Credit: Sören Salvatore
In the latest in a series of articles about current conservation issues, experts at natur&ëmwelt, a leading nature conservation NGO in Luxembourg, spoke to Chronicle.lu about “Earth Overshoot Day” and why they believe the date should be moved; this year, it falls on 2 August.
Natur&ëmwelt volunteer Claire Schroeder helped gather the relevant information from the NGO for this article.
Chronicle.lu: Let’s start with the basics - what is Earth Overshoot Day?
Natur&ëmwelt: Earth Overshoot Day marks the calculated calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds the planet's capacity to regenerate those resources that year. It is the point at which human demand overshoots the sustainable amount of biological resources regenerated on Earth. Simply put, after 2 August, we are living off borrowed resources, and our climate is paying the price.
Chronicle.lu: Did we not already go through this in February?
Natur&ëmwelt: Not quite, and thankfully so! This year, 14 February marked Luxembourg’s overshoot day. Meaning that, if the whole world’s population lived like the average Luxembourg resident, we would have used up all our sustainable resources by 14 February. Coming away with second place in what must be one of the least desirable world championships to win, Luxembourg has some explaining to do!
Chronicle.lu: How is this all calculated? Surely all the data cannot be easy to find…
Natur&ëmwelt: This is true. The National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts provide robust and transparent results dating back to 1961. Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by dividing the planet’s biocapacity (the amount of resources the Earth is able to produce that year) by humanity’s Ecological Footprint (humanity’s demands for the year) and multiplied by 365, the number of days in a year. These calculations are based on UN statistics and are “nowcasted” using other sources such as the Global Carbon Project. To maintain consistency with the latest reported data, all past Earth Overshoot Day dates are recalculated every year. It is therefore inaccurate to simply consider past media accounts from previous years for a true apples-to-apples comparison. The ultimate objective is to provide decision-makers with tools and frameworks to enable the human economy to operate within the Earth’s ecological limitations and move Earth Overshoot Day beyond 31 December.
Chronicle.lu: What are the trends looking like? Is there hope?
Natur&ëmwelt: The trend has been flattening for the last five years, which is a very good sign, but is far from the results necessary to reach the UN’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 43% worldwide by 2030 compared to 2010. Reaching that target would require us to move Earth Overshoot Day back by nineteen days annually for the next seven years. Not to mention that the symptoms of prolonged overshooting - extreme heatwaves, flooding, droughts, forest fires and the risk of compromised food production - are already part of our daily lives. Change is possible - halving food waste would gain thirteen days, while tree intercropping would earn us two days. Ultimately though, the precise Overshoot Day date is less significant than the sheer magnitude of the ecological overshoot.
Chronicle.lu: That all sounds rather doom-and-gloom… What do we do now?
Natur&ëmwelt: The climate crisis is nothing short of overwhelming - we get it and we’re right there with you! However, it’s important to keep in mind that this is not about inducing paralysing fear, nor is it about promoting the idea that turning the tap off while you brush your teeth is going to save the world (although please do…). It’s about being somewhere in between and using this knowledge we are so fortunate to have to light the proverbial fire within us to encourage change. While individual action is never going to do any harm and can in fact go a long way to benefit communities, the greatest potential for meaningful large-scale impact is through governments and enterprises.
Learn about the active projects (“solutions”) that contribute to bringing human activity in balance with the planet’s ecological budget using the #MoveTheDate map.
