globalfootprints.org

School Quiz Background

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Global Footprints

The original Global Footprints project provided primary schools with ideas and activities which aimed to empower all participants, but particularly the young, to take steps towards a sustainable future.

Working in partnership with their local Development Education Centre (DEC), participating schools had access to a range of exciting and stimulating activities, which addressed issues of global citizenship and sustainable development and provided an opportunity to explore the social, global and ecological impacts of lifestyle choices and issues of global interdependence.

The 'Global Footprint':
The project used as its starting point the 'ecological footprint' developed  by Wackernagel and Rees, extending into social and global community outcomes, rather than just the human impact on the environment. 

The school Global Footprint audit seeks to explore ways in which schools can examine, measure and reduce their impact on the environment, resulting in a footprint which takes into account wider school community issues. A school might therefore consider the effects of an anti-bullying strategy on the social development of the school, or the implications of purchasing fair trade products on sustainable development and justice for producer communities in the south.

The concept of the 'Global Footprint' presented difficulties in terms of measurement, but allowed us to use a symbolic rather than quantifiable tool for measuring and comparing the effects of attitudes and behaviour as a starting point for change.  As part of the quiz the underlying values are simply presented for further debate and discussion.