NOS News•today, 09:38
We are just three months into 2024, but if everyone lived like in the Netherlands, all raw materials for this year would already be ‘used up’. This is reported by research organization Global Footprint Network. Today is therefore the Dutch ‘Overshoot Day’.
Every year the organization calculates the day on which we have used all the raw materials that our planet can produce in twelve months. Last year, Overshoot Day fell on April 12 in the Netherlands. This year it will be – and according to the organization this is absolutely no joke – on April 1.
We are doing significantly worse than other European countries. Only Luxembourg (February 20), Denmark (March 16) and Belgium (March 23) are doing worse. Leading the list is Qatar, where raw materials were already ‘exhausted’ on February 11 this year.
The bottom line is that we use many more raw materials in the Netherlands than we can produce ourselves. This includes looking at the consumption of food, water and wood. If everyone were to live as we would in the Netherlands, we would need four Earths.
Achieving the climate agreement would be a step towards pushing Overshoot Day back on the calendar or even eliminating it altogether. According to Global Footprint Network, this would shift the date by 32 days. Emission-free transport, a plant-based diet and a circular economy would also reduce our ecological footprint.
There has been a significant shift worldwide
Since the 1970s, Global Footprint Network has been working with the World Wildlife Fund to calculate on which day Earth Overshoot Day falls. Although that day has fluctuated around the end of July or the beginning of August in recent years, according to the organization we should look at the bigger picture. In 1986 we were in November, in 1998 it was October and in 2004 it was September. Globally, Earth Overshoot Day is on July 25 this year.
Since 1971, the time to tap into reserves has come faster and faster, says the Global Footprint Network. Then Earth Overshoot Day wasn’t until the end of December:
Tags: lived Netherlands Earths needed
