I hesitated before running this post because the Global Footprint Network will have its second Partner Network Conference – with the theme Footprint Forum: The Opportunity of Limits – in Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy in June of 2010. With air travel consuming vast quantities of fossil fuels per passenger mile in contrast to other forms of travel (see the tables in this article) – and with air travel contributing a full 12% to humanity’s yearly carbon emissions, making it perhaps the largest single contributor to ongoing global climate change, I just wonder if gatherings of environmentalists in lovely foreign settings really make sense anymore. Webex anyone?
Still, what the Global Footprint Network has to say is very important.
What they have to say is this: Earth Overshoot Day comes on September 25 this year.
That means that, as of today, according to the calculations of the Global Footprint Network, humanity will have placed more demand on ecological services – from filtering CO2 to producing food, fiber and timber– than nature can provide in this year. From now until the end of the year, we will meet our demand for ecological services by depleting resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The Global Footprint Network reports that the global economic slowdown has slowed our use of world resources this year. In the past, Earth Overshoot Day steadily moved four to six days closer to January 1 each year. In contrast, the 2009 Earth Overshoot Day comes only one day later than last year. Earth Overshoot Day comes earlier each year, partly because Earth’s population continues to grow, and also because the standards of the developed world are spreading around the globe.
Earlier in this century, the Global Footprint Network contributed to what’s called the Living Planet Report, which explores what Earth offers versus what humanity feels it needs. In 2004, Global Footprint Network data suggested that the human species would need two planet Earths by the year 2050 in order to support us. More recent data suggests an even earlier date – 2030 – around the time that children born today will be entering the workforce.
Go to the Global Footprint Network for more about how they calculate the date of Earth Overshoot Day each year.
Or go to their Footprint Calculator and find out how many Earths are required to support your lifestyle.
Or listen to EarthSky’s 2007 interview with Mathis Wackernagel, president of the Global Footprint Network.
What else to do? My suggestion, once again, in the immortal words of Aretha Franklin: you better think.
This is important information. The Footprint Calculator is especially interesting – and daunting.
Finally, the positive aspect of the economic slowdown comes out! I heard on the news the other day that China is being encouraged to keep driving the global economy by consuming at a faster rate than the United States. This stuck me as illogical – how do we solve global problems by shifting unsustainable consumption to another part of the world? It’s as if we are outsourcing our consumption. The Global Footwork Network’s purpose is to show the world that the world cannot support unlimited consumption. Our natural resources are limited, and someday we’ll pay the price for the debt we’ve incurred in terms of human suffering – more hunger, more poverty, and a loss of ecosystem services.
Solutions to the world’s problems – both economic and environmental – need to go beyond traditional models. I’m very excited to see what kind of innovative thinking people will come up with – or at least I hope they will.
I hope they will too Lindsay! Crazy news about China … but then it’s a pretty crazy world …
I took the Footprint Calculator quiz and was surprised to find that it takes three earths to satisfy my needs. I can’t think of much more I can do, other than trade in my Xterra which I only drive about 40 miles a week.
I know that it is disappointing to find out that even though you’ve done a lot in your own life to reduce your Footprint, you still score 3 planets on the quiz. Part of the reason is that each American’s footprint is not only effected by their own lifestyle choices, but also the American economy itself. Our infrastructure (roads, hospitals), energy system, and even military spending is all allocated equally to each American and thus shows up in each American’s Footprint results. (If everyone lived the life of a typical American, we would need the equivalent of 5 planets to support us, so your score of 3 means that you have done a lot in your own life). The message here is that yes, we should make changes in our own lives, but if we want to effect the national and global picture, we also need to get active in public policy, regional planning and other issues that effect the way the entire economy operates.
Susan Burns
CEO
Global Footprint Network
Susan and everyone,
Yes, Mathis Wackernagel told us the same thing when we interviewed him in 2007. http://earthsky.org/interviewpost/earth/were-past-ecological-debt-day
It\’s tough to escape from the lifestyle of one\’s community as a whole. So it\’s important to reach out into the local, or national, or global community.
Thanks for dropping by!
Deborah
I love this site.
What is really so sad is that we have to think about things like this. Our lives, and certainly our personalities, are set in the first few years of life — maybe the first few months. I don’t mean to be cynical or pessimistic, but our lives are already set — not strictly but at least practically — so everyone needs to look beyond their own particular circumstances and perceived set of needs. We need to consider not what is important for our own comfort, but what is best for the greatest number of people both now and in the future. I am 58 years old, with heart disease and a family history of heart attacks. I have had quintuple bypass heart surgery and the reality is that I will be gone long before most of the people who read this. There is a good chance that in the next couple of years I will be out of a (paying) job an I am certainly far from rich. I live with a great deal of stress. I tell you that just to say that we need to look beyond our own comfort and well being, toward the comfort and well being of all, not just now but in the future.
We can be idiots and deny reality, such as those who blindly ignore the facts and say that global climate change either is not really happening or is not important — or we can be like Iran’s holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Or we can see the truth and work on behalf of and for the benefit of all Mankind. I have members of my own family who choose the extreme rightwing position on these issues – ignoring the data, the reality in the same way that conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain denied the evil and intent of Hitler. We suffered in WWII for that ignorance — that arrogance — that chooses to ignore the facts simply because we do not want to accept them.
But reality is reality. Facts are facts. We can choose to accept them and do something positive in response. Or we can choose to ignore them and suffer in the long run. As for me, I will accept the preponderance of evidence of climate change — regardless of the reason or source — and I will do all I can to prepare for and mitigate the worst.
Larry, I’ve been curious for some time about why people’s values are so different. What seems absolutely real and true to me does not seem real and true to my cousins – my dad’s brother’s kids – in Virginia, for example. It always amazes me. We have the same grandparents. Somewhere in there, our values parted company.
Not sure why people perceive things so differently in this world. But – for what it’s worth – I agree with you!
We need not be consumptive to smell the flowers and to enjoy a sunset.
We are currently casting families, homes and businesses in the tri-state area for the third season of Wasted, an eco-makeover show on Planet Green. We are looking for candidates that want to go green but haven’t made the leap – or maybe you want to go green but need help convincing your family members or co-workers!
The eco-makeover involves lifestyle tips, cool gadgets and products, superficial changes to the home/office and behavioral changes for your household/business. The goal is to reduce your carbon footprint and help you save money. And there is a cash prize for families/businesses that successfully “green up” their act.
We are looking for candidates in the tri-state area. If you are interested please contact us ASAP!
Thank you,
Kelly Harper
917.606.3841
greenhomes@liontv.us
Excuse my Texas ignorance, but what is “the tri-state area.”
Thanks for the insightful reference to our eventual doom :)
Here’s my take on the Enviropocalypse…
http://www.mepreport.com/2009/09/three-ways-to-deal-with-the-impending-enviropocalypse/
That’s really funny, Russ. Everyone, it’s worth a read.
http://www.mepreport.com/2009/09/three-ways-to-deal-with-the-impending-enviropocalypse/
Susan
Ha! Russ, thanks for posting. Susan, thanks for recommending. Indeed … very funny.
I think that this discussion is very true. The people on Earth are producing too much waste and not enough resources left to absorb
I have got one recommendation for your website. It looks like there are a number of cascading stylesheet problems while launching a selection of web pages in google chrome as well as safari. It is working okay in internet explorer. Perhaps you can double check this.