Earth Overshoot Day

Globalisation and the industrial revolution have brought many positive changes for people. Still, dramatic consequences for our planet. Our environment and many ecosystems are heavily polluted by all kinds of contaminants. People are destroying the earth more and more every day, not thinking at all that this is our only earth.

However, our health and existence depend heavily on how we deal with our resources. How long will we be able to continue as we are? Our resources are FINITE!

Earth Overshoot Day, this year on 28 July 2022, aims to draw attention to this problem. Every year, environmental experts calculate the calendar date when humanity has used up all the naturally occurring resources that the earth provides us within a year. So we have global overconsumption of natural resources that our planet cannot replenish at the same rate as we consume them.

You could also say that from this day on, we are already living at the expense of our future. We are taking out a loan for which we have less and less time to pay back each year.

A look at the historical data illustrates this state of affairs very well. Every year the day is earlier in the year – except for 2020, when almost the entire world was in a corona-induced lockdown, and thus resource-intensive production was largely shut down.

The following graph clearly shows the trend from 1971 onwards:

Overshoot Day (Source: footprintnetwork.org)

We need more and more from our planet every year. The climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, deforestation, water pollution etc., play a huge role here. We are polluting the water, and meat and fish consumption is increasing. Year after year, we take more creatures from our waters than are born in a year. About one million animal and plant species are threatened with global extinction.

What can we do to protect our planet?