Dubbed “Earth Overshoot Day”, mankind marks a dubious milestone yesterday as the day by which humanity has consumed all earth can sustainably produce for this year, and NGOs warn that the rest of 2022 will be lived in resource deficit.
According to the Global Footprint Network and WWF, humans have already used up “all that ecosystems can regenerate in one year.”
“From January 1 to July 28, humanity has used as much from nature as the planet can renew in the entire year. That’s why July 28 is Earth Overshoot Day,” said Mathis Wackernagel, president of the Global Footprint Network.
“The Earth has a lot of stock, so we can deplete Earth for some time but we cannot overuse it forever. It’s like with money; we can spend more than we earn for some time until we’re broke.”
It would take 1.75 Earths to provide for the world’s population in a sustainable way, according to the measure, which was created by researchers in the early 1990s. What worries NGOs is that Earth Overshoot Day has fallen ever sooner over the last 50 years.
In 2020, the date moved back by three weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before returning to pre-pandemic levels. They add that the burden is not evenly spread and if everyone lived like an American, the date would fall even further, to March 13.
The NGOs point to the food production system and its “considerable” ecological footprint, as they estimate more than half of the planet’s biocapacity is used to feed humanity. As a result, their primary recommendation is reducing meat consumption in rich countries, as well as reducing food waste.
As Filipinos, it is easy to say that our contributions to this consistent attack on the planet’s resources are minimal. However, since we reside on the same planet as the rest of humanity, it is still our duty to do what we can preserve its precious resources by changing our lifestyles now so future generations can have a better shot at the future.*
