Humanity will exhaust all the resources that the Earth is capable of regenerating in one year this Saturday, August 22, three weeks later than last year due to the slowdown in economic and industrial activity caused by the coronavirus crisis.
This delay of known as “Earth overcapacity day”, that establishes the moment when the annual demand for natural resources exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate them, has its “logic”, explained to Efe the WWF spokesperson, Luis Suarez, since the measures adopted to stop the pandemic have meant a decrease in economic activity and the exploitation of resources and, therefore, in “the elements that are measured to obtain this date.”
According to the network of experts Footprint Network what does the calculation, this year the population has consumed as if it had 1.6 planets, while in 2019 – the earliest date on which this day is established since there are records – the calculation was 1.7 planets.
For Suárez, this reduction of the ecological footprint is due to a “circumstantial” and not “intentional” change, the result of global policies, therefore, it is urgent that measures be taken to change the current production and consumption model for another “much more sustainable one that spends less on resources and energy”.
Despite the fact that both the current health crisis and the economic crisis of 2008 have slowed down the day on which this date is established, the environmental organization recalls that the important thing is to stop the trend and bring this day to the end of the year, since, although has been delayed, it occurs on August 22, when there is still “a long year ahead.”
From now on you have to spend the “reserves”, which will cause next year to run the risk “that that day will come forward again”Therefore, if the current model is not changed, “the planet will not be able to give more of itself” and will go “to the collapse of the ecosystem,” Suárez warned.
The countries with the most powerful economies are the ones that are causing the advancement of the Earth Overcapacity Day, including Qatar and United States, which need 9 and 5 planets respectively, while Spain, although it is below the European Union average, requires 2 and a half planets to satisfy its current consumption.
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