SANTA MONICA, CA - April 30 - Redefining Progress releases an innovate study analyzing the changes in Santa Monica's Ecological Footprint -- which tracks the amount of natural resources that humans consume.

Results showed that between 1990 and 2000 Santa Monica's Ecological Footprint shrank 5.7 percent, 167 square miles. At 20.9 acres per capita the city's Footprint is considerably smaller than the US average.

"In the year 2000, the US became the country with the largest average Ecological Footprint on the planet requiring 24 acres per person. This makes the city's progress all that much more impressive" said Jason Venetoulis, co-director of the Sustainable Indicators Program at Redefining Progress.

Dr. Venetoulis and the City of Santa Monica's Sustainable City team worked together in measuring and analyzing the city's Footprint. While their findings showed that the per capita and total Footprint was significantly reduced since the inception of the Sustainable City program, "when considered within the context of global sustainability and 'fair' distribution of resources the study found the city still has a long way to go" concluded Venetoulis. The biggest changes would come from reducing fossil fuel use and limiting sprawl.

"While the US trend is depleting resources at a faster rate than ever before, the City of Santa Monica is proud of our commitment and progress toward sustainability, but we still have far to go," acknowledges Craig Perkins, Director of the City of Santa Monica Department of Environmental and Public Works Management.

Though admittedly not a perfect measure of all human impacts on the rest of nature, Redefining Progress' Ecological Footprint provides one of the most effective tools for measuring cumulative impacts associated with a variety of actives, including land use, electricity and natural gas use, gasoline and diesel use, transportation and vehicles, roads, housing, food, products, waste, and recycling.

"This was the first study that analyzed a city's Footprint over time" said Dahlia Chazan, who also co-directs of the Sustainable Indicators Program at RP. "We were able to identify places that local government can play a key role in reducing their community's Footprint, however, the onus is not entirely on government, which is why our work with businesses, teachers, and raising awareness among individuals is so critical in the pursuit of authentic sustainability."

The complete report will be released at the Santa Monica Festival, on May 1 at Clover Park and can be found online at http://www.regionalprogress.org

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