What is UVMs Ecological Footprint?
If you look carefully as you walk through some wild parts of Vermont, you can find signs of black bears: tracks, clawed trees, broken branches from collecting beechnuts, fragrant berry-filled scat, and if you’re lucky, a den. But these signs and impacts on the land are few, and the number of black bears in a given area is limited by food supplies and available land. Humans, on the other hand, crowd together willingly, and their signs are more obvious. At UVM, signs of the 13,000 people who use the 1,000 acres of main campus include roads, paths, parking lots, food carts, signs, dumpsters, and of course, buildings with people flowing in and out. Our activities cause some negative effects right around us, such as air pollution and aesthetically displeasing utility lines, but for the most part we feel comfortable. Apparently our needs are met with an average of a thirteenth of an acre each. The truth is that we “occupy” much more than our 1,000-acre main campus. Our needs are met by lands
