Earth Overshoot Day

Earth Overshoot Day

Subject :Environment

Section : Biodiversity

Context: This year’s Earth Overshoot Day was observed July 28, a day before it was celebrated last year July 29 and nearly a month earlier than it was celebrated in 2020 August 22.

Concept:

• It marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.
• Previously it was known as Ecological Debt Day.
• For the rest of the year, society operates in ecological overshoot by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• The first Earth Overshoot Day was December 19, 1987.
• It is hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network, an international research organization.
• It calculates the number of days of that year that Earth’s biocapacity suffices to provide for humanity’s Ecological Footprint.
• This year’s Earth Overshoot Day was observed July 28, a day before it was celebrated last year July 29 and nearly a month earlier than it was celebrated in 2020 August 22.

Global Footprint Network:

• It is an independent think tank originally based in the United States, Belgium and Switzerland.
• It was founded in 2003 as a charitable not-for-profit organization in each of those three countries.
• The organization is headquartered in Oakland, California.
• The organisation listed five ways to “turn around our natural consumption trends” to restore the Earth’s “ecological debt”:

1. Take care of the planet’s biodiversity and let nature thrive
2. Design and manage cities sustainably
3. Use our energy resources judiciously
4. Control the population
5. Choose how we feed ourselves.

• It develops and promotes tools for advancing sustainability, including the ecological footprint and biocapacity.
• Its goal is to create a future where all humans can live well, within the means of one planet Earth.
• The Network brings together over 70 partner organizations.