This blog usually emphasizes hydrological processes. This post takes a large step back and looks at a much broader scientific picture.
The date referenced above marks the moment when humans, through consumption, have exhausted the planet’s natural resources that were available for the entire year. This simplified scientific exercise, explained here, is valuable to better understand our ecological footprint.
This means that, after only 206 days since January 1st, we have used the resources that our planet could regenerate in 365 days. Just like the financial debt of governments around the world is increasing, our environmental debt continues to rise exponentially. We are essentially spending our ecological ‘’annual salary’’ in less than 7 months. Back in 2000, the Ecological Overshoot Date was around September 15.
This represents one of the many overlapping crises that our societies face. The author of this blog, a researcher in climate change and hydrological processes, is by no mean an expert in all of those, but it is worth listing, in simple words, a few of the most pressing:
- Access to drinking water: In many regions, humans are depleting their most fundamental resource faster than it is being replenished through the water cycle, and the quality of most surface and groundwater bodies has been degrading for decades in a large majority of watersheds around the world.
- Climate change: Our own habitat and the habitat of all other species is generally warming, but beyond long term trends that cause glacier melt, permafrost thaw, and a rise in sea levels, extreme events cause more intense and frequent storms and floods, forest fires, and droughts, with direct consequences on food production, security and cost.
- Ecological crisis: Ecosystems on all continents are directly and indirectly impacted by human actions, from cutting rainforest for farmed meat to ocean acidification.
- Energy crisis: Our growing economies demand more and more energy, and most energy projects have environmental and social costs. Fortunately, renewable energy projects are becoming more affordable than fossil fuel driven projects.
- Microplastic crisis: Plastic particles are now found in rainwater and in our own bodies. (and Waste management: The sustainable management of domestic, industrial, and electronic waste remains largely out of reach.)
- Trust crisis: Finding reliable, unbiased information that we can use to make decisions is becoming increasingly difficult in most countries, and some governments control information to maintain a certain state of ignorance.
- Migration crisis: All the above crises are forcing populations to seek food and security in other regions of the world whereas “healthy” economies struggle to respond to the resulting social and housing pressures.
- Pandemics: Traditional and western sciences have done miracles to protect our health and that of domestic and farm animals for several decades, but limits are being reached. (and physical health crisis: North Americans rely on more medication than ever to live “normally”, and poor diet, in combination with unhealthy lifestyles, is largely responsible for that.)
- Mental health crisis: Reduced face-to-face social interactions combined with the above crises directly impact our mental well-being, which in turn influences our physical health (e.g., the opioid crisis).
- Productivity concerns: Social media, personal screens, poor health, and a general degradation of peoples’ hope impact our collective productivity, which also has an impact on the cost of goods.
Experts from all around the world are tackling these serious challenges as we speak, often emphasizing an individual crisis (just like the author of this blog is seeking ways to adapt to climate change). Interestingly, few people have the courage to state that most crises are the result of excessive consumption and unsustainable growth, including the world’s population living on a planet of finite space and resources. Some may believe that technology will eventually solve some of our problems, and this is occasionally true. However, so far, technology has generally invited us to consume more resources faster, to use our brains a little less, and to become less friendly with one another.
As Frank Herbert wrote in the appendix of Dune (1965): “Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is for gas molecules in a sealed flask.” Is it possible that the freedom of most humans is now declining (decades after the freedom of many species has been irreversibly compromised) and that this has something to do with the pressure that we put on our own planet?
Anyone who believes that the current growth rate and the consequent increasing competition between humans (and with other species) will get resolved by itself without profound consequences is unreasonable (this is already happening). The western system is dramatically failing, and this materializes through growing inequities among different groups. In Canada, Indigenous people are at least equally impacted by the Western model despite their vision and call for a sustainable and environmentally respectful way of living.
Humans are the most organized species on the planet but are they the most collectively intelligent? This blog post is not about blame, guilt or despair. It’s about awareness and action. It is an invitation to those who understand our various challenges and who do not want to give up thus future generations can have some form of security and enjoyment. If animals can sense earthquakes and move to higher ground, we should understand that it is our time to move to the next level of responsibility and decision making.
Actions can be taken to get us on the path of sustainability. Given the urgency of the situation, this now requires a combination of changes at the individual, collective, corporate, and political levels. Inspiring initiatives are taking place in all parts of the world, including here, in the Yukon. Here are a few but powerful steps that can be easily applied:
- Get informed about how you can improve your environmental footprint.
- Trust independent and ethical scientists over lobbies, diversify your information sources, and support professional journalism (otherwise democracy simply won’t work).
- Respect your own ecosystem and protect biodiversity.
- Fight unneeded dependencies and be open to change habits (even traditions) for personal and collective benefits (e.g., leave you phone at home and go outside with a real friend).
- Know the difference between a need and a want, simplify your lifestyle, and support small and local businesses.
- Love each other and be compassionate for one another (let’s improve the current situation through collaboration, let’s pull in the same direction while respecting culture diversity).
- Vote if you can, find other means of influencing the system if you can’t