The best scientific estimates tell us human civilization is in overshoot. Were you aware of this? Do you know what overshoot is? Earth Overshoot Day in 2020 is August 22.

Computer modeling by a team of MIT scientists in 1972 estimated the scale of human activity on the planet would cause systems to fail within a hundred years. Such failure is expected when humanity’s footprint on the planet consistently exceeds its carrying capacity. Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear.

Since 2003, scientists at Global Footprint Network have been analyzing UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. Their analysis suggests we have been in overshoot since about 1970. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem.

Reported by: Dave Gardner

Interviews:

William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary ChangeBrian Czech, author of Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State EconomyHerman Daly, author of Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable DevelopmentPaul Ehrlich, Stanford Biologist, author of The Population BombKerryn Higgs, author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite PlanetIan Johnson, former World Bank vice president, former secretary general of Club of RomeBill McKibben, environmental journalist, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, co-founder of 350.org.Dennis Meadows, lead scientist, The Limits to GrowthKate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century EconomistWilliam Rees, co-originator of ecological footprint analysisBill Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Chair of Population InstituteJuliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston University and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True WealthJohn Seager, CEO of Population ConnectionGus Speth, former chair, White House Council on Environmental QualityMathis Wackernagel, founder of Global Footprint Network and co-author of Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity BudgetRex Weyler, environmental journalist

Links:

Earth Overshoot Dayhttps://www.overshootday.org/

The Limits to Growthhttp://donellameadows.org/the-limits-to-growth-now-available-to-read-online/

Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/episode-list

GrowthBusters Podcast about sustainable livinghttp://www.growthbusters.org/podcast