There are more than five months left in the year, but on Monday (29 Jul 2019 ) humankind had already burned through the planet’s ecological resource budget for 2019. It’s the earliest the date—known as Earth Overshoot Day—has ever come, the Global Footprint Network, which tracks the metric, said in a statement. The trend of overspending is clear: last year the day was on Aug. 1; in 2017 it was on Aug. 2; and in 2016 it was on Aug 8. In fact, say the network, Earth Overshoot Day has crept up two months over the past 20 years. Put another way, says the group, the world is using up resources like fisheries and forests 1.75 times faster than the planet’s ecosystems can regenerate them. If everyone lived like U.S. population, we’d need five planets.
— source commondreams.org | Jul 29, 2019