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11

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS FINAL SEMEST

GROUP MEMBERS:
USWAH RASHEED
TOUQEER AHMED
MUHAMMAD ZEESHAN
ARSALAN ARIF
RIZWAN SALIK

130216
130272
130321
130392
130319

BEE-6F
SUBMITTED TO: SIR NAYER RAFIQ

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Problem statement
2. Introduction
3. Ecological footprints
4. How is an ecological footprint calculated
5. What to do!
6. Lets start with water
7. Next main thing, forests
8. Saving fuel
9. Go green
10.
Recycle
11.
Conclusion

Problem statement:
What is the impact of the measure of ecological footprints on Earths
ecosystem and what can we do to reduce its negative impact?
INTRODUCTION:
Our question has two parts involved in it:
The first part asks about the impact of the ecological footprints on
Earths ecosystem, while the second part deals in the solution to the
question asked, which means the ways to reduce this negative impact?
Human beings have evolved from living in caves to living in lavish
houses, from travelling on foot to travelling by air, from eating raw
meat to having processed foods which wont spoil for months at a time.
The human race has greatly improved its living standards, but we also
know that everything comes at a cost. Human activities tend to put the
ecological system at risk. This is because we forget that the resources
that we are utilizing from earth are not forever sustainable. We are
using those resources as if they would remain forever, but that is not
the case.
The other side of the coin is always disturbing. While we live in our
homes, having continuous electricity, using cool and refreshing breeze
from the air-conditioners, watching television and baking in the ovens,
we are not reminding ourselves that these luxuries come at a cost. We
are using up the energy that earth is providing without thinking of the
repercussions, be it be coal, fossil fuels or other minerals, we are
harvesting the very planet we live on for more and more blindly, while
on the other hand those precious resources are being greatly depleted.
So, it becomes really important that we see what our wasting these
precious resources is doing to our environment and ecosystem. The
best way yet, to calculate this is through ecological footprints!
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS:
So, what exactly are ecological footprints?

This is by what we can measure how much pressure does each

individual actually puts on the ecosystem, and if we add up all of it, like
if every person lived a lifestyle like that of an average Pakistani, how
long can the earth support us then till we deplete all of its resources, or
how many planets would be required for us to keep living that exact
lifestyle. Essentially it can be described as to how much the nations
have versus their consumptions.
On the supply end of the nature, we can see that the biocapacity
represents the earths productive areas, like pastures, fields, croplands,
seas, forests, etc. if we dont destroy or if leave some of these
untouched, then they become very helpful in reducing the waste
produced by the humans. While on the consumption end, ecological
footprints tell us about the productive areas which can be used to fulfill
the demand of the people through the renewable sources.

There are some ways to calculate this, the most common being the
calculation of the wilderness and the sea required to satisfy the human
population. This can be calculated at every scale, for individuals, any

activity, colony, city, region, country, and continent or for the whole of
the planet. Those areas which have a denser population have become
the pinpoints for lessening the impact of the footprints.
Since 1970, earth has been in ecological overshoot, which means that
we are consuming more than what can be replenished in that given
time. The current time that earth takes to regenerate what we
consume in a year is 1.5 years. It now takes earth an extra six months
to reproduce those resources. This is alarming, because if we keep
going at that rate, then we will no longer be able to survive on the
planet.
Many calculators are made through which we can calculate our own
ecological footprints. Through these we can easily check how much are
we wasting, and then try to reduce our own impact. The measurement
of this is usually done in the no of planets needing to fulfill our needs.
Means that, if we consume things as we are consuming now, how
many planets would be needed to sustain us. Those who are reading
this, u all would be above 1 planet I am sure. But you can always check
this through these types of calculators I found online. If you see the top
right part, you will realize if everyone lived like me, we would surely
need 1.2 planets. Whereas the bottom right shows how much my
carbon footprint is. You would be surprised to know that even if I
registered a bike as my usual travelling way, my carbon footprint came

out to be 2.95 tons of CO2. Now thats huge!

How is an Ecological Footprint calculated?

