Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Energy News .




ENERGY NEWS
Earth's 2015 quota of renewable resources used up: NGO
By Joshua MELVIN
Paris (AFP) Aug 13, 2015


Just under eight months into the year, humanity has already consumed its annual allotment of renewable resources, a thinktank that tracks mankind's impact on Earth said Thursday.

"If you think of the whole year as a total budget, it turns out we have used it up by August 13," Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network, told AFP.

Referred to as Earth Overshoot Day, it is the estimated date when humanity's demand on nature for the year exceeds what Earth can regenerate annually.

Global Footprint Network estimated that humans would need the resources produced by just over one-and-half Earths to keep up with what we will use this year.

"We spend 1.62 times what Earth can renew," said Wackernagel. "Like with money, you can dip into your inheritance or your savings for a time, but only a certain amount of time."

Humanity is overusing resources, for example, by pumping more carbon dioxide into the air than the planet can adsorb, over fishing or hacking down more trees than nature can regenerate each year.

The group calculated the "overshoot" point by crunching UN data on tens of thousands of sectors like food production and trade. Over the last several decades, the date has been getting progressively earlier in the year.

In 1993 Earth Overshoot Day was on October 21, in 2003 on September 22, and last year on August 19.

According to the group's calculations, humans used only about three-quarters of the Earth's annual resource allotment in 1961. By the 1970s, economic and population growth sent Earth into overshoot.

Some countries already feeling the pinch are places like Haiti, Syria and Afghanistan, all troubled countries which cannot produce everything they need, and cannot afford to buy it either.

"If you don't have the resources to support yourself it gets extremely tight," Wackernagel said.

- Population surge -

Global Footprint Network sees the climate talks in Paris later this year -- where the UN is aiming to get a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gasses -- as a chance to change.

Assuming global carbon emissions are reduced by at least 30 percent below today's levels by 2030, Earth Overshoot Day could improve to September 16, 2030, the group said.

Meanwhile, new data released at a conference in the United States on Monday indicated that the demand for resources is unlikely to slow as the world's population is expected to boom in the coming decades.

The number of people on Earth is forecast to grow from 7.3 billion now to 11.2 billion by the end of the century, John Wilmoth, director of the UN's population division, said at the Seattle conference of global statisticians.

High fertility rates in Africa are one of the key drivers of the increase, with the continent's number of people expected to swell from 1.2 billion at present to as many as 5.6 billion by 2100.

Wilmoth said the growing population could make worse a range of problems like pollution, distributing scarce resources as well as political instability and crime.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links







Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





ENERGY NEWS
Germany's RWE changing the way it does business
Essen, Germany (UPI) Aug 11, 2015
German energy company RWE announced it was reconfiguring how it does business to work through what it said was a "massive" energy market transformation. The company announced board directors approved of a plan to simplify how it operates in the German market to move in reaction to industry trends. "The massive transformation of the energy market in recent years, and in RWE's core ... read more


ENERGY NEWS
Researchers Developing System to Lower Community Energy Usage

New Zealand puts bets on diverse energy mix

Germany's RWE changing the way it does business

Qualified praise for Obama's clean power plan

ENERGY NEWS
'Yolks' and 'shells' improve rechargeable batteries

Better together: Graphene-nanotube hybrid switches

New Zealand marks end to coal power

A zero-emission route to clean middle-distillate fuels from coal

ENERGY NEWS
Impax Asset Management: fund sells French wind farm

Prysmian secures contract for offshore wind farm inter-array cables

U.S. claims No. 2 position in global wind power

Study finds price of wind energy in US at an all-time low

ENERGY NEWS
PV Energy to provide Antigua and Barbuda with clean solar power

SunShare Flips the Switch on Colorado Spring's Largest Solar Garden

CEC launches community solar software platform for utilities

SkyPower wins 200 MW PV project in Telangana, India

ENERGY NEWS
What is the importance of nuclear power in Japan?

Japan ends nuclear shutdown sparked by Fukushima crisis

Russian, Egyptian companies prepare contracts for NPP Project

A small, modular, efficient fusion plant

ENERGY NEWS
Turning cow poo into power is profitable for US farm

Motile and cellulose degrading bacteria used for solid state cellulose hydrolysis

Keeping algae from stressing out

Pulse electric field enhances biogas yield in anaerobic digestion

ENERGY NEWS
China to deploy space-air-ground sensors for environment protection

Chinese earth station is for exclusively scientific and civilian purposes

Cooperation in satellite technology put Belgium, China to forefront

China set to bolster space, polar security

ENERGY NEWS
Drought causes Panama Canal to reduce cargo size

Hollande hails US climate plan ahead of Paris conference

CO2 removal cannot save the oceans - if we pursue business as usual

Climate: No 'Plan B' for oceans, says study




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.