According to the latest report by the Global Footprint Network, humanity has exhausted more renewable resources by July 29 than what is regenerated in a year. Halfway around the orbit and we meet the Earth Overshoot Day. Here’s all about how fast the exhaustion is:
What is the Earth Overshoot Day?
The Earth Overshoot Day marks the day from when humanity’s demand overtakes the regeneration rate of the earth. According to experts, the consumption of renewable resources is moving at an alarmingly ‘disproportionate’ rate. Moreover, it represents taxing stress since one earth cannot extinguish the demands. According to previous reports, the earth has been overshooting its allocation since the 1970s. However, back then the Earth Overshoot day was in December.
“A lot of the Earth’s surface is needed to ‘sequester’ the emissions we release in a year. Net-zero emissions, a main goal of the Paris agreement, meaning that there must be an equal ‘soaking up’ of greenhouse gas emissions by either land or ocean,” explained Eric Miller. Miller is the director of the Ecological Footprint Initiative.
Global footprint and renewable resources
A global footprint is the amount of productive land allocated on an average person for water, food, transport, waste, housing, etc. This amount has increased by 6.6 percent since last year. “Last year, we had the lockdown. The lockdown changed behaviors instantaneously, quite radically, but just changed behaviors for that time. It didn’t change the system. So we’re back to where we were before in terms of resource demand,” said Mathis Wackernagel, the founder, and CEO of the Global Footprint Network.
“How long can you use 70% more than Earth can renew? You can use more than your interest payment for some time, but it reduces the asset base. And what we see as a consequence, for example, is the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere or deforestation,” he added.
