This blog was originally based on a course ran by Professor Nick Gray of the Trinity Centre for the Environment at Trinity College Dublin who also wrote a textbook for the module Facing up to global warming: What is going on and what you can do about it. Now working as an independent consultant, Nick continues to work in the area of environmental sustainability and looking at ways of making a difference without recriminations or guilt. Saving the planet is all about living sustainably.


Monday, July 29, 2019

Earth Overshoot Day #MoveTheDate


Of all the indices available to measure our impact on Planet Earth it is Earth Overshoot Day  (EOD) that provides a unique insight in to how well we are dealing with the problem of global sustainability.  


Earth Overshoot Day  is the date each year that our collective consumption of resources exceeds the capacity of our planet to regenerate them.

The concept was devised by the research organization  Global Footprint Network  who use their vast database to calculate the EOD for each country as well as a global date which this year is July 29th.   Although started in 2006, they have been able to back calculate the EOD since our planet first fell into ecological deficit in 1970 (data.footprintnetwork.org).   The good news is that the date has stabilized, but we need to get that date going back towards September as quickly as possible and ultimately back to December. The last time EOD fell in December was 1972!  




If we all lived the same lifestyle as those in either the USA or UK then Earth Overshoot Day would fall on March 15 or May 17 respectively. 



#MoveTheDate

We all know that moving towards a sustainable planet is critical in our fight to stabilize climate change as well as to protect biodiversity, prevent hunger and improve planet health and that of ourselves generally.  The Overshoot Organization  has launched the #MoveTheDate campaign giving reliable and achievable advice on how we can all make a difference.  Their goal is to move Earth Overshoot Day back by five days a year so that by 2050 we will have a sustainable planet once more.  So please support their work and make a difference every day in your own life, at home, in the workplace and within the community.


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