The Footprint reforms tourism in the Med + Students’ contest to “guess the date” + Why your fork is your most trusted tool to change the world

Jay OwenSustainability News, Trendspotting, Latest Headlines

“Ethical Markets always welcomes news from our friends at the Global Footprint and happy to see focus on diets healthier for humans and the planet, as we also describe in our annual Green Transition Scoreboard  2018 report: “Capturing CO2 While Improving Human Nutrition & Health “ (now a free download at www.ethicalmarkets.com  where our companion TV program “Investing in Saltwater Agriculture”, with NASA Chief Scientist Bushnell is playing.  We cover all the start-ups in plant proteins too!

~Hazel Henderson, Editor“

Footprint News

The newsletter of Global Footprint Network

Issue 69, March 12, 2019

Inviting all students and educators to enter the Guess-the-Date Contest!

Are you a student or an educator? Do you have students and/or educators in your life? We’re inviting classes to enter our contest to guess the date of Earth Overshoot Day 2019—the date when we have used more from nature than the planet can replenish this year. Last year that day fell on August 1st. This is great opportunity to learn about the Ecological Footprint, to explore Footprint and biocapacity data, and to study the long-term trend of the global ecological deficit. We even have a lesson plan to help guide this classroom activity! Come play! LEARN MORE

“Why study for a future, which may not be there?”

After being on school strike herself every Friday since August 2018, Greta Thunberg of Sweden, 16, now has inspired school strikes around the world. The next big one is March 15th. Even students in Australia have been working hard to prepare. “It impresses me that children can access deeper truth with such clarity, and vocalize it rather than repress it,” writes Mathis Wackernagel, Global Footprint Network founder and president. “It is something to which we all, young and old, could draw inspiration from.” Because those people born after 1985 will have to live with the consequences of the decisions we make today, they are the most important people indeed to engage with. The full blog post is HERE.

Helping ecotourism flourish in the Mediterranean

Through its collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Global Footprint Network is actively engaged with MEET Network to connect tourism and conservation in 13 protected areas in the Mediterranean region. This brand new video beautifully introduces the DestiMED Project. Also watch this space for our upcoming report on the first pilot tests, featuring seven ecotourism packages in Spain, Italy, Croatia, and Greece that implemented recommendations generated from Ecological Footprint insights. LEARN MORE

Schneider Electric invites runners everywhere to lower their carbon Footprint

Whether you’re specifically training for the April 14 Paris Marathon or not, you’re invited to join the global Green Runners community and take weekly challenges to lower your Footprint (this week: Go pedal power!) Over the next 6 weeks, enter the weekly photo contest as you take on the challenge and win a Garmin Forerunner235 watch or 7 online trainings programs. Competing in two or more challenges may even earn you your participation at the 2020 Chicago Marathon. And for every 65 kg of CO2 spared by Green Runners, Schneider Electric donates to its NGO partners in Africa and East Asia to help fight climate change. Because Schneider Electric’s business model hinges on reducing humanity’s carbon emissions, we’re pleased to count them as a partner; they do, in part, make the Ecological Footprint Calculator possible.

We can eat our way to sustainability, says Senior Scientist Alessandro Galli

“The fork is our most readily available tool for decision-making as individuals choosing to live sustainably,” Alessandro Galli, director of the Mediterranean and MENA regions at Global Footprint Network, said last month on a panel organized by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition at the International Food Journalism Festival in Turin, Italy. “Think about it: Whether you want to use an electric car or use the public transport system, for instance, you need access to an efficient infrastructure. With food, you can just go shop—in many cases, sourcing food that is sustainably produced is not that much more expensive.” Alessandro was interviewed for the Italian TV show EAT Parade, watch his segment HERE.