The researchers studied how well Shanxi province is balancing its ecological needs with human activity in 2005. They used a tool called the ecological footprint to measure this balance. The results showed that people in Shanxi needed 1.9310 hectares of land each to live sustainably, but the province could only provide 0.8018 hectares per person, leading to a deficit of 1.1292 hectares per person. Most of this demand and deficit came from energy consumption. This shows that Shanxi was using more natural resources than the area could sustain, highlighting a need to find more sustainable practices for the future.