They can be calculated for an individual, a group of people (city,
nation, country), and activities (such as manufacturing a product).
It can be calculated by considering all of the biological materials
consumed, and all of the biological wastes generated, by that entity in
a whole year. These materials and wastes each demand ecologically
productive areas; it can be in the form of agricultural land to grow
crops or can be the area cut down to use timber to make things. All of
this can be then calculated and measured to be in the form of global
hectares.
To achieve this, an amount of material used up by that person (tons
per year) is divided by the yield of the specific land or sea area (annual
tons per hectare) from which it was reaped, or where its waste material
was immersed. The numbers of hectares that result from this
calculation are then converted to global hectares using yield and

equivalence factors. The sum of the global hectares needed to sustain

the resource consumption and waste generation of the person gives
that persons total Ecological Footprint.
What to do:
The question which now arises is that what we can do to reduce our
impact on our planet. When you take action individually, you are surely
inspiring many people, your friends, family even strangers, to pick
good habits from you. This is all we need to start a chain reaction
leading to our own betterment. The first and foremost point is:
Dont waste!
Lets start with water:
We do tend to waste a lot of our precious resources. Just think about it.
How many people do you think turn off the tap when brushing your
teeth? Or when washing clothes? Do you use a bucket while washing
yourself or just stand under the never ending shower? A study showed
that a single tap leaking 10 drops every minute wastes 562 GALLONS
of water every year. Now, that amount of water can easily be used for
60 loads of dishwasher cycles. If that astounding amount is just for the
10 drops of water, just think about how much we waste if the water is
constantly flowing.

According to the EPA, (environment protection agency) these leaks can

cause a family to waste round about 10000 gallons of water annually.
While we are throwing away this precious thing, more than half of the
planet is dying due to its unavailability. Just think about our own
Pakistan, each year so many people die due to poisoning induced by
dirty water or by simple non-availability of clean water.
So, how to save water? There are some conventional ways too, like
checking for leaks in the plumbing every now and then. Taking tubs to
wash yourself rather having a shower, washing your cars using buckets
instead of a pipe. There are some methods related to engineering too.
Many households waste a lot of water when their water storage tanks
overflow. This can be easily rectified. We can make small circuits to
stop the overflow. When the water level in your tanks fall below a
certain level, your motor starts filling up the water, when it reaches a
certain high level, it automatically stops the motor. This can be done
via sensors and is easy to implement.

Also, you can install simple meters to check your water consumption. If
your water consumption rises higher than your average consumption,
it can give you a red flag, so you can know if someones wasting water
or if there has been a leak. Watering your gardens through hoses is
easy, but causes a lot of wastage. We have an easier solution! Just
install sprinklers in your garden with drippers if you have trees as well
and link them to sensors and motor. When the water content in soil
drops below a certain level, it would start the system and after the
desired value has been reached, it would shut it down. You can also
install solar panels for conserving electricity even. A win win situation
all the way.
Next main thing, forests:
What do you think is the main cause of global warming? Its the
depleting forests! Over the years the rainforests have been thinned out
by our activities. We are using them for multiple purposes, making
paper, furniture and other things. Except for these, there has been a
wide clearing of the forests due to building of hydroelectric projects,
building of houses and malls, planting industries or simply for

agriculture. People forget that this is one of the main reasons that
earth has gone into its warming phase. People just shout that why is it
getting hotter year by year, without admitting their own fault, their
own part in the problem, which has led to this.
About 30% of the world is covered in forests. But human activities have
started depleting them immensely and they are getting cut down by
that rate by which new trees cannot be matured enough. By
deforestation the land is turned into non-forest area. Tropical
rainforests see the most cutting down or thinning of trees. This
deforestation has resulted in loss to the natural habitats of animals and
has caused aridity. This has also become one of the main reasons of
erosion and washing away of the lands. When trees are there, they
provide shade and have deep embedded roots. When rainfall occurs
they hold down the rich soil not letting it seep away. But when there
are no trees, the fertile land washes away into the rivers, which is not
good for agriculture.

Between the years 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kms (890,000
square miles) of forests around the earth had been cut down. As a

result of this, only 6.2 million square kms (2.4 million square miles)
remain of the original 16 million square kms (6 million square miles) of
forest that formerly covered the earth. According to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the
massive direct cause of deforestation has been linked to agriculture.
Continuation farming is responsible for 48% of
deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of
deforestation; logging is responsible for 14% of deforestation and fuel
wood removals make up 5% of deforestation.
Deforestation is the main attributer to global warming, and is named
as one the leading causes to greenhouse effect. It is directly related to
cause 20% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. Rainforests have
always been one of the main factors involved in producing the worlds
oxygen, but their depletion has become a main concern.
Planting trees is often the quickest and most effective way of
producing new biomass, thus helping to offset the loss of carbon
resulting from deforestation or forest degradation on another plot of
land. Investing in new carbon stocks has great potential to make a
significant, fast and measurable impact on climate change without
requiring sweeping changes in policies, cultures or national economies.
Several developing countries, notably in Asia, have demonstrated that
major investments in planted forests can reverse the trend towards
deforestation and result in a net increase in forest area.
The UNEP report, Towards a green economy: pathways to sustainable
development and poverty eradication (the Green Economy Report;
UNEP, 2011) asks for funds in reforestation of USD 22 billion per
annum over the next 40 years. This level of reforestation would
definitely increase the seizure of carbon in woody biomass, and may be
big enough to have an effect on climate change. However, large
problems would need to be overcome: it is not clear where the funds
would originate, where the trees would be planted, or how a global
program of this scale would be managed. Planted forests must be
planned for local settings; the trees must be fitting, preferably inherent
kinds; and planting programs must take native cultures and economic
conditions into account. Planted forests are not a simple one-time

