Balancing the Earth’s Budget

Humanity is currently using natural resources faster than they can be renewed, and according to data from Global Footprint Network, on August 21, 2010 our demand will exceed the ecological services that nature can provide this year. We will reach ‘Earth Overshoot Day’, which is resulting in serious consequences for the planet. It has taken humanity less than nine months to exhaust its ecological budget for the year –from filtering CO2 to producing the raw materials for food.

Did you know? The average Ecological Footprint per person in the United States is 9 global hectares (22.5 global acres), the equivalent of about eight full-sized soccer fields. This compares to countries such as Pakistan, Congo and Haiti, which have an average Ecological Footprint of slightly more than one global hectare (half a global acre).

How is this calculated? Every year, Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint – the amount of productive land and sea area required to produce the resources we consume and absorb our waste, including CO2 emissions. It is then compared with biocapacity, the ability of ecosystems to regenerate resources. Earth Overshoot Day, a concept devised by U.K.-based new economics foundation, is calculated from 2007 data (the most recent year for which data are available) and projections based on historical rates of growth in population and consumption, as well as the historical link between world GDP and resource demand. Last year, Earth Overshoot Day was observed on September 25, 2009. This year, overshoot day is estimated to come more than a month earlier in the year. This is not due to a sudden change in human demand, but rather to improvements in the calculation methodology that enable us to more adequately capture the extent of overshoot.

How big brands can help save biodiversity

For the last decade, we have been converting natural habitat for food production at the rate of 0.6% per year. But the Earth’s resources are finite, and if we continue to expand into natural habitat at the current rate there will be very little left by 2050. Increasing pressure on the Earth´s natural resources is not just linked to the rising global demand for food, fiber and fuel, but also to where and how global industries and their supply chains “source” commodities for example, the global consumption of round wood is expected to triple by 2050; meat consumption in East Asia will double to 80kg per person per year by 2050; and three-quarters of all global fisheries are fished at, or beyond, capacity.

In July this year, Jason Clay, spoke at TEDGlobal, Oxford UK about ‘How big brands can help save biodiversity’. By convincing 100 key companies to go sustainable, global markets will shift to protect the planet our consumption has already outgrown. Watch the video to hear how WWF is getting big brands to agree on responsible and sustainable practices –before their products hit store shelves.

Partnering with major companies, financial institutions and their supply chains, WWF is influencing the way global commodities are produced, traded and financed. We are working on key commodities such as palm oil, soy, cotton, sugarcane, timber, pulp and paper, seafood, and bioenergy sources, illustrating how they can be sourced more efficiently and responsibly on a large scale, at little or no extra cost. Engagement is through:

Multi-stakeholder engagements, such as roundtables, market standards and certification
One-to-one engagements with companies
Commodity finance, such as investment screening processes and producer financing
The result is increased demand for sustainable products, where markets can be ‘tipped’ and positive environmental outcomes delivered. By engaging partners globally to ensure our commodity footprint is in step with a living planet, businesses and markets can offer products that safeguard the Earth’s biodiversity wealth and contribute to sustainable and economic development.

Stay tuned: In October 2010, WWF will launch the Living Planet report, and provide a science-based analysis on the State of the Planet. WWF will make suggestions on how the choices we make can bring us back to a sustainable path for the benefit of human well-being and nature.

The history of stuff

http://www.youtube.com/storyofstuffproject



The Story of Stuff is a polemical animated documentary about the life-cycle of material goods.
Activist Annie Leonard wrote and narrated the film. Tides Foundation, The Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Free Range Studios and other foundations funded the film. Free Range Studios produced it. It was first launched online on December 4, 2007.
The documentary is being used in elementary schools, arts programs, and post-graduate economics classes as well as places of worship and corporate sustainability trainings. By February 2009, it had been seen in 228 countries and territories. According to the hosting site as of September 2009, it already had more than 7 million views.
Critics consider the documentary to contain incorrect and misleading information and/or to be politically partisan and liberal; this has led the school board of a Montana school district to ban use of the video in the classroom, citing its regulations on bias as justification.

Silver Man.

Today, while having lunch, listened to the daily lunch. Not pay much attention, but to hear a comment from my father about a story, I decided to repair a few minutes.
The news was about a homeless person who was sleeping in the park Redenção in Porto Alegre RS, and in the morning when he awoke his body was tarred with silver ink, besides being urinated all over his body. A woman passing through the park, outraged, called the police, and then the resident was taken to a hospital to be examined.



Well, this is another example that the world is a place that needs many repairs, starting with these simple things. A person who does so will have that ability to understand what the world needs help? I think not. To begin to change that, people who claim to be "rational" and capable of living in society, must reformulate its ideology on this and their actions must be radically changed. Or animals that are irrational, they act well together, we "human", how do we act?


Reflect.

You can help us. You can help yourself. You can help our planet.

The eco4planet uses the color black to save energy. Small daily actions can generate energy savings, generating lower costs and helping the planet.
50 thousand page views result in a tree. And the site saves energy because the black screen reduces the energy spent by 20%
• More than 63 million color TVs off for 1 hour;
• More than 77 million refrigerators off for 1 hour;
• More than 175 million light off for 1 hour;
• More than 58 million computers shut down for 1 hour.

Earth Hour

In saturday, 27TH March 2010, the earth inhabitants's (more or less 6.5 billion people) switched off their lights for an hour, 20:30 to 21:30, to try to reduce global warming.

The Earth Hour began in 2007, only in Sydney, Australia. In 2008, 371 cities participated. In the last year, when Brazil participaped for the first time, the movement exceeded all expectations. Hundreds of millions of people in more than 4 thousand cities of 88 countries put out the lights. Monuments as Eiffel Tower, Colisseum, Times Square, Christ Redeemer and National Congress and other were one hour in the dark.

This gesture of turning out the lights draws attention to the fact that everyone can do their bit for the planet, and that thought has grown, as we shall see. "The WFF-Brazil is very happy with the brasilian's work, which surpassed the marks of the year. It is through such movements as the company tells the government that they must act by the planet." Said secretary's WFF-Brazil. "Each year more and more people have participated in this global movement, is a sign that consciousness is being turned on." said Environment Minister Carlos Minc. for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, "is an honor to host the Earth Hour. Rio de Janeiro directly depends on the respect for the environment, because one of the highlights of the city is the quality of life it provides, and we to do everything to preserve it."

Now, see some photos:
* Eiffel Tower (Paris):



* Big Bang(London):



* Colisseum (Rome):