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2nd August 2017 was this year’s Earth Overshoot Day – the day our resource consumption for the year has exceeded the earth’s capacity to regenerate enough to supply our demand.
The day gets earlier and earlier each year – last year it was 3rd August, in 1997 it was 30th September, in 1977 it was 12th November. It’s calculated by international think tank Global Footprint Network, who divide the world’s biocapacity (the amount of natural resources generated by the earth that year) by our ecological footprint (humanity’s consumption of the earth’s natural resources for that year) and multiplying by 365.
The message is clear. As the Earth Overshoot Day website says: ‘We use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, over harvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can absorb.’
For the remainder of 2017, we will be living on resources borrowed from future generations. Each of us can reduce our impact by making more sustainable choices in our daily lives. It’s time to wake up and take action NOW.