Save The Planet
In 2018, Earth Overshoot Day (overshootday.org) fell on 1st August, marking the day that humanity has used up the Earth’s ecological budget for the year. It’s the date that our ecological footprint — how much we demand from nature — exceeds what the planet can regenerate for an entire year. Think of it as a global eco bank account; for the first seven months of the year the population is using its ‘regular’ salary, but Overshoot Day marks the day all the ‘money’ is used up, causing us to dip into our savings, racking up debts that cannot be repaid. Overshoot Day is calculated to see how sustainably we’re living, and is done so by comparing our ecological footprint to our biocapacity — the amount of biologically productive areas available to produce the resources we need, such as crop and grazing areas. Currently, we are using 1.7 Earths each year.