Wolfgang Korsus Dipl.-Ing. NT, Astrophysiker
Chapter 333/2
Is one earth enough ? ……No !!!
A sentence that passes my lips with difficulty, like a 1000-ton weight. It contains two indicators that provide information about our
insatiable greed and ecological mismanagement.
The Ecological Footprint and the World Creation Day are these two indicators.
Ever heard of them? They can be calculated, the UN has done it and the result is as follows:
The earth has just under 2 billion people with a so-called high standard of living …… and it can cope with that. Because that corresponds to what we are used to here in Europe.
Our planet can take a lot, so I would say that the earth could take six billion people, but only if we were prepared to limit our demands to a healthy mediocrity. When I talk about people, the only word that comes to mind is aspirations and where there are people, they increase from generation to generation!
I was going to increase my observations and say rather sadly:
….. there are no calculations for 11 billion people, and perhaps no earth that could withstand this in the long term.
The German sociologist and economist Professor Klaus Leisinger put it a little more simply than I did. He wrote: „If all people lived like „Brazilian“ jungle Indians, the earth could support 20 to 30 billion people. „HAURUCK“ what a statement!
So, let’s get down to brass tacks, „Americans, if everyone still alive consumed as many resources as you, the inhabitants of the USA, the ecological carrying capacity of the planet would already be exceeded today.“
In the 1990s, ecologists Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees came up with the concept of the „ecological footprint“, which is still used today ……. Brief explanation on my part:
This corresponds to the area of the earth that is necessary to make a person’s standard of living possible in the long term. It is precisely this footprint that takes into account the total resource consumption of an „individual“ person: namely energy, food, clothing, disposal of „waste“ produced and the binding of the carbon dioxide produced by all of their actions. The ecological footprint calculated in this way is expressed in hectares per person per year. Worldwide, there are around 11.3 billion hectares of ecologically productive land that can be used for food production, energy generation and housing. This area is offset by the sum of the ecological footprints of all people. The calculation is :
11.3 billion hectares : 8.3 billion people = 1.36 hectares . This means that today every person on earth would be entitled to 1.36 hectares in order to maintain a sustainable standard of living. Those who live with this sustainability do not contribute to the destruction of natural resources because they can renew themselves in natural cycles. On a global average, however, we currently use more than “ 2.5″ per person. If we multiply this amount by 8.3 billion inhabitants, we arrive at a total of 20.75 billion hectares of ecologically productive land. However, our planet only has 11.3 billion hectares. That means, cheek by jowl, we are consuming almost 2 Earths. We are therefore living in a hefty ecological deficit.
According to the Global Footprint Network, humans have been overexploiting the Earth’s biocapacity since 1987. Since then, the consumption of natural resources has far exceeded the amount that can be regenerated by natural ecosystems in the same period. To put it doubly, the inhabitants of the United Arab Emirates and the USA leave the largest ecological footprint with around 10.5 hectares per person, an average European uses 4.7 hectares, a person in Bangladesh only 0.6 hectares.
If you’re sitting on a wobbly chair, hold on tight, I’ve come to a pretty terrible conclusion: if everyone on the planet wanted to live like the average North American, we’d need six Earths, compared to 3 Earths for the standard European.
Germany is also on my list, consuming about two and a half times its existing biocapacity. In the Globalc Footprint Network’s ecological footprint calculations, Germany ranks 34th out of 182 countries worldwide. Of course, our „rulers“ are constantly trying to tell us something different…whoever believes it will be blessed! But where is it different ?!
The pollution is extremely high in the areas of
CO2 emissions (rank 32)
arable land (rank 17)
and the loss of biodiversity through built-up areas (rank 14).
I dare to say something desirable:
If, for example, the entire human race lived like the average person in Bangladesh, we wouldn’t even need an earth, and would even provide reserves for the future. Well, dear reader,…. also thought?
I am now embarking on a „new“ way of looking at things, which will have an effect, but will also be frightening. Because the size of the „ecological footprint“ of the entire world population can be used to calculate not only the ecological „deficit“, but also the ecological „overshoot“, also known in German as „Welterschöpfungstag“ or, even more sharply, „Erdüberlastungstag“. This campaign, launched by the Global Footprint Network, also calculates the day each year on which the current consumption of natural resources exceeds the earth’s capacity to regenerate these resources. Watch out! It is well thought out…….The total use of natural resources of forests, water, arable land and living creatures that all humans currently need for their way of life and economy is compared with the biological capacity of the earth to build up resources and absorb waste and emissions.