investment; they must be correctly nurtured and managed to ensure

their long-term success.
There are many ways to save our precious forests:
1. Go paperless:
Use technology to do your day to day chores, dont write your to
do list on paper. Rather, write it down in your mobile and set
alarms for each important thing. Not only that, use e-mails for
conversations in offices. The record is easier to maintain plus
there is no misuse of paper. Send memos electronically rather
than printing one for each individual. Ask for electronic bills and
receipts instead of paper ones. You can keep them stored
somewhere safe this way.
2. Print less:
Always ask yourself if you need that specific thing printed on
paper or if you can get your work done even without printing it. If
your answer is yes, then why print it? You will save a lot of paper
this way.
3. Format your work:
You can always print smartly. It means if you have to print
something necessarily, then rather than printing on one side of
the page, why not print it on both sides. This way you have to use
half the amount of sheets required. Also, format and edit your
work to gain the smallest place possible, this will also reduce your
amount of sheets required for printing of the document.
4. Reuse it:
Why dump it when you can reuse it effectively. Many people form
great things from used paper. Allow your kids to make some
adventurous new things from them or make something yourself.
Or if you dont want to reuse, just collect it in a single bin and
then give it to those companies which do recycle paper. This way
you are helping the planet and people at the same time.
5. Choose recycled items:
In todays world we have easy access to everything that is
recycled and can be used again. Always choose the recycled
items. From toilet papers to office papers, everything recycled is
available almost everywhere. Always think about the trees
making oxygen for you that should do the trick!

6. Support forest conservation:

There are many NGOs that work for replantation of the forests.
But they cant work if you dont donate. If you have enough
money for your own needs, why not donate some to a good
cause. This is being done for your own good in a way, because
forest replantation will result in less CO2 and more oxygen.
7. Share this message:
Sometimes all it requires to start an initiative is to just spread
some awareness about it. If people will know what impact they
will have on lessening their ecological footprints by simply
planting trees, then they would be racing each other to do it first.
Organize seminars, awareness walks, speeches to talk about it.
People are willing to do things; they just need the right push in
the right direction.
SAVING FUEL!
Fuel is a really big commodity that is being severely misused
every day. It is cheaply and easily available everywhere and its
distribution system is so poorly managed that it runs the risk of
vanishing before our very eyes. Most of our methods of producing
and distributing it are outdated and need to be changed
immediately.
For example, in power plants, they turn only 30% of their used
energy in productive output. Hence, we lose about 75% of the
energy right there and then. We can make this better by using
more energy efficient machines which can convert the output
from 30% to 70%.
On average, cars emit about 3 times their own weight in CO2
emissions. Imagine what this means for our ecosystem. A car
with a fuel consumption of around 7.8 litres/100 km (36 miles per
gallon) travelling 16,000 km (10,000 miles) per year emits almost
3 tonnes (6,500 lbs) of CO2 per year. these types of things run
havoc on our ecological footprints calculations.

Heating and cooling systems are some of the major offenders when it
comes to wasting energy. How often have you seen the windows open
in a house that was overheated? The comparable exists in the tropics
where people cool their places down to 20C and then open the
windows because they are cold.
Construction can help in a big way near-to-zero energy homes and
offices are possible at an economic scale. But it is also personal habit.
Even simple things like choosing to wear a sweater rather than turning
up the heating can help.
Airlines and their industry have been hit by increasing oil prices. The
industry is aware of the risk this poses to its effectiveness and is
pursuing to develop more effective planes which can travel further.
However, the point is that flying is ineffective in principle, resulting in
much higher energy use and much higher CO2 emissions than any
other form of travel. The best advice is simply not to fly travel by
other means wherever possible.
There are some other ways to conserve fuel as well, they include:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Be sensible. Speeding, rapid acceleration and braking wastes gas.

