Let us all rejoice: yesterday it was Earth Overshoot Day!

What is Earth Overshoot Day?

You may be asking what it it. The Global Footprint Network will help me elucidate this concept. Also called "Ecological Debt Day", it marks an unfortunate milestone: the day when humanity begins living beyond its ecological means. Beyond that day, we move into the ecological equivalent of deficit spending, utilising resources at a rate faster than what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year.

Globally, we now require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. Put another way, in less than 10 months, humanity used ecological services it takes 12 months for the Earth to regenerate.

Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. In planetary terms, the results of our ecological overspending are becoming more clear by the day. Climate change – a result of carbon being emitted faster than it can be reabsorbed by the forests and seas – is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others as well: shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress to name a few.

What is Overshoot?

Just like any company, nature has a budget -- it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste every year. The problem is, our demand for nature's services is exceeding what it can provide.

In 2009, humanity is projected to use about 40 percent more than nature can regenerate this year. This problem -- using resources faster than they can regenerate and creating waste such as CO2 faster than it can be absorbed -- is called ecological overshoot.

We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet’s natural resources. For example we can cut trees faster than they re-grow, and catch fish at a rate faster than they repopulate. While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources on which our economy depends.

Humanity first went into overshoot in 1986; before that time the global community consumed resources and produced carbon dioxide at a rate consistent with what the planet could produce and reabsorb. By 1996, however, humanity was using 15 percent more resources in a year than the planet could supply, with Earth Overshoot Day falling in November. This year, more than two decades since we first went into overshoot, because we are now demanding resources at a rate of 40 percent faster than the planet can produce them.

In 2008, Earth Overshoot Day was reached on September 23.

How is Earth Overshoot Day Calculated?

[ world biocapacity / world Ecological Footprint ] x 365 = Earth Overshoot Day Day

Put simply, Earth Overshoot Day shows the day on which our total Ecological Footprint (measured in global hectares) is equal to the biocapacity (also measured in global hectares) that nature can regenerate in that year. For the rest of the year, we are accumulating debt by depleting our natural capital and letting waste accumulate.

The day of the year on which humanity enters into overshoot and begins adding to our ecological debt is calculated by calculating the ratio of global available biocapacity to global Ecological Footprint and multiplying by 365. From this, we find the number of days of demand that the biosphere could supply, and the number of days we operate in overshoot.

This ratio shows that in 2009, in just 268 days, we demanded the biosphere’s entire capacity for the year. The 267th day of the year is September 25.

A word from the expert

Here's a skype interview made by Beppe Grillo with Mathis Wackernagel, a Swiss-born sustainability advocate, currently Executive Director for Global Footprint Network, an Oakland, California-based non-profit that focuses on developing and promoting metrics for sustainability. He created the concept ecological footprint concept and this video he speaks his mind, presenting the problems from a general overview and then bringing us real world examples o follow. What he advocates... I don't know, it just makes a lot of sense. Please take a look.

Call for action to all blogger: it's time to act!

Right, let's get moving! First, I need to know what my ecological footprint is (roughly). Let's take test at the footprint calculator and find out (Switzerland should be close enough to Italy, as Wackernagel suggests). Here we go:

According to the 2008 data table of the Global Footprint Network, in order to support my lifestyle, it takes about 4 global hectares of the Earth's productive area. Switzerland's ecological footprint per capita is 5, Italy's 4.7, The United States of America top the list with 9.4 and Haiti is at the bottom with 0.5. Even though I'm living much below the national average, and my impact on climate could be compared to the typical Polish, Turkmen, or Belarusian person, if everyone consumed like me, we would still need 1.9 planet Earths.

That is indeed a bit disappointing, especially when considering that I try to live the most environmentally protective and sustainable life I can: buy local food, avoid useless junk that I would throw away immediately, don't buy newspapers, move by bicycle and bus, do car sharing whenever possible, don't waste energy in the house, eat less meat and (most of) all that.

It's not easy to be environmentally friendly, that is, be coherent with what I advocate and still live my life (a dedicated post is on the way).

What can you do to help (short version)

Even though the future does not look very bright, it's not a good reason to avoid taking action and do whatever we can. What matters the most is our will to change things for the better, and while trying to be more effective as possible, things will eventually change. Technology improves, and human ingenuity is the greatest resource that we have on our side. If we really focus on this issue, our collective intelligence and efforts may actually be able to make the difference. If not, then in means we were bound to fail, ad the human species deserves to be wiped out of the species, as a malevolent parasite. Or maybe not. Either way, I think it's worth trying.

I'm building an (almost) comprehensive list of tips to follow when trying to be more effective on limiting climate change. He's a very general list, just to start off:

• Cut down on driving. Bicycles, walking, or using public transportation are good alternatives.

• Reduce energy consumption. This can include, but is not limited to:

1. Turning off lights in rooms you are not occupying.
2. Unplug unused electronics and appliances.
3. Whenever possible, try to substitute goods that use energy derived from fossil fuel-based production, for goods produced from cleaner sources of energy, such as solar or wind.
4. Consider both the long-term and short-term consequences of purchasing a product. Though the short-term consequences of purchasing and using that product may be minor, justifying the purchase of the product, the long-term, such as length of time for that item to decompose, may be severe, outweighing the benefits of such a purchase.
5. Incorporate the natural environment with your home environment. Many architectural methods now exist that take advantage of benefits created by the environment while preserving it as well. While, the short-term costs of implementing these methods are currently generally higher than implementing environmentally-damaging ones, the long-term benefits typically balance or exceed the costs. As technology in the field of environmental studies progresses, such “environmentally-friendly” construction methods are expected to become cheaper.
6. Help restore the environment. In your free time, help plant a tree or volunteer to help clean up a watershed area. Earth’s environment is composed of complex relationships, many not fully understood by ecologists and biologists. One of the best ways to reduce our Ecological Debt is to help restore the Earth’s biocapacity as much as possible.

p.s. This article was crossposted on my blog.