Starting August 19, the population of our planet will live in ecological deficit, said the nonprofit organization Global Footprint. According to it, we have managed to consume all natural resources that the Earth can produce for one year in just eight months.
This year’s August 19 is also known as Earth Overshoot Day or Ecological Debt Day. It marks the day from which the population of the planet starts to live in ecological debt. In other words, we have already consumed everything that the Earth can produce for twelve months and until the end of 2014 we will borrow natural resources from the future generations.
However, the Earth Overshoot Day is not marked exclusively on August 19. The date can change depending on our consumption rates. Over the last few years, this day tends to be pushed earlier and earlier in the year. For example, in the 1980s, the Ecological Debt Day took place in November. Later in 1990s, it shifted to October and in the 2000s, September was the month of the Earth Overshoot Day. In 2013, it arrived on August 20. In contrast, back in the 1960, most countries witnessed no ecological deficit, but an ecological surplus.
The main reason for this concerning tendency is the planet’s quickly increasing population. Currently, the Earth is inhabited by over 7 billion people. By 2050, however, it is likely to reach 9.6 billion. This means that we will plunge into ecological deficit even faster.
The good news is that we can solve this problem. The bad is that in order to do this we would need another planet which is at least half the size of the Earth in order to meet our needs for the remaining part of the year.
Another option is to rely more on renewable sources and to follow a diet with a low consumption of meat. However, the best option we have at the moment is to transform the global economy from linear to circular. Simply said, the planet’s population needs to learn to reuse all the waste it produces instead of simply throwing it away.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), not only government should make an effort to cope with the ecological deficit. Individuals can also make a change. For instance, you can cut carbon by using the public transport to get to work or biking to the office. In addition, you can buy and consume products which are made of sustainable sources. That is, of course, if you do not want to live in ecological debt to your children.
