigated (starting from the experience of the implementation of European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas in two areas of Lombardy Region).
Considering that, to ensure a sustainable local development tourism cannot be the only economic activity of the area, the research is extended to the evaluation of the possible role of forest biomass uses (e.g. energy production and furniture production) to help a sustainable forest management, i.e. to optimize the use of natural resources, to avoid urbanization of the areas and to ensure the maintenance of tourist tracks. The activities in this field are:
• The development of a set of indicators to assess the feasibility and sustainability of energy production from wood biomass, underlying critical issues and potential areas of optimization providing a Decision Support System (DSS) for decision makers.
• Sustainability assessment of wood supply chain optimization through the integration of forest management, furniture production and energy production from residues and by-products. Final aim is the optimization of resource efficiency (material and energy flows) of the wood processing industry, through the development of a model that allows decision makers to evaluate different industrial symbiosis initiatives and to find improvements in the structure of an existing system, from an economic and environmental point of view.
Finally, the research analyzes the relationship between science and decision making (i.e. policy making and business choices) and the role of indicators for the translation of results into a usable format for key stakeholders.
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Weber, Erwin. "Towards local cultures of sustainability : facilitating community created environment education centres through design." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2012. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/52771/1/Erwin_Weber_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Ecological sustainability has been proposed to address the problem of human impacts increasingly degrading planetary resources and ecosystems, threatening biodiversity, eco-services and human survival. Ecological sustainability is an imperative, with Australia having one of the highest eco-footprints per person worldwide. While significant progress has been made via implementation of ecologically sustainable design in urban communities, relatively little has been undertaken in small, disparate regional communities in Australia. Regional communities are disadvantaged by rural economic decline associated with structural change and inequities of resource transfer. The ecologically sustainable solution is holistic, so all settlements need to be globally wise, richly biodiverse yet locally specific.
As a regional solution to this global problem, this research offers the practical means by which a small regional community can contribute. It focuses on the design and implementation of a community centre and the fostering of transformative community learning through an integrated ‘learning community’ awareness of ecologically sustainable best practice. Lessons learned are documented by the participant researcher who as a designer, facilitator, local resident and social narrator has been deeply connected with the Tweed-Caldera region over a period since 1980. The collective action of the local community of Chillingham has been diligently recorded over a decade of design and development. Over this period, several positive elements emerged in terms of improvements to the natural and built environment, greater social cohesion and co-operative learning along with a shift towards a greener local economy. Behavioural changes in the community were noted as residents strived to embrace ecological ideals and reduce fossil fuel dependency. They found attractive local solutions to sourcing of food and using local employment opportunities to up skill their residents via transformative learning as a community in transition. Finally, the catalytic impact of external partnering has also been documented. How well the region as a whole has achieved its ecologically sustainable objectives is measured in terms of the delivered success of private and public partnering with the community, the creation of a community centre cum environment education centre, the restoration of local heritage buildings, the repair of riparian forests and improved water conditions in local river systems, better roads and road safety, local skills and knowledge transfer, support of local food and local/regional growers markets to attract tourists via the integrated trails network. In aggregate, each and every element contributes to a measure of eco-positive development for the built environment, its social organisation and its economy that has guided the local community to find its own pathway to sustainability.
Within the Tweed-Caldera bioregion in northern New South Wales, there has been a lack of strategic planning, ecologically sustainable knowledge and facilities in isolated communities that could support the development of a local sustained green economy, provide a hub for socio-cultural activities and ecology based education. The first challenge in this research was to model a whole systems approach to eco-positive development in Chillingham, NSW, a small community where Nature and humanity know no specific boundary. The net result was the creation of a community environment education centre featuring best-affordable ecological practice and regionally distinctive, educational building form from a disused heritage building (cow bale). This development, implemented over a decade, resonated with the later regional wide programs that were linked in the Caldera region by the common purpose of extending the reach of local and state government assistance to regional NSW in economic transition coupled with sustainability. The lessons learned from these linked projects reveal that subsequent programs have been significantly easier to initiate, manage, develop and deliver results. In particular, pursuing collaborative networks with all levels of government and external private partners has been economically effective. Each community’s uniqueness has been celebrated and through drawing out these distinctions, has highlighted local vision, strategic planning, sense of belonging and connection of people with place. This step has significantly reduced the level of friction between communities that comes from natural competition for the finite pool of funds. Following the pilot Tweed-Caldera study, several other NSW regional communities are now undertaking a Community Economic Transition Program based on the processes, trials and positive experiences witnessed in the Tweed-Caldera region where it has been demonstrated that regional community transition programs can provide an opportunity to plan and implement effective long term strategies for sustainability, empowering communities to participate in eco-governance. This thesis includes the design and development of a framework for community created environment education centres to provide an equal access place for community to participate to meet their essential needs locally. An environment centre that facilitates community transition based on easily accessible environmental education, skills and infrastructure is necessary to develop local cultures of sustainability.