It can lower your mileage by as much as 33% on the freeway, and
5% in city traffic. Sensible driving will also minimize the chances of
accidents. Even when youre insured, the man-days lost to
downtime can cost you big time.
Dont ride the clutch. Use the clutch only when changing gears or
coming to a complete halt. Excessive use of the clutch and shifting
gears eats up fuel.
Use the right gear. Dont rev up the car and dont crawl along on
high gear either. Follow the recommended gear pattern of 10-15
kms for first gear, 15-25 for second, 25-35 for third, 35-45 for fourth
and 50 plus for the 5th gear. As you speed up, you should reach the
highest gear to optimize the fuel consumption.
Stay within speed limits. Other than inhibiting you from doing
damage to yourself and others, staying within speed limits actually
helps you preserve fuel. Each vehicle reaches ideal fuel economy at
a different speed (or range of speeds), but gas mileage usually falls
rapidly at speeds above 50 mph. Keep in mind that each 5 mph you
drive over 50 mph is like paying an additional $0.26 per gallon for
gas.
Keep the weight down. Offload all pointless stuff. An extra 100
pounds in your vehicle could reduce your mileage by up to 2
percent. This reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight
relative to the vehicles weight and affects smaller vehicles more
than larger ones.
Avoid excessive idling. It can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel
per hour, depending on engine size and air conditioner use. Turn
the engine off when parked. It only takes a few seconds worth of
fuel to restart the vehicle.
Do it all in one trip. Its all a matter of planning. Do all your
errands and shopping when youre either driving to work, or coming
home from work. Fight the impulse to drive to the grocery for a
single item thats missing from your recipe. Be creative.
Create a carpool. Divide the cost of gas with a friend or co-worker
can cut down on your gas costs by 50%. Take turns on who gets to
bring the car for particular days or weeks of the month.
Public transportation is cool. Unless you have an unnatural
affection to your car, or youre a teenager looking to amaze, taking

the bus or train to and from work is fun. It helps you reconnect with
the ambiance on the streets and the public pulse. Look for daily,
weekly, or even monthly passes to cut down on transportation
costs.
10. Ride a bike or walk. If the weather outside is wonderful, and
where youre going is just a few blocks away, why waste the
sunshine or breeze by taking a car? Save your fuel for the rainy
days.
GO GREEN:
Alright, so you might have read about the definition of green living. You
might have even probed into the environmental health issues or
reasons why people go green, because you see celebrities telling us
about going green at all times. So you wonder, what it will be like.
Mostly the following steps are used in ensuring that you are trying your
fullest to conserve and save everything you have to reduce your
ecological footprints. Mainly these ideas are very easy to use, are not
costly at all, and can have a massive effect on the environment and
our natural resources. While, on the other hand some are rather big,
take time to be done, and can't be done overnight.

Lets see what we can do to make earth a better place for all:
1. Give Up Bottled Water

Many people feel that bottled water is their need and they cant
survive without it, and that mostly comes out wrong. Many times they

are even getting tap water instead of bottled water as they think
because the water that is available in that area is really good for
human consumption. So why waste your money on what you could get
free from the tap?
2. Reduce Your Waste
What comes in your house and what later gets dumped in the trash
cans tells us about how much you tend to waste. Buy what you need,
not what you think you need. Try to eat vegetables and fruits fresh,
rather than leaving them for days and later realizing that they have
now rotten. Dont bin those things which can be recycled. Think about
these things and you will be amazed to see how little your waste has
become.
3. Conserve Energy
From oil to natural gas, energy is getting tougher to yield and more
expensive. It accounts for 21.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year
and over 90% of all greenhouse gasses. Do your part to conserve
energy, switch off the fans and lights when unnecessary. These little
things can lower your bill by 50% even.
4. Conserve Water
An estimated 50% of all household water usage is wasted. We use
more than needed in flushes and bathing or even washing clothes. Day
by day, our fresh water supply is seriously depleting. Many parts of the
world dont have a drop of fresh water for themselves. We should think
about them and our future generations too. If we dont save water now,
how will they survive?
5. Green Your Transportation
If your place to go to is not so far away, then dont take your car or
bike to that place. Just walk! Apart from saving the planet from more

