PRESS RELEASE

Bigfoot Discovered in Nova Scotia

We tread less lightly than we think

Study Recommends 1 Million Hectare Footprint Reduction by 2002 as “Genuine Progress” Target for Province

March 2001, Halifax, Nova Scotia—For a small province, Nova Scotia has very big feet. Ecological feet, that is. A new study finds that Nova Scotians are consuming more goods and producing more waste than the environment can handle.

Our “ecological footprint” measures our impact on the environment by calculating the amount of productive land and sea area it takes to meet current consumption levels. According to GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group that is building a new index of wellbeing for the province, Nova Scotians currently need 8.1 hectares per person to provide the resources and absorb the waste to support their eating, shopping, travelling and energy use habits.

That is one-third less than the average American’s footprint, but 30% more than the average West European’s, and far in excess of the 1.8 hectares per person globally available. If all the world’s people were to consume at Nova Scotian levels, we would need four additional planets earth to provide the necessary resources and waste assimilation capacity.

In other words, Nova Scotia’s current use of food, energy, water and other resources takes up far more ecological space than we have. And unlike measures of progress based on economic growth in which "more" is always assumed to be "better", the 100-page GPI study, authored by GPI researcher Jeff Wilson, notes that a smaller ecological footprint would be a sign of genuine progress for the province.

A University of British Columbia study found that the average global ecological footprint is 2.8 ha. per person, which means that human beings are depleting resources faster than they can regenerate and producing more waste than the world can handle, -- at the expense of future generations. We are emitting more greenhouse gases than the air, land and sea can absorb, and we are using more timber and fish than the world’s forests and seas can provide.

Living Beyond Our Means

According to GPI Atlantic director Ronald Colman, "This is like living in debt, with a gradually accumulating ecological deficit. Just as the present generation is paying for over-spending in the 1970s and 1980s with higher tuition and reduced government services, so future generations will inherit the debt of our current ecological overshoot. We may have already begun to see its effects in the collapse of Atlantic ground-fish stocks, global warming, higher child asthma rates, and new environmental illnesses."

Colman points out that we also consume more than is available at the expense of other peoples. Thirty percent of the world’s population currently consume 70% of the world’s resources and produce 70% of the world’s waste. The average African’s ecological footprint is just 1.3 hectares per person, while the average U.S. citizen’s is 12.2 ha. per person.

In fact, the richest fifth of the world’s people, which includes Nova Scotians, consumes 45% of all meat and fish, 58% of all energy and 84% of all paper, and owns 87% of all cars. The poorest one-fifth consumes just 5% of all meat and fish, less than 4% of energy, 1.1% of paper, and less than 1% of all cars.

Of the 8.1 hectares required by the average NS consumer, transportation accounts for 1.6 ha., food for 2.4 ha., residential energy use for 1 ha., and other consumption for the remaining 3.1 ha. Just as global ecological footprints differ, not all Nova Scotian ecological footprints are the same size. The Halifax Regional Municipality has a footprint of 8.4 ha. per person, 4% larger than the provincial average. The wealthiest 20% of Nova Scotians have a footprint of 10.7 ha. per person (compared to 6.2 ha. for the poorest 20%) because the wealthy consume more resources and produce more waste.

The Nova Scotia ecological footprint has grown by 40% in the last 40 years, and it is projected to increase by another 12% to 9.2 ha. per person in the next 20 years. Our transportation footprint is expected to increase by 25% as more cars log more kilometres. The increase in fuel-inefficient SUVs, minivans and light trucks has expanded the transportation footprint sharply, with one SUV averaging three times the impact on the environment of a small car.

Reduce Footprint by 1 million ha., Report Recommends

The GPI report concludes that Nova Scotians could quickly and easily reduce their collective ecological footprint by 1 million hectares from 8.1 ha. per person to 7 ha. per person without compromising their quality of life. Consuming less of some items, shifting certain consumption choices, and changing public policy priorities can actually improve wellbeing and quality of life while reducing our impact on the environment.

Suggested personal changes recommended in the GPI report include:

• Walking and riding a bicycle whenever possible.
• Carpooling or taking public transportation to work instead of driving alone.
• Driving smaller more fuel-efficient cars and keeping them well-maintained.
• Buying more locally grown foods and locally produced goods.
• Not overeating, but consuming the calories appropriate for our age and activity.
• Eating more grains, vegetables and natural foods.
• Reducing household energy use by turning off lights, turning down the temperature at night and when not home, hanging out the laundry to dry, and using energy efficient appliances.
• Reducing water consumption by using a water-efficient showerhead, turning off the tap when not in use, and collecting rainwater to water plants and lawns.

Beyond such individual choices, the GPI report also points to the social and political decisions that are necessary to reduce the province’s ecological footprint to less than 7 ha. per person, and to become a model of responsible and sustainable living. These social choices include:

• Investments in public transportation and bicycle lanes.
• Integrated land use / transportation planning to counter suburban sprawl.
• Tax incentives to support environmentally friendly co-housing developments.
• Support for local agriculture, nutritional education, and sustainable farming methods.
• Tax incentives to support renewable energy development, such as the Western Valley Development Authority’s exploration of wind-powered electricity generation for the Annapolis Valley.

Nova Scotians have already dramatically reduced their solid waste footprint by 50% in just five years by composting and recycling. "This proves that we can do it if we want to," says Colman, "and that we can certainly achieve the 1 million hectare footprint reduction target by 2002." Nova Scotians also cut energy use sharply in the early 1980s in response to the increase in fuel prices. Today our total energy footprint (4.5 ha./person) is still 25% smaller than it was in 1979, but it is also 40% larger than it was in 1961. The GPI report suggests that Nova Scotia can both build on past successes and learn from successful West European models to reduce its ecological footprint substantially and to tread more lightly on the earth without compromising its quality of life.

This report, the first provincial ecological footprint analysis undertaken in Canada, follows the release of other components of the Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index, which is being developed as a pilot project for Canada. Earlier GPI reports have dealt with the value of volunteer work, unpaid household work, water resources, cost of crime, and health measures including the costs of tobacco and obesity. Upcoming report releases include natural resource accounts for the province’s forest, fisheries, soils, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

The GPI report was produced with funding from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, Clean Nova Scotia Foundation, Halifax Regional Municipality, NS Department of Environment, NS Public Interest Research Group, and GPI member contributions. GPI Atlantic welcomes the initiative of Clean Nova Scotia to assist Nova Scotians in reducing their ecological footprint.