Currently, humanity uses the equivalent of 1.3 planets to provide the resources we use and to absorb our waste. This average includes developing nations where individual usage is much less.
In Australia, most of us use the equivalent of about 3 planets.
That means we're living 3 times beyond our means in terms of the electricity and water we use, the fuel we use to travel, all the stuff we buy then waste and throw out and so on. Remember that everything we buy went through a process of energy and water usage to produce it.
Turning resources into waste faster than waste can be turned back into resources puts us in global ecological overshoot, depleting the very resources on which human life and biodiversity depend. We're using resources faster than they can be naturally replenished.
The result is collapsing fisheries, diminishing forest cover, depletion of fresh water systems, and the build up of pollution and waste, which creates problems like global climate change. These are just a few of the most noticeable effects of overshoot.
The Earth provides all that we need to live and thrive. So what will it take for humanity to live within the means of one planet?
Individuals and institutions worldwide must begin to recognize ecological limits. We must begin to make ecological limits central to our decision-making and use human ingenuity to find new ways to live, within the Earth’s bounds.
Information thanks to: Footprintnetwork.org
Stay tuned for tips on easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
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