Debate: What Footprints Do We Leave Behind?

Moderator: Špela Kern, Umanotera – The Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development

We start learning about the environment from an early age. But the environment is changing. Many researchers and scientists link these changes to human activities—particularly excessive industrial, agricultural, and consumer behaviors.
We’ve all heard about ecology—the scientific discipline that studies the distribution and abundance of living organisms and their relationships with each other, as well as with their living and non-living surroundings. But what does this mean for us?
We are the living beings interacting with other organisms and our environment. So, what is our relationship with nature and other people? What kind of traces do we leave behind?

During this debate, we will explore our environmental impact and focus on one way of measuring our footprint—the carbon footprint. Each of us leaves one every day. But what does it look like? Why does it matter? And how can we reduce it?