The day we start eating planet Earth

[Francois Cellier]

From the Chronicle Herald

The day we start eating planet Earth

By SILVER DONALD CAMERON
Tuesday October 17, 2006


NO DOUBT it’s just a coincidence that Overshoot Day 2006 happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day.

Overshoot Day marks the date at which human beings have consumed the entire production of the Earth for the whole year. It’s the date on which we move into ecological overdraft.

"In any given year, if humanity eats more food than is grown, we need to dip into our food reserves," says Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic, the local sponsors of Overshoot Day.

"If trees are cut down faster than they grow back, then forests become smaller than the year before. If more fish are caught each year than spawn, there will be fewer fish in the sea. If more greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere than can be absorbed, then the effects of climate change, such as melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and more extreme weather patterns, will worsen."

That’s the overshoot. If you think of the Earth as a capital asset, like a savings account, Overshoot Day marks the moment when you’ve spent all the interest the account has earned in a year, and are now spending the principal. If you don’t learn to live within your means, you will eventually exhaust the principal, and go bankrupt.

Which is exactly what we’re doing with the Earth. Overshoot Day in October means that the Earth now takes 15 months to produce what we consume in 12.

Overshoot Day was devised by the New Economics Foundation, a British environmental think-tank, as a dramatic way to express global ecological over-spending. (NEF refers to Overshoot Day as "the day humanity starts eating the planet.")

The idea grows out of the concept of an "ecological footprint" — the amount of productive land area, including cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries, required to supply current human consumption. If you add up the total productive area of the Earth’s land and sea, and divide it by the number of people on Earth, you discover that the Earth currently provides 1.8 hectares per person. But at today’s level of demand, human beings are using 2.8 hectares per person. That’s the average human’s ecological footprint.

The difference is the overshoot, and Overshoot Day is the exact date that human consumption begins to create its annual ecological deficit. Until 1987, the Earth as a whole had no overshoot. Humans consumed no more than the Earth could produce. In 1987, however, we consumed the year’s production by Dec. 19, leaving us with a two-week overshoot. By 1995 — just eight years later — the date was Nov. 21. This year, it was Oct. 9. Thanksgiving Day.

Naturally, not all are equally responsible for the overshoot.

"More than 70 per cent of the world’s population lives modestly and within sustainable limits," says GPI’s director, Ron Colman. So "the greatest responsibility for reducing our global ecological deficit lies with the rich countries, whose high levels of consumption are primarily responsible for overshoot."

The wealthiest 20 per cent of the world’s people — that’s us, folks — account for 86 per cent of the world’s consumption. We consume, for instance, 45 per cent of all meat and fish, 58 per cent of energy, 84 per cent of paper, and 87 per cent of vehicles. The poorest 20 per cent of the world’s population accounts for only 1.3 per cent of global consumption.

"The fact that we are living beyond the capacity of the planet to support us is the most serious challenge facing humanity today," Colman says. "It is the ultimate cause of resource depletion, pollution, global warming, habitat destruction, and species extinctions."

And "if the whole world consumed at the same rate as Canadians do, Overshoot Day would be even earlier, around the end of March."

None of this is news. Five years ago, GPI Atlantic released a report on Nova Scotia’s ecological footprint, showing that Canada’s ecological footprint was 7.7 hectares per person. Nova Scotia’s was 8.1 hectares; compared to 0.6 hectares for Bangladeshis, 1.3 for Africans, 1.8 for Asians, 12.2 for Americans, and 7.2 for OECD nations generally.

GPI proposed that we take steps to reduce our footprint to 7.0 hectares at once by a variety of fairly straight-forward steps — emphasizing public transport over private cars, for instance, insulating our houses, and producing more of our food locally. Such changes are neither difficult nor painful, and they strike right at the heart of the overall environmental crisis.

So why do we ignore them? The federal government kills the EnerGuide program, which helped citizens reduce their consumption of oil — though the province, commendably, now intends to re-introduce it. We propose to widen Halifax’s Chebucto Road, making it easier to commute by car. We do nothing to stop the spread of low-density suburban monster homes.

Most important, our attitudes don’t change. We still regard consumption as a badge of success, not as a symptom of social irresponsibility.

If that changed, if Overshoot Day began to fall later rather than earlier each year, we would truly have good reason for thankfulness at Thanksgiving.

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Visit Silver Donald Cameron’s website at www.silverdonaldcameron.ca

[ktp]

A very interesting article.

I think one of the problems is people just can't be bothered or 'don't have time' to change their lifestyles. Going to supermarkets, using a car instead of public transport, etc, because they're the easiest and most convenient options.

Governments need to do more so that the individual can do more.

[The New Way]

Do you enjoy waiting for a bus in - degrees & gail-force winds? Car-pooling is a good idea, but you need a car to get to the interview for a job and what if the job itself is not in a city centre?

The solution is not public transport. The only solution transport-wise is alternative fuels/energy.

Biotechnology & Aquaculture is the answere to food consumption crisis.

The only problem we have is governments that rarely think outside the box and/or just want to maintain the status quo.

[TheNextEra]

Originally Posted by The New Way

The solution is not public transport. The only solution transport-wise is alternative fuels/energy.

The solution is actually both of those combined.

People will need cars for themselves typically, for emergencies, errands, etc. But with a good public transportation system for day-to-day activities, it will limit the amount of driving someone has to do.

So if both of those solutions were actually worked together at the same time in an effective way, they would be a solution to the problem together.

[Darwins Friend]

The solution is not public transport.

Invest in a plane ticket to Tokyo and erradicate your ignorance.

