ENV201: Environmental Management Prof. T. Conway
Fall 2023
1
Assignment 3: Ecological Footprint
Due in Week 9 (at 10pm Nov 7th for Wednesday Tutorials or 10pm Nov 8th for Thursday
Tutorials)
This assignment is worth 9% of your final grade
Assignment Goals
1. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of the ecological footprint approach to measuring
environmental sustainability.
2. Reflect on the impacts of your own lifestyle as compared to other students at UTM,
Canadians, and people from around the world.
3. Continue to develop critical reading and writing skills.
Steps to Complete Assignment
Part I. Read the assigned article on the UTM Ecological Footprint Project.
The assigned reading is (1) a peer-reviewed journal article based on research completed by ROP
students and researcher assistants, which describes their work calculating UTM’s Ecological
Footprint. Two of these students started the project while taking ENV201. The article is
available through the portal site, under assignment 1.
Conway, T.M., C. Dalton, J. Loo, and L. Benakoun. 2008. Developing ecological footprint
scenarios on university campuses: a case study of the University of Toronto at Mississauga.
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9(1): 4-20.
Be sure to follow the steps presented in the “reverse outline” tutorial in Week 8.
Part II. Complete the following tasks based on the reading.
Instructions
-Your answers should be typed (12 pt font, double-spaced).
-Provide specific details where necessary, but do NOT include quotations in your answers.
In other words, do not copy language from the article—paraphrase or summarize in
your own words.
- Two to four sentences to answer questions 2 to 4 should be sufficient.
- Citations are not required for this assignment.
ENV201: Environmental Management Prof. T. Conway
Fall 2023
2
Tasks/ Questions
1. Complete a reverse outline of the first two sections (“Introduction” and “The ecological
footprint approach and universities”) of the paper.
2. What does the ecological footprint try to measure and what does it not measure in terms
of environmental impact?
3. What were the largest footprint categories for the UTM-wide campus calculation?
4. What pieces of information were missing from the UTM ecological calculator?
Part III. Calculate your own ecological footprint.
Go to https://www.footprintcalculator.org/ and complete the online calculator. Use 38% as the
percent renewable energy source for Ontario’s Electricty (waterpower, wind and solar).
Submit your results to turn in as part of your assignment. Make sure you include:
-How many earths we would need to for everyone to live like you
-The number of global hectares (gha) by each of the five consumption categories (2nd page of
results- hover over each bar of graph to get the number).
-Your carbon footprint as a % of your total Ecological Footprint
Be prepared to discuss these results and your input values in tutorial.
Part IV. Submit Assignment
Upload your assignment (one document containing the written components and your footprint
results) through the Quercus assignment link.
Please have access to the same document in tutorial (you will will need it for discussion).
Marking Scheme
Part II, Task 1 = 40 marks
- 10 marks for writing clarity and 30 marks for content
Part II, Task/Questions 2 to 4: 15 marks each = 45 marks
- 5 marks for writing clarity and 10 marks for content
Part III, Complete ecological footprint calculation and report required results: 15 marks
Suggested Readings if you are interested in learning more about Ecological Footprints see:
1. Global Footprint Network
2. Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint: reducing human impact on
the earth. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC.
3. Chambers, N. 2000. Sharing Nature's Interest : ecological footprints as an indicator of
sustainability. Earthscan, London.