Earth Overshoot Day 2015 - 13 August
Global overshoot occurs when humanity’s annual demand for the goods and services that our land and seas can provide—fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, and carbon dioxide absorption—exceeds what Earth’s ecosystems can renew in a year. Overshoot means we are drawing down the planet’s principal rather than living off its annual interest.
This overshoot leads to a depletion of Earth’s life-supporting natural capital and a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The Ocean covers more than 70% of the surface of Planet Earth. It
- Generates most of the oxygen we breathe
- Is a home to hundreds of thousands species of aquatic life, many as yet little studied or unknown
- Regulates our climate
- Cleans the water we drink
- Offers a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines
- Is a source of well-being and recreation
- Is the major transport route for global exchange of goods (and ideas), etc.
At current global consumption assessments, we need at least 1.4 Earths. But then some countries consume even more than the average, e.g. US, China, the United Arab Emirates, while others use less, such as several African countries. We could all live dignified lives within the ecological boundaries of our Planet. With the technologies we already have, by reducing the excessive wealth gaps leading to so much waste and by practising more solidarity and cooperation, at local and international levels.
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