HUMANS have a large footprint on the planet they inhabit – even more so than they realize.
Earth Overshoot Day is meant to highlight the rapidly depleting natural resources that are being consumed each and every day around the globe.
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humans have used up more resources from nature than the planet can renew in the entire year.
With human population increasing and humans using more of the Earth’s resources, the rate at which those resources are being used up is also increasing.
As of 2018, humans were using up nature's resources around 1.7 times faster than the planet's ecosystems could regenerate them, through our consumption rates and growing populations.
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With the rate of usage increasing, this means the date when the tipping point is reached comes earlier and earlier.
Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by Global Footprint Network, an international research organization that observes humanity's use of natural materials, as well as the environmental damage caused.
According to the Overshoot Day website, there has been a 6.6 percent increase in the carbon footprint from 2020 to 2021 and a 0.5 percent decrease in global forest biocapacity.
Mathis Wackernagel, head of the organization, said in 2018: “Fires are raging in the western United States; on the other side of the world, residents in Cape Town have had to slash water consumption in half since 2015.
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"These are consequences of busting the ecological budget of our one and only planet. Our economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet. We are using the Earth’s future resources to operate in the present and digging ourselves deeper into ecological debt.
“It’s time to end this ecological Ponzi scheme and leverage our creativity and ingenuity to create a prosperous future free of fossil fuels and planetary destruction.”
Which countries have the earliest Overshoot Days?
According to the Overshoot Day website: "Not all countries will have an overshoot day…a country will only have an overshoot day if their Ecological Footprint per person is greater than global biocapacity per person (1.6 gha)."
For example, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka are some of the few countries listed without an overshoot day.
The closer to the end of the year an overshoot day is predicted, the slower the rate of resources being used.
For example, Jamaica has an overshoot day of December 20 and Ecuador's is predicted to be December 6, 2022.
If the rest of the world lived like these two countries, Earth would be in much better shape than it is.
However, countries like Qatar and Luxembourg, whose overshoot days are February 10 and 14, respectively, are tearing the Earth apart.
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When is Earth Overshoot Day 2022?
Earth Overshoot Day falls on July 28 in 2022.
The day was first marked in 1986 and July 28th is the earliest the day has fallen, so far.
"For the first time, a country’s Ministry of Environment hosted a special event to launch Earth Overshoot Day," Overshoot Day's website states.
The 2022 event "featured Ecuador’s Minister of Environment, Gustavo Manrique, Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan Carlos Holguin, and Global Footprint Network founder Mathis Wackernagel. It was also supported by ministers and officials from Colombia, the United Kingdom, France, Congo, and Panama."
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