This research draws upon the literatures of ecologically sustainable development, environmental education and community development in the context of regional community transition towards ‘strong sustainability’. The research approach adapted is best described as a four stage collaborative action research cycle where the participant researcher (me) has a significant involvement in the process to foster local cultures of sustainability by empowering its citizens to act locally and in doing so, become more self reliant and socially resilient. This research also draws upon the many fine working exemplars, such as the resilience of the Cuban people, the transition town initiative in Totnes, U.K. and the models of Australian Community Gardens, such as CERES (Melbourne) and Northey Street (Brisbane). The objectives of this study are to research and evaluate exemplars of ecologically sustainable environment education centres, to facilitate the design and development of an environment education centre created by a small regional community as an ecologically sustainable learning environment; to facilitate a framework for community transition based on environmental education, skills and infrastructure necessary to develop local cultures of sustainability.
The research was undertaken as action research in the Tweed Caldera in Northern NSW. This involved the author as participant researcher, designer and volunteer in two interconnected initiatives: the Chillingham Community Centre development and the Caldera Economic Transition Program (CETP). Both initiatives involved a series of design-led participatory community workshops that were externally facilitated with the support of government agency partnerships, steering committees and local volunteers.
Together the Caldera research programs involved communities participating in developing their own strategic planning process and outcomes. The Chillingham Community Centre was developed as a sustainable community centre/hub using a participatory design process. The Caldera Economic Transition Program (CETP) prioritised Caldera region projects: the Caldera farmer’s market; community gardens and community kitchens; community renewable energy systems and an integrated trails network.
The significant findings were: the CETP projects were capable of moving towards an eco-positive design benchmark through transformative learning. Community transition to sustainability programs need to be underpinned by sustainability and environmental education based frameworks and practical on ground experience in local needs based projects through transformative learning. The actioned projects were successfully undertaken through community participation and teamwork. Ecological footprint surveys were undertaken to guide and assess the ongoing community transition process, however the paucity of responses needs to be revisited.
The concept of ecologically sustainable development has been adopted internationally, however existing design and planning strategies do not assure future generations continued access to healthy natural life support systems. Sustainable design research has usually been urban focussed, with little attention paid to regional communities. This study seeks to redress this paucity through the design of ecologically sustainable (deep green) learning environments for small regional communities. Through a design-led process of environmental education, this study investigates how regional communities can be facilitated to model the principles of eco-positive development to support transition to local cultures of sustainability.
This research shows how community transition processes and projects can incorporate sustainable community development as transformative learning through design. Regional community transition programs can provide an opportunity to plan long term strategies for sustainability, empowering people to participate in eco-governance. A framework is developed for a community created environment education centre to provide an equal access place for the local community to participate in implementing ways to meet their essential needs locally. A community environment education centre that facilitates community transition based on holistic environmental education, skills and infrastructure is necessary to develop local cultures of sustainability.
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O'Connor, Katrina Marie. "The ecological footprint of international tourists in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Natural Resource Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1124.
Full textAbstract:
Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is a technique that was first developed by Wackernagel as a Ph.D. thesis in 1994, then further developed in combination with Rees and published (Rees & Wackernagel, 1995). EFA is employed in this study to assess the resource utilisation of international tourists visiting New Zealand. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and the ecological sustainability of tourism is becoming more important term for managing tourism. This is becoming increasingly important with tourism identified as particularly as a significant contributor to carbon emissions. This study uses EFA to assess whether international tourists visiting New Zealand behave in a sustainable manner. Tourists are surveyed and classed into high, mid and low budget tourist types to gain a detailed account of their behaviour with particular reference to food, accommodation, transport, services, activities attractions, goods and waste. The EFA helps to identify areas of a tourist’s trip that have the greatest impact on the environment, thereby identifying ways to improve the sustainability of tourism in New Zealand. It was found that tourists generally consume more whilst on holiday than they do at home and more than New Zealand residents. The results show that international tourists’ behaviour is sustainable and New Zealand has the ecological carrying capacity to allow the number of international tourists to increase without incurring any significant ecological costs to the country. It was found that there is a positive relationship between ‘high’ income tourists and their ecological footprint and that independent travellers have a larger ecological footprint than the package travellers; however, package travellers have a larger food and housing ecological footprint than independent travellers. The energy footprint was the largest out of the six land types of a tourist’s ecological footprint. Food is the consumption category that is the largest contributor to a tourist’s ecological footprint.