{"id":12376,"date":"2018-06-13T20:40:04","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T20:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/?p=12376"},"modified":"2019-04-25T18:28:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T18:28:29","slug":"earth-overshoot-day-2018-is-august-1-the-earliest-date-since-ecological-overshoot-started-in-the-early-1970s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/2018\/06\/13\/earth-overshoot-day-2018-is-august-1-the-earliest-date-since-ecological-overshoot-started-in-the-early-1970s\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Overshoot Day 2018 is August 1, the earliest date since ecological overshoot started in the early 1970s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OAKLAND, CA, USA \u2014 JUNE 13, 2018 \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>On August 1, humanity will have used nature\u2019s resource budget for the entire year, according to\u00a0Global Footprint Network<\/a>, an international research organization that has pioneered the Ecological Footprint resource accounting metric. The\u00a0Ecological Footprint<\/a>\u00a0adds up all of people\u2019s competing demands for productive areas, including for food, timber, fibers, carbon sequestration, and accommodation of infrastructure. Currently, carbon emissions make up 60 percent of humanity\u2019s Ecological Footprint.<\/p>\n

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity\u2019s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth\u2019s ecosystems can regenerate in that year. Earth Overshoot Day has moved from\u00a0late September in 1997<\/a>\u00a0to August 1st this year, the earliest date since the world first went into overshoot in the early 1970s. In other words, humanity is currently using nature 1.7 times faster than ecosystems can regenerate. This is akin to using 1.7 Earths.<\/p>\n

The costs of this global ecological overspending are becoming increasingly evident around the world, in the form of deforestation; , fresh-water scarcity; soil erosion; biodiversity loss;, and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to climate change and more severe droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet,\u201d said Mathis Wackernagel, CEO and co-founder of Global Footprint Network. \u201cWe are borrowing the Earth\u2019s future resources to operate our economies in the present. Like any Ponzi scheme, this works for some time. But as nations, companies, or households dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, they eventually fall apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to end this ecological Ponzi scheme by design, not by disaster. It\u2019s time to #MoveTheDate.\u201d Wackernagel added. \u201cThis is critical if humanity is to thrive.<\/p>\n

#MoveTheDate toward sustainability<\/strong><\/p>\n

We can reverse the trend. If we moved back Earth Overshoot Day by 5 days every year, we would return to using the resources of less than one planet by 2050. Ahead of Earth Overshoot Day 2018, Global Footprint Network highlights opportunities for action that are available today and estimates their impact on the date of Earth Overshoot Day. For instance, replacing 50% of meat consumption with a vegetarian diet would move the date of Overshoot Day by 5 days; reducing the carbon component of the global Ecological Footprint by 50% would move the date of Overshoot Day by 93 days.<\/p>\n

Researchers from Global Footprint Network and\u00a0Schneider Electric<\/a>\u00a0estimated how much current off-the-shelf, commercial technologies for buildings, industrial processes and electricity production alone could move the Earth Overshoot Day. They concluded that such technology could move the date at least 21 days, without any loss in productivity or comfort. This is a conservative estimate as it is based on Schneider Electric\u2019s offerings \u2013 and additional technologies may exist to move the date even further.<\/p>\n

Elements of the 2018 campaign include:<\/p>\n