This date corresponds to when “humanity consumed everything that ecosystems could regenerate in a year,” according to the two NGOs.
“During the remaining 156 days (until the end of the year), our consumption of means renewables will consist of devouring the natural capital of the planet”, pointed out Laetitia Mailhes, from the Global Footprint Network during a press conference.
But, this does not even take into account the needs of other species that live in the Land. “You also have to leave room for the wild world,” continued Mailhes.
The “overcapacity” of Land marks the date on which the demand for means and ecological services of humanity in a given year exceeds what the Land can regenerate in that period.
According to the NGO Global Footprint Network that follows this measurement, it has continued to grow for 50 years: December 29, 1970, November 4, 1980, October 11, 1990, September 23, 2000 and August 7, 2010.
In 2020, this date had been pushed back three weeks due to the lockdown due to the covid-19 pandemic, before returning to previous levels.
This ecological footprint is calculated from six different categories, “crops, pastures, forest areas necessary for products, fishing areas, built-up areas and forests necessary to absorb the carbon emitted by ‘fossil fuels’, and is closely linked to patterns consumption, especially in rich countries.
Specifically, if all humans lived like the French, the Day of Overcapacity of the Land it would have happened even earlier, on May 5, 2022.
WWF and the Global Footprint Network place particular emphasis on food. “Our food system has lost its mind with excess consumption of means without responding to the needs of fighting poverty”, on the one hand, and an epidemic of overweight and obesity, on the other, says Pierre Cannet, of WWF France.