Earth Overshoot Day highlights global climate disparities
Well, we did it again. We’ve exhausted Earth’s natural resources for the year — and it’s only August.
Well, we did it again. We’ve exhausted Earth’s natural resources for the year — and it’s only August.
This year, Earth Overshoot Day, the date humans have used all the biological resources the planet can restore for the year, falls on August 22. And believe it or not, this is the latest it’s been in 15 years.
Unfortunately, this push in the right direction is not from groundbreaking, globally coordinated action. COVID-19, which originated from our destructive relationship with nature, has slowed the global economy, reducing global emissions by 8% and demand for forest products by 8.4%.
And now, despite much of the world still battling COVID-19, the big guys are already back on a destructive path: China is emitting as much as it was in 2019, and the United States’ daily emission is down only 5% as of mid-June, after a peak decrease of 33% in April.
We can all agree that global emissions need to be checked, but this is not the way to go about it, nor does it bring long-lasting change.
“One way or another, humanity will come into balance with the Earth,” said Laurel Hanscom, the Global Footprint Network chief executive, in an interview with The New York Times. “We don’t want it to be through disaster. We want it to be through intentional, designed efforts to make sure it doesn’t come at such a high and terrible human cost.”
Earth Overshoot Day may seem abstract, but it draws attention to unsustainable lifestyles, especially from the richest countries. And just like climate change, the consequences of these actions will disproportionately fall on those who are least responsible.
If every nation consumed resources like one of the big emitters — for example, the U.S. — Earth Overshoot Day would have been on March 14. Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, is responsible for .02% of the world’s CO2 emissions, with a projected overshoot day of December 26, yet it’s one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
We need to #MoveTheDate and push our overshoot days later in the year — but it’s going to take a massive effort, both by individuals and countries.
Individually, we can all reduce our carbon footprints, with a couple simple fixes. One of the easiest, most impactful ways to do that is by eating more plant-based foods, which could cut individual emissions by 85%. Going carless for a year could also save about 2.6 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
But individuals also can’t do it alone — after all, if someone is trying to go carless, they may very likely need reliable, accessible public transportation to get to and from work. Leaders must build back sustainably after the pandemic, putting the planet and its people first by investing in clean energy, resilient cities, and habitat conservation.
Earth Overshoot Day 2019 was the earliest on record. Let’s intentionally break the trend next year, or face worse in the future.