Ecological Deficit is the level of resource consumption and waste discharge by a population in excess of locally sustainable natural production and assimilative capacity. In spatial terms, the ecological deficit is the difference between that species population's effective ecological footprint and the geographic area it actually occupies.
It basically promotes overall resource efficiency to reduce our Footprint.
The difference between the biocapacity and Ecological Footprint of a region or country. An ecological deficit occurs when the Footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population. Conversely, an ecological reserve exists when the biocapacity of a region exceeds its population's Footprint. If there is a regional or national ecological deficit, it means that the region is either importing biocapacity through trade or liquidating regional ecological assets. In contrast, the global ecological deficit cannot be compensated through trade, and is therefore equal to overshoot.
Famous quotes containing the word ecological:
“Could it not be that just at the moment masculinity has brought us to the brink of nuclear destruction or ecological suicide, women are beginning to rise in response to the Mother’s call to save her planet and create instead the next stage of evolution? Can our revolution mean anything else than the reversion of social and economic control to Her representatives among Womankind, and the resumption of Her worship on the face of the Earth? Do we dare demand less?”
—Jane Alpert (b. 1947)