Overshoot? What the Hell Is Overshoot?
Chances are you’ve never heard of Earth Overshoot Day or ecological overshoot. Don’t feel badly. But this needs to change! We’re in an ecological overshoot emergency, and that promises to leave our kids a dead planet.
Overshoot is a deal-breaker for human civilization. Being in overshoot is like disassembling your spacecraft as you hurtle through space. So it warrants our attention. That’s why the centerpiece of my presidential campaign is the promise to declare an ecological overshoot emergency and launch The Bright Future Project to get us back into sustainable balance with our home planet.
You don’t have time to read, and I don’t have time to write. So listen to this episode of the Dave the Planet podcast (find it wherever you listen). Or watch on YouTube:
In this episode, William E. Rees, the originator of ecological footprint analysis, provides a primer for the uninitiated – plus some advanced thinking for those already well aware of the metacrisis.
PLEASE share this episode with friends, colleagues, elected representatives and journalists. Our kids desperately need us to increase overshoot literacy. Earth Overshoot Day (August 1 in 2024) is the day Global Footprint Network calculates that we’ve consumed the entire year’s work of Earth’s regenerative capacity – using 12 months’ worth of biocapacity in 7 months. I’m putting several links below to help you dig deeper into the subject if you wish.
Here’s just one example of why policymakers need to understand ecological overshoot:
Just yesterday, South Korea announced new measures in its response to what President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a national emergency: the country has the world’s lowest birth rate. Today, many nations beginning to experience population contraction are responding with efforts to boost the birth rate.
They are addicted to economic growth, and they see women’s wombs as a tool for producing more human capital. It’s dehumanizing. It’s no reason to bring a new life into the world. And it’s insane to try to grow your population and economy when you’re in overshoot. It may be challenging to replace the current economic Ponzi scheme with a healthy 21st century economy not hooked on growth, but there is NO economy on a dead planet.
South Korea is in overshoot. Global Footprint Network’s analysis reveals the country’s people are demanding nearly ten times what the nation’s biocapacity can sustainably deliver. In the U.S., we’re demanding about twice our sustainable biocapacity. We are in overshoot. And we’ve been digging ourselves deeper over time. Staying this course will leave our kids a dead planet, unable to meet their basic needs, let alone decent lives. In both countries, the rational response is to embrace the trend of young people choosing smaller families, and to end the destructive pursuit of robust economic growth – scaling back our overconsumption.
That’s not happening. And that’s why I chose to run for president. Unfortunately, my campaign has not caught fire, so I won’t be elected. I announced a week ago that I, myself, will vote for Kamala Harris. Our system requires us to vote blue in order to ensure we don’t have an incompetent, indecent, hateful, criminal in the White House. That doesn’t eliminate the urgent need to change the conversation and give our elected policymakers permission to take the dramatic actions being sketched out in The Bright Future Project.
Bill Rees developed the concept of ecological footprint pre-1990, but in 1995, he and one of his doctoral students at University of British Columbia, Mathis Wackernagel, published the definitive book, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, introducing the concept to the world. Wackernagel went on to found Global Footprint Network, which collects and analyzes data to provide the best estimates of biocapacity and ecological footprint on a nation-by-nation basis. Rees is human ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning.
Quick Note: Tomorrow is the last day to apply to be my running mate. Details here.
Some Recommended Resources, Viewing and Reading:
Earth Overshoot Day – official site
National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts - Global Footprint Network Data
On Being a Snowflake in an Avalanche: The Catastrophe of Overshoot and How to Cope – by William E. Rees
Earth Overshoot Day 2018 - YouTube video by Dave Gardner
Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing – short film by Dave Gardner
GrowthBusters Playlist on Spotify
Overshoot Playlist: Top 10 Environmental Songs – Episode 30 of GrowthBusters podcast
Top 10 podcast with complete songs
Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day – episode of Conversation Earth syndicated radio series and podcast
Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth – 1995 book by William E. Rees, Mathis Wackernagel & Phil Testemale
This was also posted here on Substack.
Posted on 30 Jul 2024, 16:52 - Category: News
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