Nearly 40% of our readers are from the USA. March 13, they could ‘celebrate’ their Overshoot Day. 40% of the readers are Dutch, so let’s set the Netherlands as a standard for now. Last Monday the Netherlands passed its Overshoot Day.
What is Overshoot Day? Here some basics, and further on values, lists and ranking.
The Overshoot Day is all about the ecological footprint. So for the Netherlands’ Overshoot Day it means: if the whole world would live as the Dutchmen, the Earth’s biocapacity would be finished on May 5. We would need nearly three planet Earths to provide for the world’s consumption in 2025.
This is different from a country’s deficit day , which refers to the date by which the residents of the country begin to demand more than their country’s ecosystems can provide in the entire year. E.g. in the Netherlands, with its densed population and relatively small and damaged nature areas, this date would definitely be earlier.
Redefining development
The concept of Overshoot Day automatically discusses our traditional values.
The traditional meaning of development is generally standardised in terms of GDP, or in GDP-PPP (Gross Domestic Product – Purchasing Power Parity). On the first, the USA and western countries are on top. On the second, China is the leader.
Why not value in terms of sustainable development? The original definition, as agreed upon by the United Nations, is: The development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
This means that we can grow, industrialize, consume, whatever, but within the limits for continuation of humanity and its environment. The Overshoot Days give hands and feet to this approach.
By the way, there is a lot more to discuss, to define, to adress. Please check the Brittanica on it.
The development list upside down
The best country listed on the Overshoot list is Ecuador. But many countries are missing. Think of Namibia, Madagascar and our beloved Gambia. Why? Because these countries don’t have an overshoot at all – they already live sustainably. The reason is that they don’t even have the means to grow their economy enough to near any overshoot. Anyway, they would be on top of the list of sustainable development.
But, such a list also shows why politicians can not ‘sell’ a phenomenon as less consumption. It would hurt the living standard on the short term, the period a politician is chosen for.
In Western societies most people are continuously pushed to buy more. Also the poor er people have work double jobs to make ends meet. So the left wing wants to set this straight again, by bringing more money from the richest to the poor and middle class. That is hard work, tearing down barriers, crashing with big political lobbies. The right wing however, sells the quick fix, which means that the long term sustainable development policy will be neglected. This way, the lists in GDP remain the standard, so the powerful countries can stay on top the list.
Most extreme example of this, is the Make America Great Again movement. This is confusing, since the USA’s economy has already been the greatest of the world, though? Or, perhaps the new president, who surprises us everyday, would intend to make America Great Again on the Overshoot ranking? America was the greatest on that list in the pre-columbian time, before the year 1492. Last month the American president has already slowed down the economy drastically, so the first steps are made to make America great again. 😉