Ecological Debt Day: One Planet Isn't Enough

October 6 marked Ecological Debt Day, the day when humanity consumed all the resources the planet will produce this year.

Beginning in the mid -1980s, humanity’s Ecological Footprint became larger than what the planet can supply, and we have been adding more to our ecological debt each year, according to data from Global Footprint Network and UK-based New Economics Foundation. In 1996, humanity used 15% more resources than the planet could supply – Ecological Debt Day was in November. 11 years later, Ecological Dept day falls on October 6, because we’re now using 30% more resources than Earth can supply this year.

“Humanity is living off its ecological credit card,” says Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of Global Footprint Network. “Just as spending more money than you have in the bank leads to financial debt, ecological overshoot, or using more resources than the planet can renew in a year, accumulates an ecological debt. This can go on for a short time, but ultimately it leads to a build up of waste and the depletion of the very resources on which the human economy depends.”

Humanity’s use of nature has risen from using 50% of Earth’s biocapacity in 1961 to over 1.25% in 2007 (or 1.3 planets to be more precise). Business-as-usual scenarios based on the most moderate projections of UN agencies would lead to using twice the planet’s regenerative capacity by 2050.

One of the most significant consequences of our global overshoot is climate change, but collapsing fisheries, deforestation, and topsoil loss around the world are also indicative of our mounting ecological debt.

Each year, Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s global demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries ­ and compares it with the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb our wastes. Globally, we consume as if we had 1.3 planets to support us.

To balance our ecological budget, we must strengthen nature’s resource supply with sound management of the world’s ecosystems, and address the three factors that determine humanity’s demand on nature ­ per capita consumption, efficiency of production, and the size of the population. Citizens can take action to get out of ecological debt in their own lives: eating less meat, driving and flying less, and using less energy in the home are the most effective ways to reduce your personal Footprint.

Citizens can encourage government and business leaders to build cities and organizations that help to end overshoot with smart infrastructure planning and best-practice green technology.

Individuals can also contribute by helping to restore and protect ecosystems, and supporting organizations that help curb population growth by empowering women around the world with education and access to family planning.

” The average per capita Ecological Footprint (as of 2003 data) is 2.2 global hectares/person, while the biologically productive area available on this planet to support the world’s population of 6.5 billion is slightly less than 1.8 hectares/person. These 1.8 hectares/person include the areas we would need to set aside for wild species.

” The average per person Ecological Footprint for the United States (as of 2003 data) is 9.6 global hectares.

” The carbon Footprint, which accounts for the use of fossil fuels, is almost half of humanity’s total Ecological Footprint, and is its fastest growing component, increasing more than nine fold from 1961 to today.

Currently, humanity consumes 30% more resources per year than Earth can regenerate. In other words, between January 1 and October 6, humanity has used as many resources and ecological services as Earth can regenerate in the entire year. Or inversely, it takes one year and over three months to regenerate what humanity uses within one year.