We have overshot Earth's capacity for this year

28 August 2022

July 28th was this year's Earth Overshoot day

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year. Since 1971, Earth Overshoot Day has moved backwards, so we are now consuming the equivalent of 1.75 earths in one year.  For the rest of 2022, what we take from nature will not be regenerated. 

New Scientist says "To fulfil our material wants, humanity now uses some 100 billion tonnes of stuff every year. More than 90 per cent of it is virgin material that is mined, drilled and hacked from the planet’s surface. Only 30 billion tonnes of it makes anything of permanence. The rest is burned as fuel or used fleetingly and discarded – at each stage polluting land, water and air and creating climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Moving to a circular economy is an essential part of bringing our resource consumption down to a sustainable level. Which is why it is vital to get a strong and effective Circular Economies Bill in Scotland."

[Thanks to Skye Climate Action for this item.]