Since 1st August, we have lived on ecological debt. By that date, all-natural resources that the biosphere can replace in one year are exhausted. In the remaining five months of 2018, we will live on so-called environmental debt.
This was reported by the Global Footprint Network (GFN). In a report, they measure the demand and supply of natural resources and ecological services for humanity.
The turn of the year is a few days earlier – last year’s Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 2, the 20-minute portal reports.
The whole process has accelerated due to excessive consumption and waste, explained Valérie Gramond of WWF, which is a partner organization of GFN.
In their statement, a third of the food ends up in rubbish bins. He also warned about “the undermined possibility of regeneration of the planet” and, as an example, the situation with fish stocks.
According to Gramond, humanity would need 1.7 Earth planets to meet its needs. The ecological debt situation varies greatly depending on the landscape, Pierre Cannet of WWF said. Small countries with small populations such as Qatar and Luxembourg leave an extremely strong ecological footprint, Cannet explained. He warned that if all mankind were alive as they were, the day of the breakthrough would have reached humanity on the 9th or 19th of February.
Ecological debt in the world
According to GFN, the United States has been living on ecological debt since March 14. For Germany, it is since May 1, for France since May 5, and for Britain since May 7. In countries like Morocco or Vietnam, this date is on December 16 and 21.
Cannet believes that the latest analysis of the ecological debt of mankind shows that it is necessary to move from “alarm to action”.
To reverse the current unfavorable trend, GFN is possible by various measures. Among them are: how cities use and prefer so-called green energy; combating waste and excessive consumption of meat; or limitation of demographic expansion. The Institute uses UN data from thousands of human activities, including fisheries, forestry, transport, and energy.
This year’s breakthrough occurred early in the 1970s when it began to set. The first time was in 1970 on December 29 – Earth had a resource deficit for just two days. In the coming years, it has come to earlier dates:9 December (1987), 7 December (1990), 21 November (1995), 1 November (2000), 20 October (2005), 26 October, September 23 (2008), September 25 (2009), August 21 (2010), August 27 (2011), August 22 (2012), August 20 (2014), August 19 (2014) 13 August (2015), August 8 (2016), and August 2 (2017).
