July 28 was EARTH OVERSHOOT DAY. On July 29 we went into ecological deficit. Humans have used the entire annual budget of resources that can replenished by nature. We entered overshoot ~ 40 years ago. When I saw the overshoot (and collapse) graph back then, I said “Holy Sh*t”. I’ve never been the same since, and have wondered why so few also had their hair on fire.
Overshoot in context
Before your eyes glaze over and you scroll on, I have some juicy context for you.
This article exposes how capitalism benefits from reproduction. More people. More consumers. Mother nature be damned.
What to do? Read on…
1. Median income in the USA is about $70,000/person. These folks are in the top 25% of the population. In India, now suffering an unbearable heat wave, the top 1% earns this. MOST READING THIS ARE THE PRIVILEGED FEW. Just for context.
2. Very roughly, money spent = planet consumed.
3. Gandhi said, “The world has enough for every man’s need, but not for every man’s greed.”
Consuming different stuff doesn’t cut it
4. It’s not about buying an electric car. It’s about keeping your car in service as long as possible (and using your bicycle and public transit!). And your clothes, your furniture. Your stuff will live longer than you do, and you already own it. Upgrade only when necessary.
5. It’s not about getting the best price. That doesn’t lower your impact, it might just increase the volume of stuff racing through your life and into landfills. It’s about putting your money into the pockets of the US 75% rather than the 10% or 1%. Patronize local businesses. Invest in local businesses. Tip well. See movies at local theaters. Use local banks and credit unions.
6. Agitate for economic justice. Don’t let the R-bullies call it socialism to capture the flag. Public libraries. Public pools. Public access to health care. Public transit. Public consumption on infrastructure. Public incentives to weatherize your house. Public service. Support public spending on public goods. Make life less expensive and more empowering for the less well heeled.
7. Make families in many ways, not just married couples having children. It’s hard. Yes. Those called to motherhood and fatherhood, wonderful. Those not, be aunts and uncles. Honorary grand-peeps. Women’s groups. Men’s groups. Churches. Breakfast clubs. Community gardens. Share your home with renters. Participation, not biology, equals belonging in this world where our numbers are growing. Every person walking this earth is precious. Needless to say, women’s body sovereignty is key.
8. Think the unthinkable. It’s time. In times of crisis, consider unpopular or ridiculed solutions. Not the ones that privilege the few. Not the ones that send us into autocracy/ fascism. Not the ones promoted by corporate lobbyists. I notice many solutions coming to the fore now, from regenerative agriculture to deploying massive pontoons of seaweed to drawdown carbon. We need to use far less and recycle our excess.
Honey we have to talk
9. Have climate conversations as often as possible with as many as possible. Not “is it real?” But what do you notice? How do you feel about it? What have you done in response, small or grand? What have you thought of doing, that you might now commit to? How can I support you?
10. Turn doom and gloom into love and action. Inaction due to fatalism is like giving up on your parent because they’ve been diagnosed with a fatal disease. You up your love, enjoy every precious moment. Don’t let the media get you down, but let reality pump you up to engage, in whatever ways you, in your circumstance, can.
Hazel says
This has turned into more cheer-leading than I intended, but my dear friend Hazel Henderson’s last words to me before she went virtual encourage boldness:
It’s going to be a sh*t show for the next 5 years, so
Tell the truth and
Enjoy your life.
Overshoot Day reminds us to do all three.
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Mod note: no climate denial under this post, including ‘it’s too late’, or ‘we can’t change’.
Seems no one wants to play.
I liked the Henderson quote about telling the truth and making sure we enjoy our lives too. Need both.
Also #8, now is the time to think outside the box.
"Massive pontoons of seaweed"
Sink mature trees in cold lakes.
apparently there's a boat load of native hardwoods at the bottom of Lake Hawea, in pristine condition. From back when they were still chopping down the forests and transporting them by boat.
The stats are horrifying and incomprehensible. We've wiped out 70% of wildlife in the last 50 years. We've pumped more carbon into the atmosphere than the biomass of every living thing.
wordwildlife.org has some excellent material graphically demonstrating the climate impact.
