With so many discussions regarding environmental impact and issues, it can be hard to understand how sustainable choices are actually measured. In addition, for some individuals it can be hard to see how our lifestyle and own actions are impacting the planet directly, or to see how the sustainable changes we are making are contributing towards creating an impact.
有这么多关于环境影响和问题的讨论，很难理解可持续选择实际上是如何衡量的。此外，对于一些人来说，很难看到我们的生活方式和自己的行为是如何直接影响地球的，也很难看到我们正在做出的可持续的改变是如何产生影响的。
This is where the ecological footprint comes in. The ecological footprint is the measurement of human demand upon the environment:
这就是生态足迹发挥作用的地方。生态足迹是衡量人类对环境需求的指标:
It can tell us the amount of environment (both land and sea mass) needed to produce goods and services necessary to support a particular lifestyle. 它可以告诉我们需要多少环境(包括陆地和海洋)来生产支持特定生活方式所必需的商品和服务。
It can also be used to measure government, business and country-wide impact too! 它也可以用来衡量政府、企业和全国范围的影响!
For individuals however, it is an interesting tool offering perspective on what we are doing, and how much we need to do, to sustainably improve our lifestyle as resource efficient.
然而,对个人来说，生态足迹是一个可以告诉我们正在做什么的有趣工具，并且告诉我们，如何通过有效利用资源，可持续地提升我们的生活方式。
The Global Footprint Network offers an encompassed, accurate ecological footprint calculator which you can find here, to calculate what your own ecological footprint is!
全球足迹网络提供了一个包罗万象的，准确的生态足迹计算器，你可以在这里计算你自己的生态足迹!
How does it work?
它是如何工作的？
The calculator will ask you questions based on your average consumption, travel habits and also your home, to name a few. After the questions, you will be shown your score based on how many planets are needed if everyone lived the same lifestyle as you do. It can also provide you with information about what a country’s average ecological footprint is for comparison. Using planets as a measurement scale creates an easier visual for individuals to process and understand overall. The ecological footprint calculator acts as a guiding measurement for individuals to understand the real impact of their consumption demands, improving their efficiency of resource choices and to become waste aware.
这个计算器会根据你的平均消费、旅行习惯以及你的家庭等向你提问。在回答完问题后，你会看到你的分数，分数是基于如果每个人的生活方式都和你一样，那么你需要多少颗地球。它还可以提供有关一个国家的平均生态足迹的信息，以便进行比较。使用地球作为测量尺度，为个体处理和整体理解创造了更容易的视觉效果。生态足迹计算器作为一种指导性的测量工具，可以帮助个人了解消费需求的真实影响，提高资源选择的效率，提高对浪费的意识。
We are living in a world where we are creating more than we need, using it too quickly and disposing of remains in piles by tons; all while polluting our land, water and air in the process. Understanding our own ecological footprint contribution is important because there are over 7 billion footprints to account for altogether, but only one planet to cope with all this demand.
我们生活在这样一个世界里:我们创造的东西比我们需要的要多，我们使用它的速度太快，处理的遗骸堆积成吨；与此同时，污染着我们的土地，水和空气。了解我们自己的生态足迹贡献是很重要的，因为总共有超过70亿的足迹需要考虑，但只有一个星球可以满足所有这些需求。
The significance of the ecological footprint measurement is that it can kickstart new sustainable lifestyle changes; supporting the urgency for a change from individual action. It offers individuals a starting point to compare to later when they are implementing these sustainable behaviours as habits. This supports our belief of, gaining a greater number of people living zero waste lifestyles imperfectly, than a small handful of individuals living a completely zero waste lifestyle.
生态足迹测量的意义在于，它可以启动新的可持续生活方式的改变；支持个人行动转变的紧迫性。它为个体提供了一个起点，之后当他们将这些可持续的行为作为习惯来实施时，就可以进行比较。这支持了我们的信念，获得更多的人过着不完美的零浪费生活，而不是少数人过着完全零浪费的生活。
Carbon Footprint:
碳足迹：
You may have also heard about a carbon footprint too. However, a carbon footprint is different to an ecological footprint. A carbon footprint measures the amount of CO2 generated by a particular lifestyle, rather than the amount of environmental mass needed. This can also equate to how many tonnes of CO2 are produced by your own lifestyle. Carbon dioxide measurement is not just based on travel choices; it can include food miles from eating imports over more local foods, as well as the amount of plastics you use and throw away. For example, for every 500ml plastic water bottle there is 82.8g of CO2 released into the atmosphere, which is extortionate!
你可能也听说过碳足迹。然而，碳足迹不同于生态足迹。碳足迹衡量的是一种特定生活方式所产生的二氧化碳量，而不是所需的环境质量。这也等于你自己的生活方式产生了多少吨二氧化碳。二氧化碳的测量不只是基于出行的选择；它可以包括从进口食品到更多本地食品的食品里程，以及你使用和扔掉的塑料的数量。例如，每500ml的塑料水瓶中就有82.8g的二氧化碳排放到大气中，这简直是敲诈勒索!
Depending on the calculator used this can also be shown by how many planets would be needed to live that particular lifestyle. It can also demonstrate the impact through the number of trees needed to combat your polluting choices too. Your carbon footprint can be calculated here.
根据使用的计算器，这也可以显示出需要多少星球才能过上那种特定的生活方式。它还可以通过与污染作斗争所需要的树木数量来证明其影响。你可以在这里计算你的碳足迹。
What do you think?
你认为呢？
Do you think having a measurement tool like the ecological and carbon footprint is useful for change to happen?
你认为像生态和碳足迹这样的测量工具对改变的发生有用吗?
Use the links provided to find out what your footprints are! Browse through our website or get in contact with us if you need advice on how to lower your overall footprint!
使用提供的链接找出您的足迹是什么!如果需要关于如何降低你的整体足迹的建议，请浏览我们的网站或与我们联系!