Hi Alex here. Have you heard of
ecological footprint and earth overshoot day?
Our ecological footprint is how much
we demand from nature. Currently, humanity
is using the equivalent of 1.6
planets. Every year, Global Footprint
Network calculates Earth Overshoot Day.
It marks the date when humanity's
demand on nature exceeds what Earth can
regenerate in that year. In 2000, Earth Overshoot Day fell in
late September and in 2016
it falls on August 8th. You can think
about this as a bank account: for the
first seven months and eight days in
2016
we lived on a regular salary, after that
we started chipping into our savings or
racking up credit cards debt. Hmm, seems like there's something wrong with that math.
Our ecological footprint measures how
much land and water area
we need to produce the resources we use
things like food, land for settlements,
timber, seafood, and to absorb the waste
and carbon dioxide we generate. Our
biocapacity is the amount of biologically
productive areas such as forests, fishing grounds
crop and grazing areas, that are
available to provide the resources we
use and to absorb our waste. We can
compare footprint and biocapacity to
see if we are well balanced or not.
So, why do we care about humanity's
ecological footprint? The costs of ecological
overspending are evident every day
in the form of deforestation, drought,
biodiversity loss, and the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Ecological overspending also can put
nations at more risk: without sufficient
resources it is hard to operate an
economy or we have to import more which
has costs as well.
Carbon emissions from fossil fuel use
are a big part of today's footprint.
Today,
humanity's carbon footprint makes up
60% of the world's total
ecological footprint. But there is good
news: in December 2015, nearly 200
nations committed to reducing carbon
emissions as part of the Paris climate agreement.
In addition to nations taking action,
each one of us has the power to help
reverse the trend of overshooting our
planet's resources. You can join the
Earth Overshoot #pledgefortheplanet campaign.
Did you know that it takes 14 times as
much biologically productive land to
produce one ton of beef as it takes to
produce one ton of grain?
Put bluntly, reducing meat consumption is one of many ways to reduce our
ecological footprint. One of the pledges
you can make is to host a vegetarian
dinner party and share a picture of the
feast.
You can also pledge to lower your
household energy consumption, become a
natural resource expert, telecommute or
take alternative transportation,
illustrate your commitment to tread
lightly on the earth and reduce your
paper waste.
You can help create a more sustainable
world!
Click and make your pledge at www.overshootday.org and check out other pledges that
are being fulfilled around the world.
This video was created in collaboration
with Global Footprint Network, an
international think tank that
coordinates research, develops
methodological standards and provides
decision makers with a menu of tools
to help the human economy operate within Earth's ecological limits.
If you enjoyed this video, please
subscribe and share it with your friends
and colleagues. Our free sustainability
videos are financed with an honour system.
If you think, like us, that it's important
work, you can contribute the amount of
your choice by clicking on the orange
button. And as usual thank you for watching.
