Earth Overshoot Day
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
Episode 99
Earth Over Shoot Day
Years ago I used to work in a small veterinary practice in Conifer, Colorado. At the time this community was a very small and at lunch time I would walk up on the hill side and sit in a groove of old growth forest. It was quiet, very green, and offered a little reprieve from a busy practice.
One day at lunch I walked up the hill as usual only to find that someone had cut a huge swath right through the old growth trees and had started excavation to build a home. I counted the rings on very single stump and found that every tree was over 300 years old.
What I saw was a good example of what humanity consistently does. We harvest resources year after year with no way to replace what we have taken. This is the focus of Earth Over Shoot Day.
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E99 which is called Earth Over Shoot Day.
What I want to cover in this episode is:
-Back ground information on Earth over shoot day
-Why it was started
-What it means for all of us
-What can we do to change it
But first, I want to finish what I was talking about in the beginning of this episode. As I stated, I walked up the hill to visit my favorite groove of old growth trees. These things were massive, with deep crevices in the bark, all kinds of moss growing on the north sides of the trees, and they were truly spectacular. As it turns out, a contractor cut a huge path through this groove of trees in order to put in a driveway to a home construction site. I would estimate that 20 or more trees were cut down and every single one of these trees were over 300 years old.
To put that into perspective, these trees were just beginning to sprout around the year 1700. To give you some historical perspective, the War of Spanish Succession began in 1701. Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richards Almanac in 1732. In 1740 a Russian captain discovered Alaska. In 1701 Delaware was established as a colony in the United States. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, which added 828,000 square miles of territory to the United States. So the trees that I loved to visit were 100 years old or more at the time of the Louisiana Purchase.
And to make this even more infuriating, to me at least, I drive by that same hill several times a week. I looked up at that hill the other day and the frame of that house stands in ruin because it was never completed, 22 years later. So those old growth trees, which cannot be replaced, were squandered for nothing.
Now this may seem like a very small, petty example compared to what is now going on in the world. But, it is a good example of a consistent trend that we see in our culture as well as the rest of humanity. We tend to harvest and utilize resources that either cannot be replaced in our lifetimes or cannot be replaced ever except perhaps on a geologic time scale. Obviously these trees are a very small example. But it speaks very loud and plain about our habits as human beings. Thus the focus of this episode which is Earth overshoot day.
But what exactly does this mean and what sort of implication does this have on humanity. Well, some years ago a man named Andrew Simms of the United Kingdom think tank New Economics Foundation, conceived this concept of Earth Over Shoot Day in 2006. Now I want to give you some background perspective first. But as you have likely already concluded, this concept is a direct reference to our over consumption of resources.
For example, when we look at our monthly budgets, we compare our income to our expenses for that month. Very similar to that the Global Footprint Network compares a population’s demand for resources against what their ecosystem can supply. This comparison is made by looking at two things, bio-capacity and ecological footprint. The bio-capacity for any city, state, or country represents its biologically productive land and water resources. This includes crops, forests, grazing land, and fishing resources. The Ecological Footprint measures a population’s demand for resources such as timber, food, fiber, livestock, fish, urban development, infrastructure, and of course fossil fuel emissions.
In order to make a standard comparison across the globe, both bio-capacity and ecological footprint are measured in hectares. A hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters or 2.47 acres. So what this means is that a city, state, or country’s bio-capacity and ecological footprint are compared on the basis of hectares, which is a global standard.
According to the Global Footprint Network, if a population’s demand for ecological assets exceeds their supply, they have to import goods and services because they have an ecological deficit. They also have to liquidate their assets, which means over fishing, harvesting timber at a rate that exceeds the forest’s ability to regenerate, increasing carbon emissions, accumulate waste, and finding ways to maximize food production regardless of the affect on the environment.
