{"id":569,"date":"2018-08-17T20:15:03","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T20:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/?p=569"},"modified":"2026-03-26T11:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:41:21","slug":"earths-natural-resources-depleted-in-record-breaking-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/2018\/08\/17\/earths-natural-resources-depleted-in-record-breaking-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s natural resources depleted in record-breaking time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\"><div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>Humans are consuming the planet\u2019s natural resources 1.7 times faster than ecosystems can regenerate them, devouring a year's worth of food, water, fibre, land, carbon and timber in a record-breaking 212 days. That is according to the Global Footprint Network, which estimates that 1 August will be the day that humanity\u2019s annual consumption exceeds nature\u2019s capacity to regenerate for 2018.<\/p>\n<p>This is the earliest date that \u2018Earth Overshoot Day\u2019 has been recorded since overconsumption first began in the early 1970s, and has moved forward from late September in just two decades.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh-water scarcity, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are all \u201cincreasingly evident\u201d as a result, exacerbating climate change and natural disasters across the world. \u201cOur current economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet,\u201d said Global Footprint Network CEO, Mathis Wackernagel. \u201cWe are borrowing the Earth\u2019s future resources to operate our economies in the present.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Like any Ponzi scheme, this works for some time. But as nations, companies, or households dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, they eventually fall apart.\u201d Despite getting worse in recent decades, the research suggests the overconsumption trend can be reversed, and that moving back Earth Overshoot Day five days every year would see a return to sustainable resource use by 2050.<\/p>\n<p>It estimates that replacing 50% of meat consumption with a vegetarian diet would move the date back by five days, while cutting carbon emissions by half would move it back 93 days. It is also predicted that off-the-shelf commercial technologies for buildings, and improvements in industrial processes and electricity production, could move the date back at least 21 days without any loss in productivity or comfort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that overusing Earth\u2019s ecosystems is one of the largest challenges facing humanity today, with climate change being a big portion of that challenge,\u201d Wackernagel continued. \u201cTransforming our economies to address this challenge is no easy task. But just as humanity has tapped creativity and ingenuity in the past, we can do so again to create a prosperous future free of fossil fuels and planetary destruction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><blockquote>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/transform.iema.net\/article\/earths-natural-resources-depleted-record-breaking-time?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/transform.iema.net\/article\/earths-natural-resources-depleted-record-breaking-time?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,55,56,39,46],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-sustainability","tag-earth","tag-ecosystem","tag-electricity","tag-natural","tag-nature"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13713,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/13713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gecco.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}