Earth Overshoot Day: What is it?

August 13 has been Earth Overshoot Day, the day when humanity has consumed all the energy resources and ecological assets that the Earth is able to regenerate in a year.

Since the 70s, the Global Footprint Network draws up a report that compares the demand for resources required by our race and the Earth‘s ability to produce these resources, and replace them when they end waste by waste arising: in about eight months we finished all the resources we had available course for 2015, and all those who are consuming the “Day” forward have already reported next year.

Order to understand the significance of this day, we should imagine the world from time when, exhausted the resources of the year, they can not consume other. Now would not run electricity, there would be more light, you would not have any more access to gas or any other fuel, with dramatic consequences on production.

And rather we can consume the resources of the future. It is for this reason that, although they have exhausted the resources of the year, however, we continue to enjoy all the comforts of modern society. We subtract energy and production capacity of the fields for future generations, anticipating every year the Earth Overshoot Day.

Humanity would need more than one Earth and a half (precisely 1.6) in order to respond to his appetite for energy and natural resources without depleting the planet.

The costs of the ecological impact, experts say, are becoming increasingly apparent and are reflected in the deforestation, the drought and the scarcity of fresh water, in soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and ultimately in increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The last time that the ecological footprint of our species was sustainable planet Earth was the year 1970. Then humanity had about 3.5 billion people, compared to over 7 today.

If the trend should continue unchanged for 2030 will need two Earths to meet the energy needs of our species, but the route could be reversed only if carbon emissions were reduced by 30%. In this way in 2030 Earth Overshoot Day would fall on September 16. Sure, it would still little, but would mark a sea change in a demographic growth.