Earth Overshoot Day…Pushing Mother Nature too far

As of Thursday, August 13, 2015, we have used up all the ecological resources that the earth could generate through the entire year, according to calculations by sustainability think tank Global Footprint Network.

The Earth Overshoot Day – the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year – for 2015 arrived on August 13 – almost 4 months before the official end of the year.

If left unchecked, Earth Overshoot Day would occur on 28 June 2030, essentially meaning humanity would need the resources of two Earths to power itself. In other words, from this day – called the Earth Overshoot Day – on we will be overdrawing from our global annual budget of natural resources.

Derek Eaton, vice-president of Research with the Global Footprint Network in Geneva, told The Hindu that Indians have consistently had one of the lowest per capita ecological footprint.

Global Footprint Network and other experts say addressing the growing problem of overpopulation is a cornerstone of reducing ecological debt.

We’ve used more resources faster than the Earth can produce them.

Overshoot Day is estimated every year by the Global Footprint Network, an worldwide think-tank that synthesizes data on Earth’s depressingly dwindling resource supply.

This year it fell on August 14, but the date continues to move up earlier and earlier into the year.

GFN estimates that the current population demands the resources of 1.62 Earths.

“Humanity’s carbon footprint alone more than doubled since the early 1970s, when the world went into ecological overshoot”. “We can’t sustain such growth models and consumption patterns anymore”.

The effects can be seen everywhere: deforestation, drought, fresh-water scarcity, soil erosion, biodiversity loss and the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is affecting all states, to varying degrees. Second on the list is Italy which would need 2.8 more countries of its size to sustain its economy. Historically, cropland and forest footprint made for the largest ecological footprints until the late 1980s when carbon started outgrowing them. “We look at all the resource demands of humanity that compete for space, like food, fiber, timber, et cetera, then we look at how much area is needed to provide those services and how much productive surface is available”. That’s the day when we reach the point we shouldn’t reach until December 31st – by definition, that means we’re consuming at an unsustainable rate, according to a Christian Science Monitor report.

The climate agreement expected at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) 21 this December will focus on maintaining global warming within the 2-degrees-Celsius range over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.