Biocapacity

Biocapacity in action: Watch the planet pump its vital energy from the sun! Our favorite geographer, Benjamin Hennig, is at it again. After creating colorful and distorted maps of the world based on Ecological Footprint data, his most recent endeavor aims at depicting ongoing cycles in the productivity of ecological systems around the world. Together with his colleague Yadvinder Malhi from Oxford, he factored the daily net photosynthesis value over an 8-day interval of satellite observations and extrapolated the trends for a year. The result is this amazing and awe-inspiring heartbeat of the planet. Or should we say it is "breathing"? Watch as Europe disappears in the cold winter, and expands in the summer. Yucatan in contrast stays about the same all year round. And you can see the significance of our planet’s famous "lungs": The Amazon in South America and the Congo forest in Central Africa. Originally posted on WorldMapper, these visuals help us recognize how much of our planet’s biocapacity these two regions harbor.

ESRI’s storymap on human impact worth many thousands of words Our data visualization partner ESRI has put together a beautiful "storymap" (storytelling through infographics and maps) designed to give an overview of the impact of humanity on the planet. It features the Ecological Footprint metric – together with the work of some of our partners whom you will recognize. And yes, this stunning storymap also provides a list of tools and solutions, including our Footprint Calculator. Enjoy and share widely through your network and on social media.

Mathis Wackernagel makes the list: "OOOM 100: The World’s Most Inspiring People" The co-founder and President of Global Footprint Network was listed again on "OOOM 100: The World’s Most Inspiring People." For the third year in a row, the list presents "who has inspired, influenced, or motivated us the most", according to the Austrian media group OOOM. Mathis is in good company, even ahead of primate behaviorist Jane Goodall, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and U2 lead singer and activist Bono. We are tickled that people are inspired, influenced, or motivated by our work. Because that is our intention: We want everyone to join the movement towards all thriving within the means of our one planet. We believe that making this vision a reality is possible if we put our heads, hearts, and efforts together.