SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
An environmental activist cuts an orange, painted as a globe, during an event to mark the Earth Overshoot Day on August 1, 2018 in Berlin. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when we (all of humanity) have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. (Photo: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)
Earliest Ever 'Earth Overshoot Day' Shows Humanity's Consumption of Planet's Natural Resources Raging Unabated
"Systemic change isn't radical, it's what we need to survive," says Sunrise Movement
Jul 29, 2019
There are more than five months left in the year, but on Monday humankind had already burned through the planet's ecological resource budget for 2019.
It's the earliest the date--known as Earth Overshoot Day--has ever come, the Global Footprint Network, which tracks the metric, said in a statement.
"Systemic change isn't radical, it's what we need to survive," said the Sunrise Movement in response to the milestone.
Impacts of the overshoot back up Sunrise's call for sweeping action.
"The costs of this global ecological overspending," says the Global Footprint Network, "are becoming increasingly evident in the form of deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, or the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
The trend of overspending is clear: last year the day was on Aug. 1; in 2017 it was on Aug. 2; and in 2016 it was on Aug 8. In fact, say the network, Earth Overshoot Day has crept up two months over the past 20 years.
\u201cThe precise Earth Overshoot Day date for each year is less significant than the sheer magnitude of ecological overshoot. Over the last decades, the date has been creeping up the calendar, although at a slowing rate. https://t.co/ZwrDagJt5K #MoveTheDate\u201d— Footprint Network (@Footprint Network) 1564272004
Put another way, says the group, the world is using up resources like fisheries and forests 1.75 times faster than the planet's ecosystems can regenerate them. If everyone lived like U.S. population, we'd need five planets.
"It is an ecological debt, and the interest we are paying on that mounting debt--food shortages, soil erosion, and the build-up of CO2 in our atmosphere--comes with devastating human and monetary costs," says the Global Footprint Network.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called attention to the milestone on Twitter, writing that for the rest of the year, "we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world."
\u201cToday is World #OvershootDay \nA day that sadly happens earlier and earlier each year.\nThat means that today we\u2019ve globally used up the worlds annual resources. The rest of the year we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world.\u201d— Greta Thunberg (@Greta Thunberg) 1564383826
To help nudge the Earth Overshoot Day further back, the network is encouraging people to take a number of steps.
People can share solutions they are employing on a "move the date" interactive map and are encouraged to commit to taking individual actions such as calling on their local officials to adopt more ecologically-friendly policies, or committing to a more plant-based diet. "If we reduced global meat consumption by 50 percent and used more calories from plants, we would move Overshoot Day 5 days!" says the Global Footprint Network.
People can also calculate their personal overshoot day at the Footprint Calculator.
But the scale of the problem necessitates that those who wield power commit to action. That has some looking towards the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Chile known as COP25.
"With Earth Overshoot Day occurring ever earlier in the year, and a big part of it being the growing amounts of CO2 emissions, the importance of decisive action is becoming ever more evident," said Maria Carolina Schmidt Zaldivar, who serves as Chile's environment minister and will chair COP25. "For this reason," she said, "we are working with all parties to find effective approaches."
The stakes, as Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of Ecological Footprint accounting and founder of Global Footprint Network, said, couldn't be higher.
"We have only got one Earth," he said, "this is the ultimately defining context for human existence."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
There are more than five months left in the year, but on Monday humankind had already burned through the planet's ecological resource budget for 2019.
It's the earliest the date--known as Earth Overshoot Day--has ever come, the Global Footprint Network, which tracks the metric, said in a statement.
"Systemic change isn't radical, it's what we need to survive," said the Sunrise Movement in response to the milestone.
Impacts of the overshoot back up Sunrise's call for sweeping action.
"The costs of this global ecological overspending," says the Global Footprint Network, "are becoming increasingly evident in the form of deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, or the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
The trend of overspending is clear: last year the day was on Aug. 1; in 2017 it was on Aug. 2; and in 2016 it was on Aug 8. In fact, say the network, Earth Overshoot Day has crept up two months over the past 20 years.
\u201cThe precise Earth Overshoot Day date for each year is less significant than the sheer magnitude of ecological overshoot. Over the last decades, the date has been creeping up the calendar, although at a slowing rate. https://t.co/ZwrDagJt5K #MoveTheDate\u201d— Footprint Network (@Footprint Network) 1564272004
Put another way, says the group, the world is using up resources like fisheries and forests 1.75 times faster than the planet's ecosystems can regenerate them. If everyone lived like U.S. population, we'd need five planets.
