In the future, you could live in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
The St James Gate brewery in the Irish capital will be transformed into an urban district
You won’t find it on your calendar and ideally, it should not even exist
Earth Overshoot Day falls on 28 July this year, a day earlier than last year. Marked by the international research organization Global Footprint Network, this initiative aims to bring attention to the impact that we as a population are having on Earth’s resources. In other words, today we have already used up all the resources that it takes for the planet to regenerate in one year.
Humans catch more fish and cut down more forest than the earth has available - to name just a few examples. In fact, we would have to have 1.75 Earths available to be in balance with nature. Back in 1970, for comparison, humanity used up its needed resources exactly in one year.
Bo Øksnebjerg, the secretary general of the WWF World Nature Fund, illustrates the resource footprint in another way:
“We are taking more from the planet than it can regenerate. We have 100 kroner (Danish currency) in nature's account, but we spend 170 kroner. And we do that year after year after year. If we continue in this way, it will result in food crises, water shortages and make us even more vulnerable to extreme weather phenomena and natural disasters. Therefore, there is no way around it: In the coming years, we must give more back to nature than we take. Otherwise, it will go wrong".
In 50 years, Earth Overshoot Day has moved five months reflecting the growth of population, growing economy and industrialization, all of which demand more resources from a finite planet.
Here's how the Earth Overshoot Day has been moving earlier in the year in the past half-century. Source: Global Footprint Network
However, there is a big difference in the ecological footprint that different countries leave on our planet. Countries such as Indonesia and Jamaica have some of the lowest footprints in the world, while Luxembourg, on the other hand, is in the most resource-demanding group of the world's countries.
Nevertheless, how much a country consumes and regenerates is not just a question of how developed it is. Smaller countries, for example, reach their national Overshoot Days earlier because the resources in their territories are limited.
Here are the top 10 countries in the world with the largest footprint:
From 2021 to 2022, the total ecological footprint has increased by 1.2 per cent, while the total biocapacity has only increased by 0.4 per cent.
The country may run out of this common frozen product before the end of the summer
Some of these feature entire tanks – objects that have become too unsavoury to honour in light of the current circumstances
An annual ranking shows a wealth of crises threatening local financial stability
An annual ranking shows a wealth of crises threatening local financial stability
The data will be anonymous and will help the city plan traffic conditions more efficiently
According to Eurostat data, countries that spend less than the EU average, have grown their budgets the most in the last 10 years
The country may run out of this common frozen product before the end of the summer
The bags will help protect young trees’ roots from the urban drought
The towns in the UNESCO-protected national park cannot deal on their own with the trash generated by the throngs of visitors
The towns in the UNESCO-protected national park cannot deal on their own with the trash generated by the throngs of visitors
A local pastor explained that the throat and the soul are linked, so a little wine could open the door to religion for some
According to experts, this is because many women do most of the unpaid work like taking care of relatives and raising children
These will be spread across 11 EU countries and will serve to support the EU Missions
The European Commission has accepted to develop the idea
An interview about AYR, one of the 2021 New European Bauhaus Prize winners
A conversation with the President of the European Committee of the Regions, about energy, climate change and the underrated importance of cohesion policy
Interview with Herald Ruijters, Director, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), European Commission
A conversation with the Mayor of Matosinhos, Portugal’s first UN Resilience Hub