In April 2020, humans exhausted the earth’s resources for the year. While some Western countries may lead the way in environmental initiatives, their consumption patterns paint a different picture. They are among the worst offenders, consuming much more than the planet can sustain. If the entire world were to live as they do, we would deplete the earth’s resources for the year by April [1]. These resources include crucial elements such as fish stocks, forests, biodiversity, and carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, we survive on borrowed time for the rest of the year, relying on our dwindling assets and robbing future generations of their share. The result is an alarming depletion of the earth’s precious resources.
We are already seeing the consequences. Animal species and insects are dying out at an ever-faster rate. Freshwater resources are dwindling in large parts of the world, forests are being devastated, food soils are becoming increasingly nutrient-poor, and thousands of species’ habitats are disappearing as landscapes change. The most prominent examples of us living off our assets are the loss of biodiversity and climate change, which already have devastating consequences for animals, plants, and humans.
YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD THAT THE AVERAGE POPULATION OF THE WORLD LIVES AS IF WE HAD 1.7 GLOBES AT OUR DISPOSAL.
In Europe, the way of living uses the outcome of 4-5 globes. But how can we do that? We only have one! These figures are obtained by calculating the average ecological footprint in the world (1.7 globally) or in Europe (approx. four globes) [2].
The ecological footprint measures how much of the earth’s productive surface we humans use through our lifestyle and consumption. The World Wide Fund for Nature is an organization that makes calculations of the world’s ecological footprint 
They quantify the land area necessary to produce the goods we consume and the volume of space required to accommodate the resulting waste, encompassing not only the physical products but also the infrastructure and land use associated with their production.
WWF’S CALCULATION OF ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS ALSO INCLUDES HUMANITY’S USE OF FOSSIL FUELS.
WWF calculates ecological footprints by estimating the amount of newly planted forest required to capture carbon dioxide emissions from humanity’s fossil fuel use. Due to our heavy reliance on fossil fuels, the absorption of such emissions would require vast forest areas.
Humans have had a significant impact on ecosystems for hundreds of years. Today, 40% of the earth’s land area consists of fields and pastures [3], and 85% of Europe’s wetlands have disappeared since the beginning of industrialism So today, there is no place on earth utterly unaffected by us humans. And it is not so strange that such a large-scale transformation of nature has consequences.
Although we consume countless products daily, we often need to be more connected to the raw materials used in their production. As a result, we must be made aware of the drastic landscape changes and habitat losses in the last century alone. Unfortunately, the environmental impacts of our consumption occur far from our sight, with much of it taking place overseas.
However, there is hope in the form of a growing movement toward sustainable consumption. In Sweden, for instance, more people are choosing to travel by train instead of flying, while second-hand consumption is also rising [4]. Additionally, more individuals are opting to repair their clothes and gadgets rather than discarding them, marking a promising shift in attitudes toward consumption.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- Transport, food, housing, investment, clothing, and footwear are the parts of private consumption that affect the climate the most. So how can you reduce your ecological footprint? WWF lists five actions on its website – the car, the travel, the food, shopping, and your voice.
As a private person, you can also:
- Sign up for fossil-free pensions The AP funds have invested several billion of our joint pension money in the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, such as Chevron and Shell. It needs to be more sustainable and responsible and goes against the Paris Agreement.
- Join an environmental organization and make a difference in the field you are most passionate about!
- Disseminate information and share tips with friends and acquaintances.
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