Answer: The amount of biologically productive land and water required to produce all the resources consumed and to absorb all the waste generated by an individual, city, or country; used to compare resource demand with Earth's biocapacity.
- A The total geographic surface area of land that a given sovereign country physically occupies within its officially recognized international political borders and territorial waters combined under usual circumstances according to most researchers
- B The amount of biologically productive land and water required to produce all the resources consumed and to absorb all the waste generated by an individual, city, or country; used to compare resource demand with Earth's biocapacity
- C The cumulative physical impact that seasonal large-mammal migration patterns have on overall vegetation cover within a clearly defined natural ecosystem boundary each calendar year in the majority of cases studied as widely reported
- D A direct numerical measure of the overall annual rate of global biodiversity loss occurring specifically within a particular geographic region or sovereign country in standard practice under most conditions encountered as frequently observed in practice
Correct answer: B. The amount of biologically productive land and water required to produce all the resources consumed and to absorb all the waste generated by an individual, city, or country; used to compare resource demand with Earth's biocapacity
Explanation: Ecological footprint: total biologically productive area needed to support a population's lifestyle. If global footprint > Earth's biocapacity → 'overshoot' (currently using 1.7 Earths per year). High-income countries have much larger footprints. Reducing footprint: less meat consumption, renewable energy, public transport, reducing waste.
Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and warms the surface; the surface re-radiates this energy as infrared heat, which greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, water vapour) absorb and trap - a naturally beneficial process that intensifies into global warming as gas concentrations rise from human activity.
Concept context
Pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, and sustainability. Important for NEET and general awareness.