Galactus
Devourer of Worlds
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2000
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What is Ecological Debt Day?
Globally, we are demanding 1.3 planets to support our lifestyles this year, and yet we only have one planet earth.
Ecological Debt Day marks the day when we begin living beyond our ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 6, 2007, humanity has consumed the total amount of new resources that our planet can produce this year.
Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanitys Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries) and compares it with global biocapacity (the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes). Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, go into ecological overshoot, using more than the planet can regenerate in a year. On Ecological Debt Day, we go into global overshoot for a given year and begin contributing to our global ecological debt, which has been accumulating since we first went into overshoot in the 1980s.
As humanitys consumption of resources increases, Ecological Debt Day creeps earlier on the calendar. According to current calculations, humanitys first Ecological Debt Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. In 2007, with Ecological Debt on October 6, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planets productivity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
What is Overshoot?
Today, humanity uses about 30% more in one year than nature can regenerate in that same year. This is called overshoot. An ecological overshoot of 30% means that it takes over one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what is being used by people in one year. This overshoot accumulates over time to create a global ecological debt.
We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planets 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.
Overshoot is like ecological overspending. Just as any business that does not keep financial books will go bankrupt over time, we must document whether were living within our ecological budget or running an ecological debt that will eventually deplete our renewable assets.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=overshoot
Globally, we are demanding 1.3 planets to support our lifestyles this year, and yet we only have one planet earth.
Ecological Debt Day marks the day when we begin living beyond our ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 6, 2007, humanity has consumed the total amount of new resources that our planet can produce this year.
Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanitys Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries) and compares it with global biocapacity (the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes). Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, go into ecological overshoot, using more than the planet can regenerate in a year. On Ecological Debt Day, we go into global overshoot for a given year and begin contributing to our global ecological debt, which has been accumulating since we first went into overshoot in the 1980s.
As humanitys consumption of resources increases, Ecological Debt Day creeps earlier on the calendar. According to current calculations, humanitys first Ecological Debt Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. In 2007, with Ecological Debt on October 6, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planets productivity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
What is Overshoot?
Today, humanity uses about 30% more in one year than nature can regenerate in that same year. This is called overshoot. An ecological overshoot of 30% means that it takes over one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what is being used by people in one year. This overshoot accumulates over time to create a global ecological debt.
We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planets 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.
Overshoot is like ecological overspending. Just as any business that does not keep financial books will go bankrupt over time, we must document whether were living within our ecological budget or running an ecological debt that will eventually deplete our renewable assets.
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=overshoot
