Question

Country X (a developed country) currently has a per capita ecological footprint of 3.2 hectares, while country Y (a developing country) has a per capita ecological footprint of 0.6 hectare. If everybody in the world has an ecological footprint the size of the average footprint between these two countries and there are ~7 billion people on Earth, how many total hectares would be needed

Answer 1

Total hectares needed = 13.3 billion hectares of ecological footprint.

Explanation:

Country X's per capita ecological footprint = 3.2 hectares

Country Y's per capita ecological footprint = 0.6 hectares

Earth's population = 7 billion

Average footprint between the two nations = 1.9 (3.2 + 0.6) hectares

If everybody in the world (i.e. the earth's population) has an ecological footprint the size of the average footprint between these two countries, i.e. = 1.9 per capita of earth's population,

Therefore, the total hectares of ecological footprint needed will be equal to 7 billion x 1.9

= 13.3 billion hectares of ecological footprint.