A nonprofit organization, the Global Footprint Network , which develops tools to promote sustainability , annually calculates the number of days that Earth's biocapacity can cover the human ecological footprint . What is the ecological footprint ? It is " an internationally recognized indicator of environmental pressure used to assess human consumption of natural resources ." More specifically, it involves taking all the products we use and translating their impact into the area of living land.
Earth Overshoot Day
Every year there is a world date called Earth Overshoot Day, that is, the day on which man's demand for natural resources exceeds the amount of resources that the Earth is capable of producing. This year it occurred on August 2th but every year it happens earlier and earlier because of theincrease in consumption. Some examples: last year the day fell on August 8th, two years ago on August 13th, and in 2000 it even fell at the end of September. Considering that there are still 5 months left until the end of the year, this is worrying. The organization has calculated that we would need another planet parked next to ours, with no inhabitants, to feed us. natural resources; to be precise, 0,7 planets. But it doesn't end there: if the entire world consumed as much per year as the United States, we would need 5 more planets; if everyone lived like us Italians, however, we would need 2,6.
Life quality
Not all countries overconsume: Moldova , for example, according to statistics, consumes the right amount of resources compared to the Earth's biocapacity and can therefore boast of having a national Overshoot Day in December. To this fact, it must be added, however, that the quality of life in Moldova is very low, so much so that many of its inhabitants emigrate to find work. The most difficult challenge is to ensure a good quality of life for all while respecting the Earth's biocapacity. How? Good question. New, stricter laws against waste? Investments in renewable energy? All right. Let's take a step back, however, because first, a cultural shift, both individual and collective, is needed.
The fight against waste
What can we as individual citizens do? Small gestures, which may seem insignificant to us, can actually lead to significant change. Waste less food, for example, by buying what you need and consuming it even when it's just past its expiration date. If you think this won't solve much, wait until you read some data: according to 2015 research by the observatory Waste Watcher, in Italy, they end up in the bin, without passing through the table, 15 billion and 615 million euros per year: each family buys without consuming 145 kg of food on average per year, to which waste from industries and distribution is added; according to the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) the United States throws away 46 million tons of food a year; while the FAO It estimated that the food thrown away in Europe could feed around 200 million people and that food waste worldwide amounts to more than 1,3 billion tonnes per year.
The importance of education
Aside from wasting less food, what can we do? It also takes a little imagination: why not let us, as citizens, communicate to companies what we consider unnecessary waste? Containers that contain other containers, like toothpaste tubes, rather than plastic bottles wrapped in more plastic; or objects we could do without, like the cutlery found in pre-packaged salads. There are many other small measures we could take, but in reality, all we need to do is change a few bad daily habits and we're done. There's no "me" without a "we"; one influences the other and vice versa, so it's important that change is not only individual but also collective. One idea would be to start from the ground up, that is, with education . First in the family and then in schools, both important. Civic, environmental, and food education. Teaching children the value of the earth we live on from an early age, incorporating nature experiences into the school curriculum, and teaching them the importance of not throwing away things when we no longer like them could be some ideas.
Loving the places we live in doesn't just mean being amazed by a sunset or a breathtaking landscape; it also means caring for them and ensuring that nothing, least of all humanity, can alter their appearance. We must learn to coexist with the Earth, imagining ourselves as its guest. Often, however, we act as if everything it produces belongs to us. This isn't the case, and the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can implement individual and collective strategies aimed at reducing consumption and , why not, one day celebrate Earth Overshoot Day in December, along with Christmas.
Giulia Borsetto
