49 Damn, It's Earth Overshoot Day Already!

<p class="p1">If we were on a spaceship, the end really would be near – August 22. That is Earth Overshoot Day for 2020. We all know we can’t graze 100 head of cattle for long on a one-acre patch of land. We’d have a barren wasteland and a bunch of dead cattle in no time. It’s a little more challenging for us to make this calculation about meeting the needs of 7.8 billion people on a larger patch of land – the entire planet. But the laws of physics equally apply.</p> <p class="p1"><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/123723/Ep_49_600.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="315" />Analysts at Global Footprint Network do an impressive job of performing this worldwide calculation. Since 2003, they’ve been analyzing UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. Their analysis suggests we have been in overshoot since about 1970.</p> <p class="p1">If you have too many people, consuming resources faster than the planet can regenerate them, and generating waste faster than the planet can convert that waste, you are in overshoot. This bonus episode of <em>GrowthBusters</em> features the <em>Conversation Earth</em> special, <em>Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day</em><span class="s1">.</span> This is a 2020 update of the special we shared a year ago. <em>Welcome to Overshoot</em> explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem. It features a who’s who of environmental and economic experts:</p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2">William Catton, author of <a href= "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/319810.Overshoot" target= "_blank" rel="noopener"><span class="s3">Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change</span></a></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s2">Brian Czech, author of <a href= "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16057534-supply-shock" target= "_blank" rel="noopener"><span class="s3"><em>Supply Sho