October 6 is Ecological Debt Day

• What is Ecological Debt Day?
• What is Overshoot?
• Evidence of Global Ecological Overshoot
• How is Ecological Debt Day Calculated?

What is Ecological Debt Day?

Globally, we are demanding 1.3 planets to support our lifestyles this year, and yet we only have one planet earth.

Ecological Debt Day marks the day when we begin living beyond our ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 6, 2007, humanity has consumed the total amount of new resources that our planet can produce this year.

Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries) and compares it with global biocapacity (the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes). Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, go into ecological overshoot, using more than the planet can regenerate in a year. On Ecological Debt Day, we go into global overshoot for a given year and begin contributing to our global ecological debt, which has been accumulating since we first went into overshoot in the 1980s.

As humanity’s consumption of resources increases, Ecological Debt Day creeps earlier on the calendar. According to current calculations, humanity’s first Ecological Debt Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. In 2007, with Ecological Debt on October 6, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planet’s productivity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.

Please contact Nicole Freeling if you are interested in learning more about Ecological Debt Day.

What is Overshoot?

In 2007, humanity used about 30% more in one year than nature can regenerate in that same year. This is called “overshoot”. An ecological overshoot of 30% means that it takes over one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what is being used by people in one year. This overshoot accumulates over time to create a global ecological debt.

We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet’s natural resources. For example we can cut trees faster than they re-grow, and catch fish at a rate faster than they repopulate. While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources on which our economy depends.

Overshoot is like ecological overspending. Just as any business that does not keep financial books will go bankrupt over time, we must document whether we’re living within our ecological budget or running an ecological debt that will eventually deplete our renewable assets.

Evidence of Global Ecological Overshoot

Overshoot could be the biggest issue you’ve never heard of, yet its causes and effects are as simple as they are significant. For example, in any given year if we cut down trees faster than the forests can grow them back or catch more fish than the oceans can replenish, we begin liquidating the planet’s assets. The consequences of our annual overshoot is an accumulating ecological debt, with consequences including global climate change, species extinction, insecure energy supplies, water shortages, and crop failure. Below are some facts about the effects of humanity's ecological debt.

FORESTS

• Deforestation, mainly the conversion of forests to agricultural land, continues at a rate of about 13 million hectares per year.
• About 6 million hectares of primary forest have been lost or modified each year since 1990.
• This current rate of loss does not appear to be slowing down.

FISHERIES

• In 2001 the FAO estimated that about 75% of oceanic fisheries were fished at or beyond capacity.
• 25% of marine fish stocks are overexploited or significantly depleted.
• Some stocks have collapsed entirely: for example, Atlantic cod stocks off the coast of Newfoundland collapsed in 1992 forcing closure of the fishery after years of exploitation.
• Human use of capture fisheries has declined because of reduced supply - not due to reduced demand.

SPECIES

• Over the last 30 years, the Living Planet Index, “the Dow Jones index of wild vertebrate populations” has decreased 30 percent.
• There are currently 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and 16,306 of these are threatened with extinction.
• The current extinction rate of plant and animal species is as much as 1,000 times faster than it was in pre-human times – and this may increase to 10,000 times faster by 2050.

SOIL

• Salinization affects 20-30 million hectares of the worlds current 260 million hectares of irrigated land.
• Soil erosion affects more than 1.1 billion hectares of land worldwide, re-distributing 75 billion tons of topsoil.
• Current USA agriculture practices are destroying topsoil 18 times faster than it can be replenished.

CLIMATE CHANGE

• In 2005 the IPCC Report stated that warming of the climate system was ‘unequivocal’, and that this warming is very likely due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.
• Global average temperatures have increased 0.6 +/-.2 °C since the 19 th Century.
• The 1990s are likely to have been the warmest decade of the millennium in the Northern Hemisphere, and 1998 is likely to have been the warmest year.
• Mean sea level has risen by 10 to 20 cm in the last hundred years.
• In 1990, 51% of all CO2 emitted was not absorbed by planetary carbon sinks (oceans, forests), and accumulated in the atmosphere.
• The rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 has gone up by 1.5 ppm/per year in the last two decades, and has increased 31% since 1750.
• 75% of anthropogenic emissions of CO2 during the last 20 years are due to burning of fossil fuels, and the rest comes from land use change, especially deforestation.

DROUGHT

• Climate change affects the global environment and droughts, flooding and changes in seasonal weather patterns will increase as global temperature increases.
• The percentage of Earth’s land that has been affected by drought has more than doubled from the 1970s to early 2000s.
• Dry conditions rose from 10-15% in early 1970 to 30% in 2002 due to increase in average mean temperature.

For source information for the above statistics, click here.

How is Ecological Debt Day Calculated?

[ world biocapacity / world Ecological Footprint ] x 365 = Ecological Debt Day

Put simply, Ecological Debt Day shows the day on which our total Ecological Footprint (measured in global hectares) is equal to the biocapacity (also measured in global hectares) that nature can regenerate in that year. For the rest of the year, we are accumulating debt by depleting our natural capital and letting waste accumulate.

The day of the year on which humanity enters into overshoot and begins adding to our ecological debt is calculated by calculating the ratio of global available biocapacity to global Ecological Footprint and multiplying by 365. From this, we find the number of days of demand that the biosphere could supply, and the number of days we operate in overshoot.

This ratio shows that in 2007, in just 279 days, we demanded the biosphere’s entire capacity for the year. The 279th day of the year was October 6.

If you have further questions about the Ecological Footprint and overshoot calculations, there are a number of resources available through our website to learn more: See the Living Planet Report and the Ecological Debt Day Media Backgrounder for definitions, data and further information about overshoot. You can also read our methodology paper for a more technical overview of our calculation methods, and visit our glossary page for definitions of terms. If you have further inquiries about Ecological Debt Day please contact Nicole Freeling.