We are using up many of our material resources such as copper and tin. How does ecological footprinting measure this resource depletion?
In the environmental debate of the 1970s, most attention was given to the non-renewable parts of the worlds natural capital. The prime reason was the concern that the finite stocks of fossil fuel, minerals and ores, all essential ingredients of industrial processes, will eventually be exhausted. Only recently has it dawned on society that the renewable parts of natural capital, including its many life-support services, are even more critical and likely to be the first victims of an ecological collapse. Resource such as copper and tin are accounted for through the mechanical impacts and energy use of extracting and processing the ores. In our current accounts, the energy requirements for the ores are included and more recently we have also included an estimate of the direct disruption caused by mining.
