WORLD OVERSHOOT DAY

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Context:  This year’s Earth Overshoot Day was observed July 28, a day before it was celebrated last year July 29 and nearly a month earlier than it was celebrated in 2020 August 22.

Details:

• The day, hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation, falls earlier every year, to indicate that humanity’s demand for natural resources exceeds what the Earth can provide.
• Moving the date of exhaustion communicates to the world that the time to act and save the planet is running out.
• The Global Footprint Network said on the occasion that “the greatest potential for large-scale change lies with governments and businesses when they align their policies and strategies with the possibilities of the planet.”
• The organisation listed five ways to “turn around our natural consumption trends” to restore the Earth’s “ecological debt”:
• Take care of the planet’s biodiversity and let nature thrive
• Design and manage cities sustainably
• Use our energy resources judiciously
• Control the population
• Choose how we feed ourselves
• The WWF has launched the “Good for You, Good for the Planet”campaign to guide people towards eating a planet friendly diet. 
• A new study by WWF and Tesco revealed that food waste amounts to 10 per cent of GHG, a jump from previous estimates of eight per cent. This amounts to twice the yearly carbon emissions from automobiles in the United States and Europe. The report said 1.2 billion tones of food was left wasted on farms and additionally, 931 million tonnes was left wasted in retail and consumption too.
• Overall, 2.5 billion tonnes of food goes uneaten globally. The report said approximately 40 per cent of all food grows uneaten worldwide, up from the previous estimated figure of 33 per cent. 

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/world-overshoot-day-world-has-already-overshot-nature-s-budget-for-rest-of-the-year-84027