Earth Overshoot Day - July 28th 2022 | CBCGDF Calls for: from Ecological Overshoot to Ecological Burden Relief, Starting from the Little Things around You
2022/8/3 12:28:00 本站

The Earth Overshoot Day 2022 (EOD), Beijing time falls on July 28, 2022. On this day, people around the world publicized and called out the causes, effects and consequences of ecological overload, while holding various events. However, everything soon fell back to calm without a ripple once the news fever passed. Human beings seem to be moving further and further away from the ecological overload of the Earth.

The Earth Overshoot Day refers to that the earth has entered the state of ecological deficit this year and has used up the total renewable natural resources of the earth this year. The concept of "Earth Overshoot Day " was proposed by GFN and the new economy foundation, a British think tank, and has been established since August 23, 2012. Its theoretical basis is the "ecological footprint analysis" method.

In 2022, Inger Anderson, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has repeatedly stressed at major United Nations conferences and many large international conferences: "Our economic growth and development model has pushed us to the current environmental situation - what UNEP calls the triple planet crisis: climate crisis, biodiversity loss and natural crisis, and pollution and waste crisis. In fact, anthropogenic greenhouse gases are changing the entire climate system. The loss of nature and biodiversity is destroying the ability of ecosystems to operate effectively. Pollution and waste are poisoning the Earth. "

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(Photo from UNEP)

Ecuador's Minister of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Gustavo Manrique, inaugurates this year's Earth Overshoot Day, with the support of environment ministers from around the world. This day reminds us that the persistence of overshoot, now for over half a century, has led to huge declines in biodiversity, excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and heightened competition for food and energy. Pressures and symptoms are becoming more prominent with unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods.

Mathis Wackernagel, founder of the event organizer Global Footprint Network, said, “Earth Overshoot Day demonstrates that the current system of production and consumption is not compatible with the intention to continue to inhabit this planet. To better protect our natural resources and manage our demand for them, it is necessary to take concrete joint actions aimed at a new development model based on sustainability and regeneration. From Ecuador we call on the world to commit to this cause.”

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Key facts behind Earth Overshoot Day

· To renew everything humanity currently demands from nature would take the biocapacity of 1.75 Earths.

· 60% of world’s Footprint is carbon emissions. To avoid runaway climate change, it needs to be zero before 2050, without increasing other parts of the Footprint.

· 3 billion people live in countries that produce less food than they consume and generate less income than world average.

· Food alone occupies now 55%, i.e., over half, of the biocapacity of Earth.

· 5.8 billion people, or 72 % of the world population, live in a country that runs a biocapacity deficit and generate less income than world average.

· This year, Earth Overshoot Day and the end of the year are separated by 156 days.

· The 50-year persistence of overshoot means that the annual deficits have cumulated in an ecological debt of 19-years worth of planetary regeneration. The result is widespread degradation of ecosystems and an atmosphere filled with GHG.

· If humanity delays Earth Overshoot Day by 6 days every year, humanity will be below one planet before 2050. To follow the preferrable IPCC 1.5C scenario path, we'd need to move the date 10 days every year.

· Plenty of possibilities exist, and are economically viable, to reverse overshoot. These ventures are also more likely to grow in value than assets which contribute to overshoot.

The earth supports the world's population and all living beings on the earth, including animals and plants. Today, our planet is ecologically overshooted and ecosystems are already overwhelmed. So, turning this situation around is crucial and imminent. So how can we relieve the ecological burden of the severely overshooted earth?

Here, the International Dept. Of CBCGDF calls for:

To reduce the ecological overload of the earth, let us start from small things around us. Though small, if multiplied by the global population, the small amount will eventually become a big stream and reverse the whole situation of the ecological overload of the earth.

So, what individual actions can significantly reduce environmental impact? A few tips for reducing your personal ecological footprint:

1. Drive private cars as little as possible. Transportation is one of the most important areas of action. The best way to travel is to walk, share bikes and take public transport. From a long-distance perspective, rail traffic has the least impact on the environment.

2. Use green energy. Energy is another important area. Reducing electricity consumption not only reduces environmental impact, but also reduces costs. A good option for this is to work more with companies that have certified green energy to make electrical systems greener. The use of renewable energy is increasingly common in households and small industries.

3. Stay away from the washer dryer. Many experts have emphasized that the high power consumption of dryers leads to high carbon dioxide emissions. Switching to the traditional method of drying clothes is a good option.

4. Buy high-efficiency green energy-saving appliances. Although these appliances will be slightly more expensive, they mean saving on electricity bills.

5. Avoid food waste. Food incurs some losses during harvesting, transportation, processing, distribution and storage, but more waste at home. Almost a third of the world's food products are wasted and account for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. Halving food waste globally, as many community initiatives around the world are doing, will delay Earth Overshoot Day by 13 days.

6. Priority to seasonal and neighboring products. Experts believe that the consumption of non-seasonal products means a lot of energy consumption during transportation and refrigerated storage, and with it, a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.

7. Reduce consumption and waste generation and avoid overpackaging. The purpose of this is to avoid unnecessary consumption. As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the over-packaging of moon cakes has been repeatedly appealed by the CBCGDF Reduce and Pick-up Plastic Working Group.

8. Adjust the air conditioner. In summer, experts recommend that the temperature of the air conditioner is not lower than 26 degrees Celsius, which can save energy.

Original Chinese Article:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/O3PNdzma-2ZCKnN_8Bk8wg

Translator: Daisy

Checked by Lucy

Editor: Daisy

Contact the editors: v10@cbcgdf.org;  +8617319454776

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