Educational Media Reviews Online

“We have been the most successful species on this planet.” The bluntness of Dr. Mathis Wackernagel’s opening statement catches one by surprise; his ensuing question, “how will we be able to maintain the success in the future?” sets the stage for the introduction of The Ecological Footprint, a concept unique not only in its methodology, but in its underlying goal – to recognize mankind’s demands on its environment, and to continue the success of the human race in a sustainable manner. This goal will strike a chord with the viewer – the human race is living beyond its planetary means, but if we can “budget” accordingly, our quality of life on this planet can continue.

The Ecological Footprint is a measurement analysis that describes the human race’s needs in terms of the amount of biologically productive land necessary to produce what we consume, and then absorb the resulting waste. Broken down in the documentary to a basic economic analysis of supply and demand, the U.S. version of film provides its analysis in acres, describing how many biologically productive acres (visualized as the size of a football field without the endzones) are available on the planet compared to – based on data analysis – what we use. Once combined with some base assumptions, such as the desire to leave half of the available biologically productive land for wild species, Wackernagel shows that mankind is actually living on a “deficit” against the planet’s resources – requiring more acres per person than are available.

The film, primarily conducted as an interview with Wackernagel with still artwork and film clips interspersed, flows smoothly with an engaging presentation. The 30-minute presentation avoids the alarmist tendencies often exhibited in the genre, and instead concentrates on the understanding of the method and the general findings, stressing the importance of understanding your own or your community’s footprint. While the method and findings have been questioned by some scientists, it is unmatched as an introduction to understanding mankind’s use of global resources, and the effect thereof. As such, The Ecological Footprint is highly recommended and should be considered required viewing for any course dealing with environmental concerns or global affairs. The depth of the idea coupled with the short length of the presentation makes it conducive to classroom use, and the film would work well for comparison or use with other environmental/conservation documentaries.

The DVD includes U.S. and World versions of the documentary, with analysis in acres and hectares, respectively. If accessed as a DVD-ROM, the disc also provides three footprint reports and two flyers for the Ecological Footprint and the Global Footprint Network in PDF. Funding for this film was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the EPA Victoria (Australia). The packaging for the DVD includes one foldout pamphlet describing the Ecological Footprint and the 2001 Ecological Footprint of world nations.