Earth Overshoot Day (2019)

Earth Overshoot day this year is TODAY. Today is the day that we have used up nature’s budget for the whole of 2019!

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. 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 research organization that provides decision-makers with a menu of tools to help the human economy operate within Earth’s ecological limits.

This year’s Earth Overshoot Day is the earliest it has ever been.

This means that humanity is now using nature 1.75 times as fast as the planet’s ecosystems can regenerate. In other words, humanity is using 1.75 Earths.

Carbon dioxide emissions currently make up 60% of humanity’s demand on nature.

Each of us, as individuals has a responsibility to try to turn things around. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis offers us some suggestions for “ecological citizenship.”

• Conserving water (don’t leave the tap running while brushing your teeth)
• Conserving energy (turn off unnecessary lights; turn down the heat and put on a sweater)
• Recycling
• Using public transportation or carpooling
• Cooking only as much food that will be eaten as to avoid waste
• Planting trees

There are many little lifestyle changes that we can each commit to in order to #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day.

Which of these will you commit to?

 

The infographic below shows a visual representation of overshoot Day’s per country. A country’s overshoot day is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in this country.