Assignment for Seminar 1, September 18, 2013 Brittany Barnes, 5408224

In the article, An urban metabolism and ecological footprint assessment of Metro Vancouver (2013), Moore, Kissinger, and Rees present extensive data regarding urban metabolism analysis (UMA) of residential consumption and ecological footprint analysis (EFA) of the Metro Vancouver region for the year 2006. The authors first collect Metro Vancouver’s urban metabolism data from local and provincial government, and provincially owned corporations and include: Metro Vancouver reports, Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority reports, Province of British Columbia reports, as well as BC Hydro reports (Moore et al, 2013, p. 54). The authors then collect Metro Vancouver’s ecological footprint estimates, in global average hectares (gha), of the ecosystem area required on a continuous basis by the region’s population to produce the products and carbon emissions in which it produces (p. 54). The third figure accompanying the article (p. 57), which summarizes the urban metabolism and ecological footprint of Metro Vancouver for 2006 (p. 56), indicates that water represents the largest material flow through Metro Vancouver of 424,860,000 m3, but has the smallest ecological footprint of 34,550 gha (p. 57). The results on figure three (p. 57) also display that food (1,753,000 tonnes) contributes the largest component to the ecological footprint of 4,514,400 gha (p. 57). The authors determine that Metro Vancouver’s total ecological footprint in 2006 is equivalent to 10,054,400 gha, which is 36 times the actual size of the region, and that the residents of Metro Vancouver have an average ecological footprint of 4.75 global average hectares per capita (p. 59). Moore, Kissinger, and Rees come to a final conclusion that society as a whole must focus on reducing overall energy, materials consumption, and personal consumption (p.59).

I find that the reader is able to easily understand the intricate data from the urban metabolism analysis and the ecological footprint analysis that the authors are discussing in the article. Nowadays, cities are the number one form of human habitat, and almost all of the Earth’s resources are directly or indirectly consumed in cities (p. 51). As a steward of God’s creation, I believe that it is our job to attempt to reduce overall energy and materials consumption by changing how different products are produced and the responsibility by wealthy consumers to reduce their personal consumption (p.59). One may wonder what would happen to the Earth if everyone consumed at a level equal with that of an average Metro Vancouver resident. As the world changes and humans continue to use resources and produce products at the rate that we are, we may be in trouble, as the authors suggest (p. 59) that we would need at least three additional Earth-like planets to supply the resources and adjust the carbon dioxide emissions to support such a lifestyle.

Moore, J., Kissinger, M., & Rees, W.E.(2013). An urban metabolism and ecological footprint assessment of Metro Vancouver. Journal of Environmental Management, 124(2), 51-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.009.