Meaning & use

ecological footprint

noun·Academic

A measure of the resources and land needed to support a person's or population's lifestyle and absorb its waste.

See it in a sentence

Driving less and eating locally can shrink a household's ecological footprint significantly.

The report compared the ecological footprint of several countries with different consumption habits.

A note on using this word

Ecological footprint is often expressed in units of land area needed to sustain a given lifestyle.

Words with a similar meaning

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