Today is Earth Day. Although the intentions of Earth Day are good at Achieve Goal 12 we recognise the impact humans are having on the planet every day of the year.
By the time Earth Day comes around 21 countries have reached their overshoot day. A country’s overshoot day is the date when Earth overshoot day would fall if all of humanity consumed at the same level as the people in that specific country. This means that 21 countries demand for resources has exceeded the amount Earth can regenerate in that same year.
The Uk’s Earth Overshoot day is on the 17th of May 2025. It is vital that businesses implement sustainable practices to ensure we minimise our demand for resources. The Earth entered ecological overshoot in the early 1970s, since then resource extraction has tripled.
What are the problems that are causing us to exceed the planets resources?
Overconsumption
- If everybody across the world consumed resources at the same rate as people in Europe we would need the equivalent of 3.3 Earths per year to meet consumption levels, for the USA, Canada and Luxembourg we would need around 5 Earths to meet consumption levels.
- Someone living in Europe consumes approximately 6 times more materials than someone living in Africa.
Waste
- 92 million tonnes of textiles end up in landfill each year.
- Approximately 10% of microplastics entering the ocean come from textiles.
- One-fifth of food produced for human consumption is wasted globally.
- Food waste is responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Resource Extraction
- Our economic system heavily relies on resource extraction to generate wealth.
- Since the 1970s resource extraction has more than tripled.
- Extraction and processing of materials, food and fuels are responsible for 90% if biodiversity loss and over half of global greenhouse gas emissions.
This is why at Achieve Goal 12 we focus both on production and consumption because problems lie at every stage of the value chain. It is vital that we are finding ways to reduce waste, minimise greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our reliance on unsustainable resource extraction and evaluate our attitudes towards consuming and purchasing goods to reduce the pressures we are putting on our planet.
Links
Overconsumption: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/over-consumption-worlds-richest-countries-destroying-childrens-environments-globally
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/consumption-natural-resources
Waste: https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/
https://www.wfp.org/stories/5-facts-about-food-waste-and-hunger
Resource Extraction