Earth Overshoot Day

For centuries, humanity has been using resources natural resources available as if they existed in nature without end. Well, nature's ability to restore itself is also limited and I know I'm not bringing anything new, as this exaggerated consumption is certain and known, but I tell you that, at this moment, to sustain humanity, around < /span>1.7 planets Earth ? that is, given the current use of resources, we are ?using? nature 1.7 times faster than its capacity to replace our use and our planet would need to be 70% larger in resources to satisfy us.

O Earth Overshoot Daythe trough, this year, exactly today, August 1st, the earliest date since we popped our /span>budget environmental budget for the first time in the 1970s. According to theGlobal Footprint Network, the NGO that monitors the ecological footprint of different planetary zones, if we continue with this global excess and accelerated waste, the damage will eventually become irreversible.

We are, therefore, using up the resources we have and greatly exceeding biocapacity on our beloved Planet. Well, what is this Biocapacity? According to theWWF (World Wide Fund for Nature ) is the possibility of ecosystems providing resources (rivers, plants, sun) for human use and absorbing waste ? generated directly or indirectly by humanity. Therefore, if the waste we produce ends up being very high, nature will never be able to renew itself in time to prevent the destruction of our planet.

Earth Overshoot Day (in Portuguese, ?Earth Overshoot Day?) marks the date when humanity's annual demand for resources exceeds what planet Earth is capable of regenerating in that same year. Unfortunately, over the years, the date has come forward.

The damage begins to be visible: cold in summer, summer in winter. Endless droughts, rains that look like deluges. Scarcity of food and drinking water, extinction of species, soil erosion, melting of glaciers and diseases that attack us like never before, such as skin cancer, due to increasing exposure to harmful rays (yes, and this is caused by the hole in the ozone layer, already an old acquaintance of contemporary society).

But it's not all bad news! This trend can still be reversed. That is, if we could delay Earth Overshoot Day by 4.5 days every year, it would be possible to return to the level at which we use the resources of a single planet by 2050.

?Our planet is finite, but the possibilities of the human being are not. Living within one planet's budget is technically possible, financially beneficial, and our only chance at a prosperous future.?

Mathis Wackernagel, CEO of Global Footprint Network

With the aim of marking this day, Global Footprint Network will carry out various activities around the world and, to promote the need for change, the organization offers solutions, metrics, commitments and a new Ecological Footprint Calculator as part of efforts towards the #movethedate initiative. Thus, with the aim of raising awareness of small day-to-day actions and to highlight the obligation to change mindsets , it is disclosed by the movement, for example, that reducing the generation of food waste by 50% worldwide could move the date back by 11 days and, on the other hand, reducing the carbon component of the global Ecological Footprint by 50% would move the date back 89 days.

Go green or go home< /p>

Raquel Fernandes