An ecological footprint is a measure of the demands people place on nature. It can be used as a measure of progress towards sustainability, a measure of the impact we have on our natural environment.

 

In a report commissioned by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in 2004/2005 the ecological footprint was estimated for 20 Canadian municipalities.  The calculation was done nationally and then, to estimate local or communities footprints for, the national footprints were recalculated using relevant local indicators such as population, household income and expenditures and average house size, etc.

 

York Region ranks 5th in Canada in size of our ecological footprint.