Humans have used up the planet's natural resources for the year. Here's what Earth Overshoot Day means
CTV
August 2 marks Earth Overshoot Day, a grim milestone that showcases nature is not able to keep up with human consumption.
Humans have already used up Earth's natural resources for the year at a pace faster than the planet can regenerate them, a natural resources research organization says.
On August 2, 2023, the world marked Earth Overshoot Day, which signals the depletion of the planet's ecological resources for the year.
Every day from today to the end of 2023, humans will carry a debt by continuing to take from nature and accumulating waste like carbon dioxide, according to data in a report from research organization the Global Footprint Network.
The demand we put on the environment has outpaced how the environment can regenerate those resources; like wood, water and plants.
The Global Footprint Network has marked Earth Overshoot Day each year since 1971.
"During the pandemic when we weren’t using quite as many resources, we actually did better, but now we're back to where we started," Eric Miller, director of the Ecological Footprint Initiative in York’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, said in a news release.
At the height of the pandemic, in 2020, the planet hit Earth Overshoot Day on Aug. 16, the latest it hit that milestone since 2009.