[The New Way]

Originally Posted by Darwins Friend

Invest in a plane ticket to Tokyo and erradicate your ignorance.

Yes because the whole world is just like Tokyo.

But yes I accept a combination of the two idea suggested by TNE.

[Quarken]

This food depletion boogyman has been good entertainment since the 60s.

OMG "Soylent Green is PEOPLE!"

[Darwins Friend]

Yes because the whole world is just like Tokyo.

Are you 12? What kind of silly retort is that?

[The New Way]

11&1/2 actually, almost twelve though. The 'silly retort' was in response to your statement. Citing the example of Tokyo one of the most condensed cities in the world is all fine and well, my point was that we cannot soley rely on Public Transport.

[Darwins Friend]

Originally Posted by The New Way

11&1/2 actually, almost twelve though. The 'silly retort' was in response to your statement. Citing the example of Tokyo one of the most condensed cities in the world is all fine and well, my point was that we cannot soley rely on Public Transport.

Again - go there or read up on what the Hell you’re trying to judge.

Tokyo is massive - not just the Ginza District. Go to Google maps and see the satellite images of what I speak. Interconnecting train lines - besides the main ones owned by the government are some of the most efficient people movers anywhere. Owning an automobile there is a possibility - just not a practical way to spend your income.

They’ve simply given up the egotistical perspective that you need to own a car. And it works.

[The New Way]

Originally Posted by Darwins Friend

Again - go there or read up on what the Hell you’re trying to judge.

Tokyo is massive - not just the Ginza District. Go to Google maps and see the satellite images of what I speak. Interconnecting train lines - besides the main ones owned by the government are some of the most efficient people movers anywhere. Owning an automobile there is a possibility - just not a practical way to spend your income.

They’ve simply given up the egotistical perspective that you need to own a car. And it works.

Haven't been to Tokyo yet granted, but is it possible/feasible to implement this system throughout the world? In densely populated places the Tokyo model could work. What about those cities & towns with less than 1 million people? The sprawling suburbs?

The basic infrastructure is in place to support transport based on alternative energies/fuels. My original point was hinting towards the fact that governments are not really encouraging industry/universities to develop alternative energies/fuels. Governments would loose too much revenue.

[Darwins Friend]

Cities served by train route in Japan - connecting with Tokyo - with populations less than 1,000,000 citizens:

Kumamoto
Okayama
Sagamihara
Hamamatsu
Funabashi
Kagoshima
Hachioji
Niigata
Higashi-Osaka
Himeji
Matsuyama
Shizuoka
Matsudo
Kawaguchi
Amagasaki
Ichikawa
Utsunomiya
Kanazawa
Oita
Nishinomiya
Yokosuka
Kurashiki
Nagasaki
Hirakata
Gifu
Wakayama
Toyonaka
Machida
Fujisawa
Fukuyama
Nara
Iwaki
Asahikawa
Nagano
Toyohashi
Takatsuki
Suita
Toyota
Okazaki
Takamatsu
Tokorozaka
Koriyama
Kashiwa
Kochi
Kawagoe
Toyama
Akita
Koshigaya
Miyzaki
Naha
Aomori
Otsu
Yokkaichi
Kasugai
Fukushima
Hakodate
Maebashi
Morioka
Ichihara
Ichinomiya
Yao
Tokushima
Ibaraki
Hiratsuka
Yamagata
Fukui
Mito
Shimonoseki
Hachinohe
Sasebo
Takasaki
Fuji
Kurume
Shimizu
Soka
Chigasaki
Takarazuka
Ageo
Atsugi
Yamato
Numazu
Kasukabe
Matsumoto
Kishiwada
Chofu
Odawara

[The New Way]

I am not arguing whether or not Japan has a rail network.

[Darwins Friend]

with populations less than 1,000,000 citizens

(not an argument - just reality)

[Darwins Friend]

Unless I’ve been overtaken by a fit of Alzheimer’s - I think my point was that they’ve already put their pride aside and bitten the bullet on the "I can’t stand out in the cold and snow to ride a bus" crapola and adapted their lifestyles to something a lot less egotistical and a lot more practical when it comes to getting around.

An answer to all of the world’s transportation problems? Not only no, but Hell no. An answer to the majority of what constitutes "transportation problems"? You bet your ass.

[The New Way]

Just read you latest comment...I agreed with that loads of posts previously. PART of the solution, yes.

[Darwins Friend]

Originally Posted by The New Way

Just read you latest comment...I agreed with that loads of posts previously. PART of the solution, yes.

Not just "PART", but a majority.

Smart cities and state governments focus on folks that matter - those that produce.

They move the people that make money in the economy and therefore drive it. Pissing them off with 2-hour commutes into the city from their nice, safe (supposedly) suburbs - away from the unproductive animals - is not what politicians want to do. They want to keep their base constituency happy - they’re the people that matter.

Not someone who washes toilets for a living and has to be at the bus stop at 4:30 in the morning. That person, no matter how cruel it seems, will ever be of consequence.

Mean spirited? You bet. But when was a real economy, of supply and demand - fair to all?

[potter]

Very interesting Francois, thanks.

[theelviscerator]

Originally Posted by Darwins Friend

Invest in a plane ticket to Tokyo and erradicate your ignorance.

Then slit your wrists like they do because you hate living like a sardine.

[Spyder Jerusalem]

Much better than bein' a redneck, dumbfuck, xenophobic nutbar, right?

Besides, japs don't slit their wrists, they jump off buildings, use poison, and commit hari kiri.
All better forms of suicide than obesity, alcoholism, and self-inflicted gunshots like most American hicks.