But the solutions offered are usually milquetoast and half-hearted. Recycling and using less plastic are laudable. But unfortunately, like EV's they are performative and make little overall impact. The lifetime carbon impact of an EV is just as bad as an ICE vehicle, when you consider the mining of materials like copper and lithium.
We need to get away from private vehicles and generally use lighter options like PT, bikes or scooters. And start thinking about Nuclear. We are going to run out of rivers to dam (and ruin).
I tend towards Bomber Bradbury's way of thinking, NZ needs to hunker down and be more protectionist and build up our defences against the coming climate apocalypse.
https://twitter.com/Mining_Atoms/status/1584306032653717505?s=20&t=U9XEY3CyEZtx4zzlbu5w4A
Bomber is a tiresome fool who has not done anything successful in his life.
BFRandall is typical of those who can’t face the reality of transformation towards low carbon.
Concentrate on something worth doing and work to achieve it.
ad hominems are fun. but BFRandall knows whereof he speaks. the green(washing) industry isn't all sweetness and light.
Onslow to manage dry years, battery systems storage (to cover peak periods/low wind power input) to move on from coal/gas fired, more solar in houses and more thermal rather than nuclear. But yeah its ebikes with occasional use of ubercars/shared ownership vehicles and small commuter vans/buses back up to PT over private cars encouraged via congestion charging and commuter lanes (restricted to multiple passenger vehicles).
Have a read of Lynn's explanation of why nuclear is a no-go.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-10-2022/#comment-1916694
To which I would add a few things.
The objections to Nuclear don't hold water when compared to the externalities of pretty much all the other options.
https://twitter.com/Quantling/status/1587998853910786049?s=20&t=n6wfLfSJoHffF5cQfHFILg
https://twitter.com/NuclearHazelnut/status/1537888635667611656?s=20&t=n6wfLfSJoHffF5cQfHFILg
what are the deaths from hydroelectric?
Dam failure incidents
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hydroelectric_power_station_failures
Way back in 2016 I wrote a Guest Post for the Standard – about Fortress NZ.
Below are the points I made (some have not aged well!)
First of all, we need to act decisively to weaken the effects of of that pernicious political philosophy. This will involve a whole raft of rather radical ideas, which will also go some way to ameliorating the effects of climate change, including:
If this is too long: https://thestandard.org.nz/fortress-nz/
Any idea how long it takes to build a new rail line?
Years and years, plus more volumes of manpower and tax money than you could possibly imagine. Or a wind farm, or a geothermal plant, a decent cycleway?
The $$ and carbon budget needed to get to low carbon is very, very large.
Invercargill to Bluff was completed in four years – without a fraction of the machinery available today.
1860s – when governments were a bit more competent.
In the time it's taken to plan for Auckland light rail, the US and Russia started the space race, got satellites up, and got humans on the moon.
We don't have the time to try and be saved by rail.
Simeon Brown on Twitter: "The Space Race vs Labours plans to build Auckland Light Rail. https://t.co/ADx7TlcchA" / Twitter
Meh – just sack the footdraggers and get some engineers on it.
I think Wayne Brown has a point… need to stop the endless political crap and just focus on something that works for now. AT should focus on completing the CRL and getting the rail network up to scratch.
Let's prioritise fixing up what we have (bus lanes) and getting that humming before embarking on any more expensive and questionable big budget splurges. Especially seeing as the airport represents an industry that is in decline.
Auckland has been subjected to uncontrolled population growth thru central govt policy and has been trying (and failing) to catch up on infrastructure investment for decades
Yes a financial incentive to double glazing would help (allow it to be a cost against rent instead of mortgage cost for landlords).
My advice to Hazel is find a big sustainable thing worth doing and get to work.
she's dead you nitwit.
Well then she should stop complaining.
She wasn't complaining. This is what happens when you don't read posts properly.
I was replying to your point she was dead.
This is when you don't have a sense of humour.