Katelyn Forman

“Human Development and the Ecological Footprint”

The ecological footprint size of a country can be directly related to the developmental level of the country. This correlation can be seen in the graph below, which depicts the levels of human development and the ecological footprint.

This report shows that “sustainable human development depends on achieving great lives for all, within the resource budget available to the population” (Global Footprint Network, 2013).

It is clear from looking at this data that countries that are less developed, on the left, tend to have a smaller ecological footprint. While this may be good for the environment short-term, it is not long lasting because the graph also shows that when countries want to become better developed, it comes at a big cost to the ecological footprint. The purpose of the graph is to emphasize the difficulty of providing a good life to every person around the world, without there being a cost to our ecological resources. This is exactly where ethics becomes involved in the conversation about allowing under developed countries to deplete their resources in order to become more developed. There is an argument that any environmental rules placed on developing nations could cause major economic set backs and are unfair to their continued growth (Magid, 2012).  I think that it is selfish for the rest of the world to create large economic footprints, but not allow under developed countries to evolve. This simply shows a collective fear of change and an unwillingness to compromise our lifestyles, even though we are willing to compromise someone else’s lifestyle.

Although under developed countries contribute less of an economic footprint to the world, it does not mean that everyone else can be allowed to create an even larger footprint. As the Human Development Report shows, the only way to lessen our economic footprint is if everyone learns how to live more sustainable lives that do not deplete our natural resources.

Work Cited:

Human development and the Ecological Footprint. (2013, April 3). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/2013/04/03/human-development-ecological-footprint/

International Center forEthics, Justice and Public Life. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.brandeis.edu/ethics/ethicalinquiry/2012/October.html