Chapter 1
General Introduction
Abstract Over the past two decades, a continuously expanding list of footprintstyle indicators has been introduced to the scientific community with the aim of
raising public awareness of how humanity exerts pressures on the environment. A
deeper understanding of the connections and interactions between different environmental footprints is required in an attempt to support policy makers in environmental
management. The main value added of this book is the establishment of a unified
framework for structuring, categorizing, and integrating different footprints, and indepth exploration of the disciplinary relations to life cycle assessment (LCA) and
planetary boundaries. This chapter serves as introductory remarks that provide a brief
overview of the state of the art in environmental footprints, with a focus on certain
highly controversial topics in this field, such as the definition of environmental footprints, the methodological choices associated with LCA, and the similarities and
differences with planetary boundaries. It also introduces the research questions that
will be answered in the book. All this may serve as a starting point for clearing the
footprint jungle and for facilitating the ongoing discourse on environmental impact
assessment (EIA) and environmental sustainability assessment (ESA).
Keywords Environmental footprints · Life cycle assessment (LCA) · Planetary
boundaries · Environmental impact assessment (EIA) · Environmental
sustainability assessment (ESA) · Research questions
1.1 The Origin of Environmental Footprints
Significant changes to the Earth’s environment have been witnessed over the past
decades, with consequences that are undesirable or even disastrous for humanity
(Barnosky et al. 2012; Scheffer et al. 2009). This has led to a transition from the
Holocene—a geological epoch that spanned a long period of time—to the Anthropocene—a new era in which human disturbance is greatly eroding the stability and
resilience of the Earth system (Crutzen 2002; Steffen et al. 2011). In striving to
preserve the planet as a pleasant place for living and as a source of human welfare in
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. Fang, Environmental Footprints,
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61018-0_1
1
General Introduction
Abstract Over the past two decades, a continuously expanding list of footprintstyle indicators has been introduced to the scientific community with the aim of
raising public awareness of how humanity exerts pressures on the environment. A
deeper understanding of the connections and interactions between different environmental footprints is required in an attempt to support policy makers in environmental
management. The main value added of this book is the establishment of a unified
framework for structuring, categorizing, and integrating different footprints, and indepth exploration of the disciplinary relations to life cycle assessment (LCA) and
planetary boundaries. This chapter serves as introductory remarks that provide a brief
overview of the state of the art in environmental footprints, with a focus on certain
highly controversial topics in this field, such as the definition of environmental footprints, the methodological choices associated with LCA, and the similarities and
differences with planetary boundaries. It also introduces the research questions that
will be answered in the book. All this may serve as a starting point for clearing the
footprint jungle and for facilitating the ongoing discourse on environmental impact
assessment (EIA) and environmental sustainability assessment (ESA).
Keywords Environmental footprints · Life cycle assessment (LCA) · Planetary
boundaries · Environmental impact assessment (EIA) · Environmental
sustainability assessment (ESA) · Research questions
1.1 The Origin of Environmental Footprints
Significant changes to the Earth’s environment have been witnessed over the past
decades, with consequences that are undesirable or even disastrous for humanity
(Barnosky et al. 2012; Scheffer et al. 2009). This has led to a transition from the
Holocene—a geological epoch that spanned a long period of time—to the Anthropocene—a new era in which human disturbance is greatly eroding the stability and
resilience of the Earth system (Crutzen 2002; Steffen et al. 2011). In striving to
preserve the planet as a pleasant place for living and as a source of human welfare in
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. Fang, Environmental Footprints,
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61018-0_1
1