Ecological Debt Day

Ecological Debt Day (EDD), also known as Earth Overshoot Day (EOD), is the calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year. Ecological Debt Day is calculated by dividing the world biocapacity (the amount of natural resources generated by Earth that year), by the world ecological footprint (humanity’s consumption of Earth’s natural resources for that year), and multiplying by 365, the number of days in one Gregorian common calendar year:

( \text{World Biocapacity} / \text{World Ecological Footprint} ) \times 365 = \text{Ecological Debt Day}

When viewed through an economic perspective, EDD represents the day in which humanity enters deficit spending . In ecology term EDD illustrate the level by which human population overshoots its environment.

EDD is made by Global Footprint Network.[1]

Background

The correlation between the development of a country using HDI and its natural resource consumption[2]

Andrew Simms of UK think tank New Economics Foundation originally developed the concept of Earth Overshoot Day. Global Footprint Network, a partner organization of New Economics Foundation, launches a campaign every year for Earth Overshoot Day to raise awareness of Earth’s limited resources. Global Footprint Network measures humanity’s demand for and supply of natural resources and ecological services. Global Footprint Network estimates that in approximately eight months, we demand more renewable resources and CO2 sequestration than what the planet can provide for an entire year.[1]

Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to release carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget. But by the early 1970s, that critical threshold had been crossed: Human consumption began outstripping what the planet could reproduce. According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-2000-century.

In planetary terms, the costs of our ecological overspending are becoming more evident by the day. Climate change — a result of greenhouse gases being emitted faster than they can be absorbed by forests and oceans — is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others—shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse, higher commodity prices and civil unrest, to name a few.[1]

Date

Date of EDD on the release year
Year Overshoot Date
1987 December 19
1990 December 7
1995 November 21
2000 November 1
2005 October 20
2007 October 26
2008 September 23
2009 September 25
2010 August 21
2011 August 27
2012 August 22
2013 August 20
2014 August 19
2015 August 13

Following EDD dates are based on 2015 models and data. So they differ from the yearly released dates and are more comparable between years.[3]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Earth Overshoot Day is coming! Global Footprint Network. Accessed: September 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Human Development Index and Ecological Footprint of Nations
  3. ↑ "Past Earth Overshoot Days". Retrieved 14 August 2015.

Further reading

External links

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