August 19 Is Now Earth Overshoot Day Or Something

Have you heard about the new awareness day hardcore Warmists are pushing? It’s oh so cute. And nutty. Can’t forget nutty (via Climate Depot)

August 19 is Earth Overshoot Day 2014, marking the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We will be operating in overshoot.

Just as a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network measures humanity’s demand for and supply of natural resources and ecological services. And the data is sobering. Global Footprint Network estimates that approximately every eight months, we demand more renewable resources and C02 sequestration than what the planet can provide for an entire year.

Earth Overshoot Day is the annual marker of when we begin living beyond our means in a given year. While only a rough estimate of time and resource trends, Earth Overshoot Day is as close as science can be to measuring the gap between our demand for ecological resources and services, and how much the planet can provide.

They have press releases in multiple languages. The English one is here. It’s kinda hard to celebrate the day when they announce it on that day, wouldn’t you say?

Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to absorb our carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget. But in the mid-1970s, we crossed a critical threshold: Human consumption began outstripping what the planet could reproduce.

According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-century.

Oh, lord, Malthusian idiocy rears its ugly head.

As Global Footprint Network methodology changes, projections will continue to shift. But every scientific model used to account for human demand and nature’s supply shows a consistent trend: We are well over budget, and that debt is compounding. It is an ecological debt, and the interest we are paying on that mounting debt–food shortages, soil erosion, and the build-up of COâ‚‚ in our atmosphere–comes with devastating human and monetary costs.

Calculate your own personal Ecological Footprint and learn what you can do to reduce it with our Footprint Calculator.

Interestingly, the calculator requires registration in order to proceed. A bit of data mining, eh?

Anyway, there you go, Warmists, you’re killing the planet. Time for you to cut back and Do Your Part to Save Gaia. No more fossil fueled vehicles, no more washing machines, no more ice makers, turn your AC up to 80, grow your own food. No more meat. Come on, do it for our overheating planet.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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