Earth Overshoot Day Has Arrived

Credit: For full article on ITV website please click here

Earth Overshoot Day: How we have used up the world’s natural resources for the year

Earth Overshoot Day: How we have used up the world’s natural resources for the year.
Earth Overshoot Day August 1: How we have used up the world’s natural resources for the year. Credit: AP

The world has hit “Earth Overshoot Day” – the point at which we have used up all the resources the planet can provide for the year.

It comes four months earlier than it should and at the earliest point in the year that this unwanted landmark has ever been reached.

As a result, humanity is now using nature 1.7 times faster than the planet’s natural systems can cope with.

In the UK, the combination of people using too many resources and the levels of pollution are so high that it would take 2.9 Earths to sustain the world if everyone lived like Britons.

So what is Earth Overshoot Day?

Earth Overshoot Day marks the moment people have used up the food, timber and other natural products the Earth can sustainably provide. It has also absorbed as much carbon emissions as a result of human activity as it can, for the year.

Why is August 1 so important as Earth Overshoot Day?

This year the day has fallen on August 1, the earliest date since humans began overusing the planet’s natural resources in the 1970s, said the Global Footprint Network, which calculated the date.

The Global Footprint Network said on Twitter: “If we #MoveTheDate 5 days a year, Earth Overshoot Day will fall back to December 31 by 2050.”

The Global Footprint network published a picture showing how this year is the earliest date since humans began overusing the planet's natural resources.
The Global Footprint network published a picture showing how this year is the earliest date since humans began overusing the planet’s natural resources. Credit: @EndOvershoot/Twitter

What’s the worst that can happen now?

As a result of this overuse, fisheries are collapsing, freshwater is scarce, soils are being eroded and wildlife is vanishing, while the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is leading to climate change, more severe droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, the researchers said.

Meadows are dried out from drought as cows stand on a pasture in the Elbe meadows near Schoenebeck, Germany.
Meadows are dried out from drought as cows stand on a pasture in the Elbe meadows near Schoenebeck, Germany. Credit: AP

What have the Global Footprint Network said?

The Global Footprint Network warns: “Our economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet.”

The chief executive Mathis Wackernagel said: “As we mark Earth Overshoot Day, today may seem no different from yesterday – you still have the same food in your refrigerator.

“But fires are raging in the Western United States. On the other side of the world, residents in Cape Town have had to slash water consumption in half since 2015.

“These are the consequences of busting the ecological budget of our one and only planet.

Raging fires in California, Western United States.
Raging fires in California, Western United States. Credit: PA

Organisations like the WWF and UN Environment have also promoted #MoveTheDate on Twitter.

The UN Environment also said we must “consume and produce more responsibly.”

Today is #EarthOvershootDay ? The date when humanity’s demand for resources exceeds what Earth can produce. Make a pledge today to #MoveTheDate and reduce demand for resources – https://t.co/3LRkNKyl5h pic.twitter.com/SHNnB32gJZ

WWF EU@WWFEU

Earth Overshoot Day has arrived.

Humankind has already burned through the planet’s ecological resources & services that nature can regenerate in the entire year.

We must put a stop ? to this trend and consume & produce more responsibly to #MoveTheDate pic.twitter.com/hS0PVDuJya

The Global Footprint Network have called for action to tackle the overshoot and outlined areas with the most potential for pushing back the day the world goes into ecological debt.

These include reducing driving in cities, replacing car trips with public transport, walking and biking, cutting carbon from energy production, reducing food waste by half, making diets more sustainable, and reducing the number of children families have.

Single Use Plastic is Not Ethical

 

More and more scientific data is becoming available – not to mention the visible evidence strewn around our beaches and tidal estuary’s – that the world is awash with plastic that simply will not disappear or biodegrade.

Each time we take a trip to the supermarket we buy more and more, perhaps not thinking about the consequences of our actions. Society has perhaps taught us that we live in a consumer society, where we simply consume and discard at our whim. Society was wrong! The results of our headlong rush into consumerism has impacted our environment to such an extent that we are destroying some of our most beautiful and fragile environments.

Plastic waste dumped in our oceans is not acceptable, neither is the vast tonnage of plastic waste that is incinerated each year  which adds to our growing carbon emissions. What is needed is a change in our approach to consumerism and needless waste.

By listening to Jeff Bridges explaining how plastics are endangering our oceans, it is clear that in order to reduce our impact on our environment, we really need to stop purchasing single use plastic and think more long term. Because plastics are extremely useful and can last many years, ECO.3 have taken the view that we should champion the use of multiple use plastics, and offer a lifetime guarantee on their use. Our trigger sprays and bottles are all recyclable in the event that they become damaged in the future and they can be returned to us for recycling.

Further, instead of buying the same spray bottles and triggers each week simply to throw them away when empty actually costs you money. You are buying something for the contents alone and have no interest in the container although you are paying for it.

Why not consider just purchasing refills and re-using the bottles you have paid for?

ECO.3 have developed a unique, award winning refill sachet system. Instead of shipping 800 grams (the bottle, contents and trigger spray), each refill sachet weighs just 60 grams, which means that for each bottle refilled, not only are you reducing plastic waste; reducing recycling; reducing incineration; you are also reducing CO2 emissions due to transport by up to 93%.

By using ECO.3 Refill Sachets you are making a massive contribution toward the sustainability of our planet.

Let’s make the change and save money, protect the health of our families and pets and keep our world healthy and plastic free.

Take a look in our online shop and see how much  you can save with ECO.3 – the Worlds No.1 Ethical Cleaning Products