The Earth Overshoot Day was observed last week which is that moment of the year where humanity uses up more of the Earth’s resources than the Earth produces a year. Since last week, any resources that we used, from food to water to timber, will not be restored again by the end of the year. The idea for the Earth Overshoot day came forward in 1987 with the Global Footprint Network. It is a think tank which is centered around the sustainable practices. The first Earth Overshoot day was on 19th December 1987. Since then, the day has come earlier and earlier. Last year, it was observed on 2nd August.
The day is calculated by comparing the number of resources produced on Earth by every country and then dividing them by the number of resources consumed. The think tank has the job to calculate how many resources a country produces by looking at areas like farmland, grassland, forests, oceans, and cities. The Earth Overshoot Day has been moving further from 31st December each year. This means that every year we are getting closer to the point where we face the real crisis.
Some places on Earth have already started facing those crises. Cape Town, South Africa, will be facing water shortage in a year. Many cities in India are already facing this issue. Food shortage is common in many countries all over the world. As we are increasing our resource disparity a large number of regions and countries will start running out of the things that they need. There is a lot of need to start working on the solutions to these problems already.