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Ecological Debt Day in SeptemberSeptember 23, 2008 On September 23, humanity will have used up all the resources nature will provide this year, according to the latest data from Global Footprint Network and its member organisation nef (the new economics foundation) who devised the concept of Ecological Debt Day. Just like any company, nature has a budget – it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste each year. The problem is, our demand on nature’s services is exceeding what it can provide. Since the
1980s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot, using resources
faster than they can be regenerated and putting carbon into the air
faster than it can be reabsorbed. Globally, we now demand the
biological capacity of 1.4 planets. But of course, we only have one.
The result is that our supply of natural resources – like trees and
fish – continues to shrink, while our waste – primarily carbon dioxide
– accumulates. “It took governments in the UK and US just a week to drop decades of hardened economic practice to save the financial system from meltdown, why should it take any longer to act to save the planet?” says Andrew Simms, nef policy director. “They say that big financial institutions
are too big to fail, but there is something larger and much more
important that is being allowed to collapse – a climate system
conducive to human civilisation. There could be less than one hundred
months to prevent catastrophic, runaway global warming. We need a
programme from government now, that is at least as bold as action to
save reckless financiers.” Each year, the Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s
Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and
fisheries and space for infrastructure), and compares this with global
biocapacity—the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and
absorb waste. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine
the exact date we, as a global community, begin living beyond the means
of what the planet produces every year. “From now until the end of the
year, we’re dipping into our ecological reserves, borrowing from the
future,” said Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of Global
Footprint Network. “This can go on for a short time, but ultimately it
leads to a build up of waste and the depletion of the very resources on
which the human economy depends.” Ecological overshoot is at the root
of many of the most pressing environmental problems we face today:
climate change, declining biodiversity, shrinking forests, fisheries
collapse, and many of the factors contributing to the current global
food crisis. Ecological Debt Day is creeping ever earlier as human consumption
grows. Humanity’s first Ecological Debt Day was December 31, 1986. Ten
years later, humanity was using 15 percent more resources in a year
than the planet could supply, with the Day falling in November. This
year, more than two decades since we first went into Ecological Debt
Day has moved up to September 23, and our rate of overshoot stands at
40 percent more than the planet can renewably supply. nef, the Global Footprint Network and its international partner network
are focused on solving the problem of overshoot, working with
businesses and government leaders bring ecological limits to the
forefront of decision-making everywhere. People can determine their own
Ecological Footprint and learn how to reduce it at
www.footprintnetwork.org. They can have an even greater impact by
encouraging government and business leaders to build communities that
help to end overshoot with smart infrastructure planning and
best-practice green technology. People wishing to take positive, regular monthly actions on climate change can also sign-up at www.onehundredmonths.org – which includes a countdown clock for to avoiding dangerous global warming. |