CO2 combustion, it would make you fit as well. To commute to faraway

places, better use public transport or bicycles. This will also avoid
traffic on the roads. Avoid travel by air as much as you can and then
calculate your ecological footprint, you will surely have made a
difference.
6. Eat Local, Organic Foods
Try to eat the locally produced food items. Apart from being assured
that it was produced in a good manner, you will also be providing the
platform to circulate the money in your community and be doing a
community service too. When you take food from other places, it has
travelled so many hundreds of miles to reach you. Then how do you
know even if it was produced in a healthy manner or not.
7.Go Chemical-Free
Try not to eat out of Tupperware. These plastics can harm your bodies
in ways you cant even imagine. Plastics are the leading cause of
cancer. We are happily using them to contain our food items, but we
forget or are unaware that when plastics have something warm placed
in them, they turn warm too, and release cancer causing agents. Try to
get rid of all chemical substances in your house and go for the organic
ones.
8.Green Your Personal Care
Simplify your lifestyle. Eat healthy, use organic products. Consume
homemade foods and the produce from the local markets. Plant trees
and plants in your gardens. Raise your own vegetables in the little
fields in the back of your home.
9.Raise Healthy, Eco-Conscious Children
Okay, let's zoom out to some bigger choices we can make. Raising our
kids to be healthy and aware of the environment is crucial. Model with
your actions and talk about the choices you make. Don't nag or lecture,
but instead make it interesting and interactive. Everything from

healthy living to good relationships are included in ways to go green

with your kids.
10.Support Locally-Owned Businesses
Small businesses are more likely to support other businesses within the
community, care for their environment, and conduct business in an
environmentally-responsible way. They also work harder for your
business, contribute more to charitable causes, create more jobs, limit
outsourcing, and keep money circulating within a community,
11.Educate Others (Gently)
Influence others through your actions. Organize awareness walks and
seminars and help people understand the need to go green. People
think that its difficult to do so, prove them wrong by first doing it
yourself. Educating everyone will help them to understand what they
are missing in their lives.
RECYCLE:
whenever we use the term recycling, many a times we think that it
would be too difficult to deal with. How would we be able to manage it?
Or would it even matter if we recycle? Yes people, it would matter
immensely if you recycle.
It is just the process of converting something that we deem useless in
things that can be used again. When done in groups it can turn out into
a fun activity. It can help us in lessening our dependency on the fresh
raw materials, also reduce our energy consumption.

Here are some advantages to recycling:

1. Protects Environment:
The foremost benefit or recycling is that it helps in protecting the
environment in the most balanced manner. While many trees are cut
down continually, recycled paper made from certain trees is re-used
repeatedly to minimize felling/ deforestation. With re-cycled paper
as an outstanding example, a number of other natural resources can
be reused this way.
2. Reduces Energy Consumption:
A large amount of energy is consumed by processing raw
materials at the time of manufacturing. Recycling helps to
minimize energy consumption, which is crucial for massive
production, such mining or refining. This also makes the
production process very cost-effective and beneficial for
manufacturers.
3. Reduces Pollution:

Industrial waste today is the main source of all types of pollution.

Recycling of industrial products such as cans, chemical, plastics
helps to cut down pollution levels considerably, as these
materials are re-used, instead of throwing them away
irresponsibly.
4. Reduces Global Warming:
Recycling helps to alleviate global warming and its ill effects.
Massive waste is

burned in heaps which produces

large amount of greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 and

CFCs. Recycling ensure that the burning process is minimized
and any waste is re-generated as a useful product with no
or minimal harmful impact on the environment. Recycling
produces less greenhouse gases as industries burn fewer fossil
fuels for eco-friendly products.
5. Judicious and Sustainable use of Resources:
Recycling promotes judicial and sustainable use of resources. This
process ensures that there is no discriminate use of any material
when available in plenty in the present. Recycling is encouraged
at all levels, starting from school to corporate offices and at
international levels. This means we can preserve all precious
resources for our future generation, without any compromise in
the present.
6. Conserves Natural Resources:
If old and used materials are not recycled, the new products are
made from extracting fresh raw materials from beneath the earth
through mining and extraction. Recycling helps in conserving

important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the

future. Conserving natural resources such as wood, water and
minerals ensures its optimum use.
7. Reduces Amount of Waste to Landfills:
Recycling old and waste products into new products reduces the
amount of waste that go to landfills. This helps in reducing water
and land pollution as landfills are a major source in contributing
to destruction of natural environment. Recycling programs keep
70 tons of waste from being deposited into landfills every year.
8. Create Green Jobs:
Recycling is good for the environment and apart from that it also
creates green jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, green goods and services accounted for 3.1 million jobs
in the United States by 2010.

CONCLUSION:
If all the given recommendations are followed properly and if we
start thinking about saving our precious earth, then surely our
ecological footprints negative impact can be reduced to a
positive one. We dont want to choose a specific solution to our
problem. Because the nature of our problem asks for each and
every one of our solutions to play its part.