When this ecological deficits happens on a global level, there is no way to compensate for it since there are no net imports to our planet. And this is the focus of Earth Overshoot Day. It marks the date when humanity’s demand for resources and services in a given year exceeds what our planet can regenerate for that year. Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by the Global Footprint Network. How this is calculated is by dividing Earth’s bio-capacity by humanity’s ecological footprint and multiplying by 365.
For some time now, we have recognized that with the continued growth of our population and national economies, our demand for resources also continues to grow. The challenge is that the size of our planet remains the same and we continue to use more natural resources than what our planet can regenerate in a year. And to support that continue deficit we are essentially liquidating our stocks. In other words, we are running out of resources and exceeding our planet’s ecological resources. The result of that is degradation of our ecosystems. This is evident through soil erosion, over grazing, deforestation, reduced productivity of crop lands, desertification, species extinction, depletion of fisheries, and global warming.
To make matters worse, this has been happening for the last 50 years. We have gone from living within our means to living in a constant deficit. This is often seen as cultures begin to development, people have an increased standard of living, people buy more, use more, and demand more services. This is quite obvious if you look at the rise of the economy in any developed country. China is now a perfect example of this.
Most recently I came across an article about how China has now expanded their fishing operations to numerous parts of the globe since they have apparently over fished waters off their own coast. Ecuador for example is protesting because China is now fishing the rich waters around the Galapagos Islands. Although they are staying in international waters eventually this over fishing will affect the biodiversity of the islands. All China is doing to trying to feed their growing population.
On a personal level, if each of us did this sort of thing, we would eventually suffer financial collapse and go bankrupt. And that is what is happening to our environment. We are living like an irresponsible teenager with an ecological credit card. Sooner or later resources are going to be limited, competition is going to increase and we will start to see conflict simply over the supply of basic resources.
And consistent with what I always ask, how did this happen?
Well, it is a matter of our carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is a measure of the impact that your activities has on the amount of carbon dioxide produced through the burning of fossil fuels. In a manner of speaking it is a measure of your utilization of resources. But it is also important to look at the concept of ecological footprint. This is the best way to get the complete picture of our personal impact on the planet.
While the concept of carbon footprint and ecological footprint both encompass the utilization of resources, I think it is at least important to differentiate between the two. The concept of carbon footprint simply looks at the amount of carbon emission your life produces through your use of goods and services.
For example, a person on a meat based diet has a greater carbon footprint compared to a person eating a plant based diet. This is because meat production utilizes more resources compared to plants. Another example, a person living in a 5000 square foot home has a greater carbon footprint compared to a person living in a 500 square foot home. This is because they consume more goods and services which results in greater carbon emissions which in turn contributes more to global warming.
Ecological footprint goes a little deeper than this. The products that we choose, what we eat, how much we travel, how much electricity we use, as well as many other factors, determines how much we consume. And how much we consume is a measure of our ecological footprint.
Now to give you a perfect example of just how encompassing this concept is, one day I was standing in the supermarket reading the label on a can of soup. I was wondering how many of the ingredients were actually produced in a sustainable manner. The reason I was curious about this is because what I consume is not limited to that can of soup. I am also “consuming” so to speak, all the resources that went into producing the can as well as the labeling. No to mention all the resources that went into the vegetables and meat in the soup, as well as the energy and resources used to manufacture and transport that soup to the supermarket.
You have likely heard me speak before about this concept of embodied energy. What that means is that when you utilize a product, or consume a product, your total ecological footprint is not only the product itself but also all the resources and energy that went into producing that product. For example, our everyday consumer goods and services produce greenhouse gases before, during, and after their useful lifestyle. Consequently, the ecological footprint of any product starts with obtaining raw materials. Then it continues through processing, production, distribution, and throughout that product’s useful lifespan, and then finally into that product’s transformation into waste that is either reused, recycled, or it goes to the landfill.
You can sort of think of your ecological footprint as being the big picture of your total impact on the environment. Your individual ecological footprint simply compares the total resources that people consume with the land and water area that is needed to replace those resources. In other words it is a comparison of the use of bio-productive space.
