Every year, humans use more and more of the Earth’s natural resources, and while the Earth renews its supply yearly, we tend to use more than is available in a year, resulting in what is known as Earth Overshoot Day. August 14, 2015 was declared Earth Overshoot Day by the Global Footprint Network, meaning that we have now used up an entire year’s supply of natural resources in just 8 months.
Heavy Demand, Dwindling Supply
We have hit Earth Overshoot Day many times now, and every year it falls earlier and earlier. In the year 2000, for instance, the day fell as late as October. Every year that we hit that day, we seem to be alarmed when the news breaks, but not alarmed enough to change our trajectory. As each year passes, the demand for the planet’s natural resources intensifies and increases at an unsustainable rate, while the supply continues to dwindle under the heavy pressure of the demand. This means that every year, the Earth renews its natural resources with less and less because humans aren’t giving the planet enough time to fully restore its supply before demanding more of it. Human beings are depleting the Earth’s supply of natural resources every year, and there seems to be no real effort or intent to slow down.
How Is Earth Overshoot Day Determined?
In order to determine which day is declared Earth Overshoot Day, scientists measure how much of Earth’s surface consists of biologically productive areas. These areas are the places on the planet that can absorb the harm that humans inflict upon the Earth, such as the release of greenhouse gases. The number of acres of biologically productive zones is then compared to the number of acres that humans need to make up for all of the damage caused to the planet. Earth Overshoot Day is declared when the demand for the planet’s natural resources outnumbers the Earth’s ability to mitigate the damage that humans do to it by absorbing it.
Grave Implications for the Future
Earth Overshoot Day happened six days earlier this year than it did last year. As it stands, humans need the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to sustain our current lifestyle, according to the Global Footprint Network. It is clear that we cannot continue on like this much longer if we hope to survive and grow to a population of 13 billion by the end of the century, which the United Nations predicted earlier this week. The rate of our consumption of the Earth’s natural resources, which contributes greatly to climate change, which then threatens the global food supply, is the key factor to our survival in the years and decades to come.
If we are not mindful of this fact, we, as a species, and all the other inhabitants of planet Earth, are doomed to extinction. It is time to reassess our true needs as individuals, as a society, and as a global community, and shift our global paradigm towards a more sustainable lifestyle. If we fail to achieve this soon, Earth Overshoot Day will continue to fall earlier and earlier each year, until the day arrives when we might see it fall within the first quarter of the year, and the state of the global community will truly be irreparable.
