Americans have not yet significantly begun to make changes so as to live in a sustainable manner. A sustainable lifestyle would not diminish the capital stocks of natural resources that belong to future generations. However, in other parts of the world, small but significant changes are occurring. One example is in the state of Kerala , in southwestern India, where people understand that economic growth and status symbols do not make a better life. Their small families and low consumption patterns have contributed to their well being and contentment.
Land is needed both for production and for assimilation of waste.
The total land it takes to support your lifestyle is what Dr. Rees refers to as your ecological footprint. Most of us are living in more congested areas today, so let's consider the footprint of a city dweller. We don't really live in cities in ecological terms. Everything is extracted from the land, made elsewhere and shipped in. One's ecological footprint will not be reduced just because the density of the human population is high and there is less space per capita than in more rural areas.