The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released a Briefing Paper, Lifestyle Material Footprint: An explanation, which explains in plain language exactly what the material footprint is.
The material footprint measures the resource use over the complete life-cycle of products, services and activities that shape lifestyles, e.g. food consumption and mobility patterns. It can be applied in different scales, from individual lifestyle material footprints to the average material footprint per capita in a country.