Earth Overshoot Day

August 22nd 2020 is Earth Overshoot Day. That's the day when our collective demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what the earth can provide. So, any usage of resources as of 23rd August put us in resource debt.

Last year Earth Overshoot Day was July 29th. Amazingly - but maybe not surprisingly - this year's date is nearly a month later. The main driver was not conscious efforts and progressive climate policies, but rather the global COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from the Earth Overshoot Organization, overall ecological footprint vs last year, went down 9.3%, driven largely by reduced carbon emissions. The data crunching essentials are on this website if you want to dive into the calculations.

#Movethedate

I love the idea of Earth Overshoot Day because it helps us understand more tangibly just how much resource consumption stresses the planet. Knowing that we are in resource debt for the entire last third of the year helps me reframe my consumption and the consequences for myself.

Earth Overshoot Day needs more publicity so more people hear about and start thinking about what they can do concretely to reduce their ecological footprints.

Every day - but really - every month that we can collectively move that date later in the year, the better it is. Having a benchmark that all of us understand instead of inaccessible numbers like carbon parts per million or cubic meters of rainforest destroyed can help us all become more fluent in climate change terms. While those numbers are critically important - I cannot really get a feel for them that lets me translate them into meaningful and relatable relevance for my life.

But a date, I understand that.

And I think others do, too. The easier becoming informed is, the more people will learn, and the more actions people will be willing to undertake and create.

That should be the collective goal.

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