The Overshoot Day is the day that indicates the official exhaustion of renewable resources that the Earth is able to regenerate within 365 days. The date changes from year to year depending on how quickly these resources are exploited, and is calculated by the Global Footprint Network (Gfn), an international organization that deals with environmental accounting and calculates the ecological footprint. At the moment, the world population is consuming the equivalent of 1.6 planets per year and it is estimated that it could reach two planets by 2030. But we must not forget that we only have one planet. We can talk about world Overshoot Day, as in this case, but also about National Overshoot Day when each country has a date when it runs out of resources.
Since the early 1970s, humanity began to consume more than the Earth produced and since then the day when the limit is exceeded always comes sooner, due to the growth of the world's population and the expansion of consumption throughout the world. Until now, there has never been such a significant delay as in this 2020. 1971 was the first year in which humanity began to run out of resources early, ending on 21 December. From that moment on, the trend has never been reversed in such an important way. 2019 was the year in which humanity consumed the resources made available by the Planet most quickly.
The Overshoot day 2020 corresponds to August 22, three weeks later than 2019, when it fell on July 29. "The date reflects a 9.3% reduction in humanity's ecological footprint between January 1 and Overshoot day compared to the previous year. This is a direct result of the containment measures implemented worldwide in response to the pandemic," said the Gfn. "The reduction in timber harvesting and CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are the two main factors behind the historical reversal of the long-term trend of the global ecological footprint. In fact, carbon emissions fell by 14.5%, while consumption of forest products fell by 8.4%.
Unfortunately, however, this reduction in the ecological footprint is not yet an intentional reversal of this trend. Humanity has found itself united by the common experience of the pandemic, realizing how interconnected our lives are. However, we cannot ignore the profound inequality in our societies and the social, economic and political tensions that have been exacerbated by this global disaster. Putting the concept of resource regeneration by the planet at the center of our reconstruction and recovery efforts can help correct both the imbalances in human society and in our relationship with the Planet". (source: lifegate.it)
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