Very simply put, you can use bio-productive space as a measure of our individual ecological footprint. All you do is look at all the goods and services that we utilize over a year. Then look at the amount of land and water use area that would be required to replace those resources. In other words, at your present rate of consumption of resources, if you lived on your own little homestead and you were required to provide all of your own resources and regenerate all of those resources on a year to year basis, how much land would you need?
According to the average consumption rate in the U.S. each of us would need 8.6 hectares, which is the equivalent of 21.2 acres of land, in order to produce all of our own resources. Now compared to the average person in Mexico, each person would need about 7 acres of land.
Right about now you may be asking why is this such a problem when we live in the land of opportunity. Well, right here in our wonderful land of opportunity, we have seen a 46% increase in our population since 1980. Similarly, the population of the world has increased by 43% since that time. And as our population continues to grow so does our demand for resources. And believe it or not, humanity’s consumption of resources is at a rate of 157% of what is actually available. So that means we need an Earth and a half in order to maintain our present rate of consumption.
But when you grow up in the land of opportunity, that becomes engrained in you as an expectation. When you spend your entire life having anything you want, any time you want, you begin to think that is what life is supposed to be like. In fact, you start to feel that is what you are entitled too. That said, it is worth noting that the ecological footprint of the average person in the United States is 50% larger than the average person in most European countries. The U.S. has much more urban development, much less public transportation, and we use much more energy and water compared to other developed countries.
It is also useful to look at this from the perspective GDP, which is gross domestic product. The GDP for a particular economy or country is the measure of the market value of all goods and services produced by that country in a specific time period. If we compare the GDP of the U.S. to other countries, what is most notable is that U.S. ecological footprint is equal that of seven other countries combined.
To take this a bit further, if you look at his on a global scale, where each person and each country is doing exactly what we are doing, you start to understand and appreciate the concept of Earth overshoot day.
According to the Global Footprint Network, Earth overshoot is driven my four key factors.
-How much we consume
-How efficiently products are made
-How many of us there are
-How much nature’s ecosystems are able to produce
Now to be fair, advances in technology has increased biological productivity over the years but this has still NOT kept up with population growth and the subsequent demand for resources. As as been proven many times over, with population growth and improvements in standard of living people want and utilize more resources. And since we cannot import more resources to the planet, a larger population means that the same pool of resources gets divided among more and more people. Bottom line, no matter what the cause, the human race is demanding more from the Earth than what the planet can supply. If present predictions hold true, by the year 2030 we are going to need two planets the size of Earth in order to sustain our population.
Now right about now you may be thinking that people are just blowing smoke and how can this concept even be plausible much less accurate. What you must understand is that while calculating Earth overshoot day is not exact, it is based on data sets from the United Nations, which uses 15,000 data points per country. Present calculations are based on data collected from 1961 to 2016. The Global Footprint Network estimates accuracy to be 10 to 20%. While this in no way compares by scientific standards, one thing is clearly obvious. The demand that humanity places on nature is at an unsustainable level. Calculating an exact overshoot day is much less important than the sheer magnitude at which we are depleting our resources.
Facts and Summary
So, let’s just take a look at some things that we already know.
-Earth overshoot day was started by Andrew Simms of the United Kingdom in 2006.
-The Global Footprint Network calculates and publishes Earth overshoot day every year. It marks the date when humanity’s demand for resources and services in a given year exceeds what our planet can regenerate for that year.
-The Network compares a population’s demand for resources against what their ecosystem can supply. This comparison is made by looking at two things, bio-capacity and ecological footprint.
-Once a population’s demand for ecological assets exceeds their supply, they have to import goods and services because they have an ecological deficit. They also have to liquidate their assets, which means over fishing, harvesting timber at a rate that exceeds the forest’s ability to regenerate, increasing carbon emissions, accumulate waste, and finding ways to maximize food production regardless of the affect on the environment. This is much the same concept if you or I were in financial trouble and needed money, then we start liquidating assets to raise capital.