"It is an ecological debt, and the interest we are paying on that mounting debt--food shortages, soil erosion, and the build-up of CO2 in our atmosphere--comes with devastating human and monetary costs," says the Global Footprint Network.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called attention to the milestone on Twitter, writing that for the rest of the year, "we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world."
\u201cToday is World #OvershootDay \nA day that sadly happens earlier and earlier each year.\nThat means that today we\u2019ve globally used up the worlds annual resources. The rest of the year we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world.\u201d— Greta Thunberg (@Greta Thunberg) 1564383826
To help nudge the Earth Overshoot Day further back, the network is encouraging people to take a number of steps.
People can share solutions they are employing on a "move the date" interactive map and are encouraged to commit to taking individual actions such as calling on their local officials to adopt more ecologically-friendly policies, or committing to a more plant-based diet. "If we reduced global meat consumption by 50 percent and used more calories from plants, we would move Overshoot Day 5 days!" says the Global Footprint Network.
People can also calculate their personal overshoot day at the Footprint Calculator.
But the scale of the problem necessitates that those who wield power commit to action. That has some looking towards the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Chile known as COP25.
"With Earth Overshoot Day occurring ever earlier in the year, and a big part of it being the growing amounts of CO2 emissions, the importance of decisive action is becoming ever more evident," said Maria Carolina Schmidt Zaldivar, who serves as Chile's environment minister and will chair COP25. "For this reason," she said, "we are working with all parties to find effective approaches."
The stakes, as Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of Ecological Footprint accounting and founder of Global Footprint Network, said, couldn't be higher.
"We have only got one Earth," he said, "this is the ultimately defining context for human existence."
There are more than five months left in the year, but on Monday humankind had already burned through the planet's ecological resource budget for 2019.
It's the earliest the date--known as Earth Overshoot Day--has ever come, the Global Footprint Network, which tracks the metric, said in a statement.
"Systemic change isn't radical, it's what we need to survive," said the Sunrise Movement in response to the milestone.
Impacts of the overshoot back up Sunrise's call for sweeping action.
"The costs of this global ecological overspending," says the Global Footprint Network, "are becoming increasingly evident in the form of deforestation, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, or the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
The trend of overspending is clear: last year the day was on Aug. 1; in 2017 it was on Aug. 2; and in 2016 it was on Aug 8. In fact, say the network, Earth Overshoot Day has crept up two months over the past 20 years.
\u201cThe precise Earth Overshoot Day date for each year is less significant than the sheer magnitude of ecological overshoot. Over the last decades, the date has been creeping up the calendar, although at a slowing rate. https://t.co/ZwrDagJt5K #MoveTheDate\u201d— Footprint Network (@Footprint Network) 1564272004
Put another way, says the group, the world is using up resources like fisheries and forests 1.75 times faster than the planet's ecosystems can regenerate them. If everyone lived like U.S. population, we'd need five planets.
"It is an ecological debt, and the interest we are paying on that mounting debt--food shortages, soil erosion, and the build-up of CO2 in our atmosphere--comes with devastating human and monetary costs," says the Global Footprint Network.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called attention to the milestone on Twitter, writing that for the rest of the year, "we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world."
\u201cToday is World #OvershootDay \nA day that sadly happens earlier and earlier each year.\nThat means that today we\u2019ve globally used up the worlds annual resources. The rest of the year we are stealing from future generations and poorer parts of the world.\u201d— Greta Thunberg (@Greta Thunberg) 1564383826
To help nudge the Earth Overshoot Day further back, the network is encouraging people to take a number of steps.
People can share solutions they are employing on a "move the date" interactive map and are encouraged to commit to taking individual actions such as calling on their local officials to adopt more ecologically-friendly policies, or committing to a more plant-based diet. "If we reduced global meat consumption by 50 percent and used more calories from plants, we would move Overshoot Day 5 days!" says the Global Footprint Network.
People can also calculate their personal overshoot day at the Footprint Calculator.
But the scale of the problem necessitates that those who wield power commit to action. That has some looking towards the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Chile known as COP25.
"With Earth Overshoot Day occurring ever earlier in the year, and a big part of it being the growing amounts of CO2 emissions, the importance of decisive action is becoming ever more evident," said Maria Carolina Schmidt Zaldivar, who serves as Chile's environment minister and will chair COP25. "For this reason," she said, "we are working with all parties to find effective approaches."
The stakes, as Mathis Wackernagel, co-inventor of Ecological Footprint accounting and founder of Global Footprint Network, said, couldn't be higher.
"We have only got one Earth," he said, "this is the ultimately defining context for human existence."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.