While some countries will exceed their bio capacity in December, others exhausted this back in February. But the numbers aren’t all they seem.
As a species, human demand on the planet exceeds its ability to replenish itself on 24th July this year. That’s eight days earlier than 2024, and not too long after the annual date when Earth Overshoot Day is announced, on 5th June.
Calculated by the Global Footprint Network, figures also reveal when each individual country runs out of its ‘annual’ supply. Looking at this, Quatar, Luxembourg, Singapore and Mongolia are the earliest to ‘overshoot’ — 6th, 17th, 26th February and 2nd March. This is followed by Estonia, Kuwait and Latvia, Bahrain and the United States. Respectively 4th, 7th, 9th, and 13th March.
In comparison, Uruguay can technically ‘last’ until 17th December, by far the best record amongst the international community. Indonesia (18th November) and Nicaragua (11th November) are the next closest, then Ecuador (31st October), Tunisia (28th October) and Ghana (25th October). In and amongst this, you can find the United Kingdom’s judgement day on 20th May, a week or two ahead of Germany (3rd May), the Netherlands (5th May), and Italy (6th May).
Graphic courtesy of Statista licensed under Creative CommonsFalling on 24th July, this is the earliest the planetary Earth Overshoot Day has ever been, casting in sharp relief the devastating speed at which the date has moved forward. Back in 1970, for example, it was 29th December, but by 2004 it had moved to 1st September. Take a look.
But we might be focusing on the wrong thing.
The Global Footprint Network’s official Earth Overshoot Day website explains more:
‘To maintain consistency with the latest reported data and science, the Ecological Footprint metrics for all past years since 1961 (the earliest year data is available) are recalculated every year, so each year’s metrics share a common data set and the exact same accounting method,’ the organisation explains. ‘The annual dates of Earth Overshoot Day are recalculated accordingly.
‘Consequently, it is inaccurate to simply look at media accounts from previous years to determine past Earth Overshoot Days. Indeed, a true apples-to-apples comparison of Earth Overshoot Days can only be made using the same edition of the National Footprint Accounts,’ it continues. ‘For instance, it would make no sense to compare the date of Earth Overshoot Day 2007 as it was calculated that year—and reported by the media at the time—with the date of Earth Overshoot Day 2018, because [of] improved historical data… such as lower net carbon sequestration by forests.’
Each time that data is updated, the date changes. This can be by a day, or closer to week. Possibly more. This means the date itself is less relevant than trends spanning several years or decades, not to mention the overall message — we keep depleting nature much faster than it can replace its resources. This process gets faster each year, although based on the most up to dat figures the rare of acceleration is slowing as awareness, activism and regulations make systems allowing us to reuse, recycle and reduce our footprints improve. But it will take behavioural shift, recognition that we need to use less overall, to make reversal even a remote possibility.
Top image: John Cameron / Unsplash
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