This reminds me of tax freedom day, except the numbers are a lot fuzzier. Carsten Arnholm of Norway tips us to this website peddling this worrisome calculation. I fear and visualize there will be no more food, air, water, or “CO2 filtering” tomorrow. Photosynthesis comes to a halt, gasp, sputter, fade to black. Fin.
from: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/
August 21st marks an unfortunate milestone: the day in which we exhaust our ecological budget for the year. Once we pass this day, humanity will have demanded all the ecological services – from filtering CO2 to producing the raw materials for food – that nature can provide this year. From that point until the end of the year, we meet our ecological demand by liquidating resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
Every year, Global Footprint Network calculates nature’s supply in the form of biocapacity, the amount of resources the planet generates, and compares that to human demand: the amount it takes to produce all the living resources we consume and absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. Earth Overshoot Day, a concept devised by U.K.-based new economics foundation, marks the day when demand on ecological services begins to exceed the renewable supply.
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What is Overshoot?
For most of human history, humanity has been able to live off of nature’s interest — consuming resources and producing carbon dioxide at a rate lower than what the planet was able to regenerate and reabsorb each year.
But approximately three decades ago, we crossed a critical threshold, and the rate of human demand for ecological services began to outpace the rate at which nature could provide them. This gap between demand and supply — known as ecological overshoot — has grown steadily each year. Global Footprint Network’s most recent data show that it takes one year and five months to generate the ecological services (production of resources and absorption of CO2) that humanity requires in one year.
The Cost of Ecological Overspending
Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. In planetary terms, the results of our ecological overspending are becoming more clear by the day. Climate change – a result of carbon being emitted faster than it can be reabsorbed by the forests and seas – is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others as well: shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress to name a few.
How is Earth Overshoot Day Calculated?
Put simply, Earth Overshoot Day shows the day on which our total Ecological Footprint (measured in global hectares) is equal to the biocapacity (also measured in global hectares) that nature can regenerate in that year. For the rest of the year, we are accumulating debt by depleting our natural capital and letting waste accumulate.
[ world biocapacity / world Ecological Footprint ] x 365 = Earth Overshoot Day Day
The day of the year on which humanity enters into overshoot and begins adding to our ecological debt is calculated by calculating the ratio of global available biocapacity to global Ecological Footprint and multiplying by 365. From this, we find the number of days of demand that the biosphere could supply, and the number of days we operate in overshoot.
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Life must be so easy when all you have is groundless opinions.
Accounts are up for 2009, has some interesting bits on derivatives:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends54%5C0001055254_ac_20090630_e_c.pdf
Probably like a Just Bond, but get a ‘free’ red nose with every tonne of CO2 purchased. An anonymous donor bunged them £500k, which may keep the wolf from the laundrette. Streetview is a wonderful thing.
Good… that means we are recycling!
http://notrickszone.com/
Tomorrow!
Good… that means we are recycling!
Yeah. Recycling Malthus.
Congress pushed to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion,
which in turn allowed the federal debt to increase to $14.3 trillion, coincidentally the size of our country’s entire yearly economic output.
So my handy dandy hectare calculator tells me that the hectare on the Hill is unsustainable for the biocapacity of the biologically productive land and water available per person on the planet. Because I do have a hectare calculator, and I encourage everyone to get one, and do the math.
Does this mean we are out of beer?
No one can really say for sure about the CO2, or if it even means anything, but the thing about “carrying capacity” is complete hokum. There is a ridiculous amount of unused land that could be farmed if the incentive existed–food prices indicate that there is no shortage of fresh produce, hence there’s a lot of glorious, open land.
These people need a real hobby.
The basic concept is sort of valid. Overfishing, overhunting, misuse of topsoil, and cutting forests without replanting: all real problems.
Unfortunately, the message is aimed at countries that are no longer guilty of those practices.