-Research from the Global Footprint Network shows that presently 3 billion people live in countries that consume more food than their ecosystems are capable of producing. They also generate less income than the rest of the world. So not only do they have less food but they have limited economic capability to access global food markets. But if you include all other resources, not just food, the number of people in the world with limited access to resources climbs to 5.8 billion.
-60% of our ecological footprint is carbon emissions. Obviously we have to curb this in order to avoid climate change that is irreversible and disastrous.
-Globally we have been running on an ecological deficit for 50 years. Presently, if we stopped everything, it would take our planet almost 20 years to recover.
How Do We Fix It?
So this begs the question of how do we fix it. Since this is a global problem, then how does our individual action actually have an effect on the global scale. This concept can be summed up in two words: responsible consumption.
Most people would look at this problem and think it is impossible to solve. But it truly comes down to the basic concepts of sustainability. Not only can this problem be solved, it is economically beneficial to those who take the lead. In my episode on the most sustainable countries, I showed that in those countries that took the lead, meaning they took the necessary steps to green their economy, those countries were great examples of how greening the economy is economically profitable. It is the same in this case.
-First of all, 50% of the Earth’s bio-capacity is used simply to feed us. So, this is one area that we can address immediately. One third of the food produced in the world for human consumption, approximately 1.3 billion tons, is wasted. Not only that, animal protein production is significantly more resource intensive than plant protein production. Reducing your food waste to zero and making simply changes to what you eat and how you eat are easy ways that you can do your part. If we all did our part and cut food waste in half on a global scale, we can move Earth overshoot day by 13 days.
-Transitioning to renewal energy is another way we can accomplish this. Just take a look at some of the European countries, especially Germany, and Iceland is another good example. This countries produce a significant amount of the national energy needs from renewable energy.
-Changing the way we travel and how much we travel is another way to reduce our impact. On a global scale, 56% of the world population lives in cities. In the United States, 83% of people live in urban areas. By far, the most frequent trips we take by car is a distance of less than one mile. Obviously, if everyone globally updated their urban infrastructure to be more bicycle friendly, we could actually move Earth overshoot day by 9 days. All you have to do is look at other countries that are bicycle friendly such as Denmark, Germany, Norway, France, as well as others.
-What about population growth? According to Global Footprint Network, if every other family had one less child and parenthood was postponed by two years, by 2050 we would move overshoot day by 49 days.
-Addressing environmental damage and starting major reforestation projects could make a substantial difference in Earth overshoot day.
Now, you have heard me say before when discussing climate change that our climate future has not yet been decided. The same is true with this scenario as far as our planet’s resources are concerned. However, we have to change what we are doing.
For example, based on the rate of resource consumption, let’s take a look at several countries:
Japan needs 7.9 countries to meet their national demand for resources.
Italy needs 5.3 countries
Switzerland needs 4.4 countries
China needs 4.4 countries
The United States needs 2.4 countries
The United Kingdom needs 4.1 countries.
And there are numerous other examples.
What this means is that everyone is operating on an ecological deficit. Based on our current behavior of production and consumption, it is obvious that this is not sustainable and not compatible with continuing to inhabit this planet. In fact, we are quickly turning into a world where resource security is essential to economic strength.
But, as with climate change, our future has not yet been decided. But we are also at the point where we have to make some hard choices and changes. But the best part is that if we delay Earth Overshoot Day by 6 days per year, globally we will be living within our means before 2050.
There are many things each of us can do to help change this. It all comes back to responsible consumption and the principles of sustainability.
Now in closing, I would really encourage you to visit the website of the Global Footprint Network. They can be found at www.footprintnetwork.org. Their websites is loaded with information on our present situation as well as a solutions page that offers lots of advise on what each of us can do.
I want to end this episode with a quote from Vernon Howard who was a well know teacher, author and philosopher.
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you need.
Now that is sustainability.
This is your host Patrick signing off until next week. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.
Patrick
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