This shows when the earth is in ecological deficit, i.e. when more resources have been consumed than the earth can sustainably provide.
Everything that is consumed from then on will not grow back or cannot be compensated for by the earth. The fact that this day is being reached earlier every year is a clear sign of the „reckless“ destruction of the biocapacity of our blue planet. According to the calculations of the Global Footprint Network, we are therefore consuming more resources than there are on earth. But the math still works out, doesn’t it? Yes, for the people who live excessively in the rich industrialized countries.
We are living our prosperity at the expense of other people in the Third World, in Bangladesh, Bolivia or Niger. Every square meter that a person in Germany needs more for their ecological footprint, for their personal wishes and demands, whether it is for a weekend flight to a Mediterranean island, for a good steak at an Italian restaurant or for a new car, is missing for a person in the mostly poor developing countries. We know that the earth will not grow, but our demands are growing – and injustice and inequality are growing with it.
Do we have to destroy the planet and keep other people in poverty in order to continue living our lives to our usual standards – or should we say, our usual lack of standards? There is no more time to waffle between thinking well and it could work after all. For several decades now, indeed since 1987, humanity has been operating in an ecological deficit that is growing from year to year and irretrievably destroying more of planet Earth’s biocapacity. We have no more time to waste on any attempts to waste this time, we can no longer test and try things out, we have to act properly, act consistently, so as not to destroy the living biocapacities of our planet for thousands of years to come.
The good news is that we know how we could act, we have the technology and the know-how. Only intention and insight are missing.
World Creation Day year:
August 13, 2015
August 19, 2014
August 20, 2013
August 22, 2012
September 27, 2011
August 21, 2010
September 25, 2009
September 23, 2008
October 6, 2007
October 9, 2006
October 20, 2005
November 1, 2000
November 21, 1995
Finally, please take a look at the latest figures for 2024:
Earth Overshoot Day this year falls on August 1, 2024, when humanity will have used up all the resources the planet could naturally replace within a year. How is this day calculated? And how can we improve our environmental footprint?
Status: 30.07.2024 |Image credit
Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder that the overuse of the Earth’s natural resources by humans has consequences: a massive decline in biodiversity, an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and increased competition for food and energy. Earth Overshoot Day falls on August 1, 2024, according to the Global Footprint Network . From this date, the world’s population will have consumed more natural resources than can be replenished by the end of the year.
In addition to the international deadline, there are national Country Overshoot Days for many countries. Germany already slipped into the red on its imaginary environmental account on May 2, 2024.
A life of dignity and prosperity for all can only be made possible by taking the right action based on deep sustainability and systemic change. However, the necessary ethics must first be developed. Humanity must succeed in doing all this in the next 35 years, otherwise we may all lose everything. …..The earth that gives us this doesn’t care at all.
What does it give us? ….. Is it generous?
A team does the math. It’s the American professor of ecological economics, Robert Constanza, because he calculated how this works out back in 1997. ( it is still there ; maybe Trump has already abolished it )?!??
Further on in the material: here is the calculation…….water, fertile soils, oceans full of fish, habitats for millions of animal and plant species, food, raw materials, the regulation of natural cycles and, last but not least, the recreational value and beauty of nature !!!! The scientists calculated these free services provided by the earth to mankind at „33“ trillion dollars a year. The total global gross domestic product in that year was „only“ 18 trillion dollars. Environmental economic assessments are often criticized because economic assessments of nature lead to the suppression of moral arguments for environmental protection, because they are based on an anthropocentric view of the world and focus on monetary values. This criticism is entirely justified. But for the economically minded people of today’s meritocracy, who dismiss damage to nature as an unavoidable side effect of their actions, this figure may open up a different perspective on the natural values of the earth.
My question? „Or do you know of a country that includes its annual waste production, the destruction of natural resources and its total annual emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases as a negative value in the calculation of its annual gross national product?“ ……I am unfortunately a stranger here and don’t know anyone…..
I will take the liberty of mentioning some examples of excessive resource consumption in „Germany“ in the next post ….see you soon !