Overshoot day, the date that marks the consumption of all the natural resources the Earth is capable of regenerating in a year, had never arrived this early.
The Holocene is over and we find ourselves in a new geological era, albeit not yet officially recognised — the Anthropocene, the first in the planet's history to be shaped by one of the animal species that inhabit it. Since its appearance, Homo sapiens has had a considerable impact on ecosystems and wild animals, contributing to the extinction of the megafauna that once dominated the Earth. Since then, human activity has transformed between a third and half of the planet, humans have altered the composition of the atmosphere and exploit natural resources in a voracious and unsustainable way. Yet another confirmation of this destructive tendency peculiar to our species — inscribed, who knows, perhaps in our genes — is certified by the arrival of Overshoot day, the day that marks the official exhaustion of the renewable resources the Earth is capable of regenerating over the course of 365 days.
The date, which changes from year to year depending on how quickly these resources are exploited, is calculated by the Global footprint network (Gfn), an international organisation working on environmental accounting by calculating the ecological footprint. This year Overshoot day falls on 1 August, and from that point on we will begin using resources the planet will no longer be able to regenerate.
Overshoot day recurs every year, but always a few days earlier. Compared to last year it arrives just one day sooner, while two years ago the debt to the Earth had been triggered on 8 August. The comparison with less than half a century ago is, however, merciless: in 1970, the so-called Earth Overshoot Day fell on 29 December. Since then, we have lost around thirty days of planetary self-sufficiency every ten years.
To meet our current reckless demand for natural resources, we are exploiting the equivalent of 1.7 planet Earths, due to overfishing, the overexploitation of forests, land consumption and the emission of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ecosystems are able to absorb. While the human population continues to grow, the planet's resources remain the same. The current ecological overshoot is, however, only sustainable for a limited time before ecosystems begin to degrade irreversibly and collapse.
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The impacts of ecological overshoot are already evident — consider soil erosion, desertification, deforestation, the extinction of animal species at a rate never seen before, the collapse of fish stocks, and the growing concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. Reversing this alarming trend is possible, however: if we managed to push back the date of Overshoot day by just five days each year, we could return to using resources equivalent to less than one planet by 2050.
The change needed to reduce our ecological footprint and secure a future for our species begins at the table. Livestock farming and fishing have an enormous environmental impact on ecosystems worldwide. The report Livestock's long shadow, published in 2008 by the United Nations, identifies animal farming as the primary cause of climate change. According to the Global footprint network and the Barilla center for food & nutrition (Bcfn) Foundation, if we replaced our meat consumption with plant-based foods and reduced our food waste by 50 per cent, we could push back the date of Overshoot day by 38 days.