Even more unfortunately, the Carbon Cult wants us to stop replanting forests, stop hatching fish, and tear down flood-control and irrigation dams. When the Cult wins, we will again be guilty of those bad practices.
This reminds me of a story. Some time ago there was a little boy who had the unfortunate job of tending the farm’s sheep. The little boy was bored, so to get some excitement he cried “WOLF!” All the farmhands stopped what they were doing and came out to help save the sheep from the wolf, but there was no wolf. The little boy just made it up. The little boy had fun with that, so a few days later he cried “WOLF!” again. Once again, all the farmhands came out to help save the sheep from the wolf, but again there was no wolf. Unfortunately the next day a pack of wolves really did find the sheep and so the little boy cried “WOLF!” But no one came this time, they didn’t believe the little boy.
So it goes with these so-called scientists. They are crying “THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END UNLESS YOU CHANGE YOUR WAYS!” And people rush to the cause; but the world doesn’t come to an end when they say it does. And so they cry again “THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END UNLESS YOU CHANGE YOUR WAYS!” And again, people rush to the cause only to be disappointed yet again. Eventually the credibility is damaged and then when an actual factual crisis appears, nobody pays attention. They cried wolf one too many times.
You can expect Goulman Sachs and other parasites on Wall St to come up with a trading strategy soon.
regards
The solution is a Global cap and trade commitment and Global Governance.
Otherwise we are forced to eliminate 75% of the world population.
Straitjackets anyone?
With all the facts we have received about the “Hockey Stick Graphs” being altered and what not, why cant everyone come to the realization that we are being mislead about ALL of this…. Thats my opinion about it all. If we have already been misled about major global temperature data then can we really believe the other stuff they throw out there at us??
David T. Bronzich says:
August 21, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Sounds like my “habitat and man” teacher from around 1974.
I do want to note that if global cooling occurs, world food production will drop and there will be lots of people starving (and freezing) to death.
August 21st marks an unfortunate milestone: the day in which we exhaust our ecological budget for the year.
We would have made to September 26th if it wasn’t for Al Gore.
Someone got hit too many times in the head with a hockey stick.
W^L+ says:
August 21, 2010 at 7:42 pm
David T. Bronzich says:
August 21, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Sounds like my “habitat and man” teacher from around 1974.
I do want to note that if global cooling occurs, world food production will drop and there will be lots of people starving (and freezing) to death.
was his name steimetz?
Good. Maybe we won’t hear from Al Gore for the rest of the year since he has used up his CO2 allowance.
Be Aware of your diminishing freedom when:
Commerce,Science,Government,and Religion,
combine to save something or somebody.
Beans, beans that magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot! The more you toot, the warmer it feels, so the globe warms with every meal!
New Economics Foundation — what is this, an offshoot of the Club of Rome, touting more of their limits to growth meme?
Who knew that it was EOSD?
If they’d only warned us of our impending doom sooner, I would have spent the day doing something worthwhile. Instead, I squandered the day doing repairs around the house when I should have been eating my last few jars of caviar and popping a bottle or two of champagne as the earth swirls down the drain.
sigh…
These crazy greenies don’t know when enough is enough. They already have Earth Day, Arbor Day, Earth Hour, and God knows how many others… now we have Earth Overshoot Day! Good grief!
“August 21…the day in which we exhaust our ecological budget for the year.”
Speak for yourself, toesucker. I set out 2 dogwood trees, 12 apple trees, 2 pear trees, 14 peach trees and 16 pecan trees this year. 7 of the total of didn’t make it so far, but I figure I still have quite a surplus in the bank, thank you. And I will do much more next year, if the idiots in Washington and elsewhere don’t ruin my prospects by bankrupting the world economy. Not to mention all the excess food I’ve had to buy just in case they succeed!
this is very interesting… even the comments posted here are truly interesting..
i would have to agree with Lefty’s comment.. – every little thing is going to be alright, we don’t have to worry.. 🙂 i also love bob marley…