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The Credit Card Endowed by the Earth: Earth Overshoot Day
According to Global Footprint Network, the Earth Overshoot Day of 2025 befalls on 2025/7/24. That means, on that day, we will deplete all renewable resources supplied by Earth.
Now, people’s rate of depleting resources are 80% greater than the Earth’s resources’ recovering rate. That means, we use 1.8 Earth to live on 1 Earth.
The history of Earth Overshoot Day traces back to the 1970s, when we began to live beyond Earth’s environmental capacity. From then on, Earth Overshoot Day kept moving earlier, indicating a greater extent of resource exploitation and an increasingly unsustainable living style.
We must do something!
Country Overshoot Days
Surprising conclusions emerge when we look at Earth Overshoot Day by countries, indicating how fast Earth’s resource will be depleted if every one created an average ecological footprint of that country. Some regions known for strict carbon restriction, such as EU countries, have relatively earlier Earth Overshoot Days. This means that average carbon footprint correlates more with economic prosperity (GDP per capita) of the country. However, this does not mean that rich countries’ attempts to reduce carbon footprint are useless -- they just need improvement.
Why China appears in the middle?
China, one of the greatest carbon emitters worldwide, has an Earth Overshoot Day of 2025/5/23, even lower than some EU countries and the US. Why that? This is because the great population of China (1.4 billion) result in a relatively less serious number of average carbon footprint. However, this does not mean that China’s carbon emission does not need treatment and abatement -- with China’s population basis and improving living quality, the demand for energy in China is still the highest around the world. Plus, China’s income inequality indicates that most ecological footprint is caused by high- and middle-income families. Reducing ecological footprint from those groups should be an emergency.
How to calculate every country’s own EOD?
First, calculate how many days the Earth’s resources can supply if everyone created an average ecological footprint of that country:
365/(average per capita ecological footprint/global per capita biocapacity)
Next, figure out date by counting from 1/1.
For example, if the number calculated is 127, then the Earth Overshoot Day of the country is the 127th day of the year. In the case of 2025, it’s May 5th.
Can you calculate your own foorprint?
Go to https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en for a detailed calculation of your own personal footprint.
Decrease your footprint for a better future!
References
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"Climate Fresk" Wechat Official Account
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