Most of you have probably never heard of "Earth Overshoot Day". It's not a holiday or event you will find on your calendar and the date changes a little bit every single year. It doesn't generally make the news, and the date generally passes us by completely unnoticed. However, despite its lack of attention, Earth Overshoot Day may be one of the most critical annual events for humanity; if we continue to let it pass quietly, there will be severe consequences for the planet and humanity.
So what the heck is Earth Overshoot Day and why is it so monumentally important?
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. Source
In other words, as of last Wednesday, we have used all of the planet's resources for the year...and it's only the beginning of August. Even more alarming? This year's Overshoot Day comes 6 days earlier than 2016's. (Click here to see how the overshoot is calculated.)
We maintain this deficit by liquidating stocks of ecological resources and accumulating waste, primarily carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Earth Overshoot Day is hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network, an international think tank that coordinates research, develops methodological standards and provides decision-makers with a menu of tools to help the human economy operate within Earth’s ecological limits. Source
By overfishing, overharvesting forests, developing land and emitting carbon dioxide faster than forests can sequester it in a year, we end up using more ecological resources than the Earth can provide in that same amount of time. Though many of these resources are renewable if utilized correctly and responsibly, the sheer rate at which we use them up is unsustainable, and the supply simply cannot keep up with the demand. It's just like economics, and we call this calculating ecological wealth.
Any ecosystem (and the Earth as a whole) has a carrying capacity. This means that the space or resources of that habitat can only support so large an organism population indefinitely. If the population reaches carrying capacity, then it is as large as it can possibly be without overusing its resources. If the population grows any larger, the resources decline which leads to an eventual decline in the population until it falls back below the carrying capacity. Imagine a fishbowl as an ecosystem; it can only support so many fish before it becomes unlivable for the population and the fish start dying (until there is enough room/resources for the remaining fish to survive). To put it simply, no population can grow indefinitely, and it's maximum capacity is determined by the available resources of the ecosystem.
The human population is growing fairly drastically; by the end of the century, only another 83 years, Earth will be home to a projected 3 billion more people if we stick to the current trend. Because of the rapid growth of the population and the increased need for resources, Earth Overshoot Day has become earlier each year, and in 2017 it was 6 days earlier than just one year prior. In just a few years, we could be using our annual resources up in just a few short months, and the Earth will no longer be a sustainable resource, but rather a slowly dying planet that cannot sustain the human population.
The Global Footprint Network is trying to educate the public and influence political parties to #movethedate back. The Network is adamant that if individuals and nations don't become more sustainable, the Earth simply will not be able to support the human population.
The Global Footprint Network has launched a mobile-friendly footprint calculator, a program where individual users can calculate their ecological footprint and determine their own personal Overshoot Day. The eventual hope is that, by encouraging individuals to push their personal Overshoot Day back, we can begin moving Earth Overshoot day back as well. It will not be a simple fix; the fight to restore Earth will be an incredibly long and extremely difficult process, but organizations like GFN believe that it is still possible to save the planet and with it, the human race.
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