A photo from open sources
There is such a sad holiday – Earth Depletion Day. This that day when our planet is not able to compensate for consumed resources. In 1970, this day shifted from December 29 to the end July. According to experts, this situation only spurs humanity to come up with real solutions to shift this date to the winter months, and save the planet for our descendants.
Global footprint network overseas analyzes the impact of humanity on the ecological state the planet. Every year, they calculate resource depletion and determine the day when humanity consumed more food, forest, water and hydrocarbons than the Earth can compensate for this year. IN this year, the day of exhaustion came July 29th. Experts believe that this not so bad since depletion last year was noted the same day. There is some stability.
Twenty years ago (1999) this day came on September 29th, which at that time caused serious concern, as ideally planet resources should be enough for exactly one year. Since then, the date in The accelerated pace is moving away.
GFN founder Mathis Wackernagel said currently humanity has the opportunity to solve the problem thanks to existing technologies, and without changing the way of life. If turn to algorithms, the most effective will be to refuse from the consumption of fossil fuels. And if you reduce emissions carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, then this will shift the date of depletion to three months in advance – to winter.
According to Wackernagel’s calculations, if absolutely all buildings convert to modern solutions, including industrial infrastructure then using Renewable Energy Day exhaustion would come later on 21 days.
Sooner or later, people will have to change some habits. For example, if each person instead of personal transport in half of the travel time used a bicycle or public transport, then our planet would receive an additional 11.5 days. By reducing meat consumption, the date will move another 15 days.
There is another way – to reduce the number of people. Wackernagel notes that according to statistics in countries where women there is access to education and career growth, fertility much lower. Therefore Wackernagel stands for equal rights for women in terms of improving education.
Andrey Vetrov
Time
