The report aims to fulfill a three-fold goal: to review what is meant by the term `ecological footprint' and to outline some of the related concepts currently under discussion in the environment and development field; to set the discussion in a UK context through case studies of some of the ecological footprints generated by UK consumption, production, trade and investment patterns in foreign countries; and to explore how this information could be communicated to the public so that citizens can take positive action which both lighten and reduce Britain's footprints and promote more sustainable development in poor and vulnerable developing countries.