Earth Overshoot Day

Hot on the heels of Plastic Overshoot Day is Earth Overshoot Day, which this year falls today. Earth Overshoot Day is calculated by the Global Footprint Network and “marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.” Basically it means that for the rest of the year we are in ecological deficit, depleting our natural capital and compromising the planet’s future regenerative capacity.

Earth Overshoot Day has gotten progressively earlier in the year since 1971, when we had a small deficit. In 2023 we’d require the resources of 1.7 Earths to not have an Earth Overshoot Day.